Paula Doneman is an award winning Australian journalist and a leading figure in investigative journalism and covering and exposing crime stories in Queensland. ^[1]Currently, she is employed as the Senior Investigative Producer and Crime Journalist at Seven News. ^[6]She is also the author of the true crime book Things a Killer Would Know: The True Story of Leonard Fraser. ^[4]

As the daughter of a police officer and a psychologist ^[1]from its very start her career was influenced by her parents.

This lead to often discussions around the dinner table about politics and current affairs ever since she was young.

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After graduating from the University of Queensland, Doneman began her career as a journalist at The Weekend Independent in 1992. ^[1]There she continued her work on drug trade in prison which she had began at University as a result of a discussion with two prison officers. ^[1]While the story was not initially well received, her work consequently inspired Queensland’s first commission of inquiry into the illicit drug trade. ^[1]

After working for The Weekend Independent for four years, Paula moved to *The *Courier-Mail, a Brisbane-based newspaper. There she co-founded The Courier-Mail's Investigative Unit and continued to work for the paper for over a decade, firstly as Chief Police Reporter and then as Crime Editor. ^[1]She then, in 2007, worked briefly for the *Sunday Mail * as Crime Editor.

Following the Sunday Mail, she began to work for Seven News as the Senior Investigative Producer & Crime Journalist, where she continues to work as of present. She also occasionally contributes as a consultant on Australian and US documentaries. ^[1]

Paula Doneman is also a mentor for Women in Media (WiM), an MEAA initiative, meant to support and encourage women working in all areas of the media. ^[6]

In 2006, she published a biography on Leonard Fraser or the "Rockhampton rapist", an Australian serial killer. When she worked as Chief Police Reporter for *The Courier-Mail *, Paula Doneman covered the story from its very beginning and worked closely with the detectives that tracked Leonard Fraser down. [5] She hence published the true crime book Things a Killer Should Know: The True Story of Leonard Fraser - chronicling the crimes of Leonard Fraser and evaluating other crimes for which he remains a suspect.

In 2003, she won a Queensland Clarion Award, alongside a team of journalists, for best news coverage of the Natasha Ryan story - an Australian woman who went missing in 1998 and was discovered alive in 2003. ^[8]

In 2014, Doneman and Carly Waters, a fellow journalist, were awarded Best TV report for their investigation into the murder of the Gold Coast Detective Damian Leeding and his killer.

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In 2013, Paula Doneman wrote an exposé of an illegal sex ring within the Australian Defence Force. ^[1]She was given two rewards for this coverage: a Walkey for the best TV/AV story and the 2014 NSW Media Les Kennedy Award for outstanding investigative reporting. ^[1]