Sally is best known for her work as a reporter with Australia's premier investigative public affairs program, ABC TV's 4 Corners, which was recognised by three Walkley awards for excellence in journalism. She is currently a senior writer with The Australian newspaper, specialising in Islamic militancy and related issues.

 

Sally's newest book is 'The Mother of Mohammed: An Australian woman's extraordinary Journey into Jihad', published in May 2009 by Melbourne University Publishing.  It tells the remarkable story of Muslim convert Rabiah Hutchinson, who grew up in Mudgee, New South Wales, and later spent twenty years on the frontline of the global Islamist struggle in Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Afghanistan, where she married a senior al Qaeda strategist, Mustafa Hamid. 

Sally's previous book was 'In the Shadow of Swords: On the Trail of Terrorism from Afghanistan to Australia', published by Harper Collins in 2004, which examines the rise of the Indonesian Islamist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, and its role in the 2002 Bali bombings and subsequent terrorist attacks. It won the 2005 NSW History Prize, and was named by The Economist magazine as one of the best books of 2005.

 

Sally has spoken and lectured at courses and conference around Australia and the world, including Sydney University, the Royal Australian Navy College, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.