The Hunted Australia 2023 “hunters” have been identified and if you’re a fugitive, you better leg it…and fast!

The real-life cat and mouse thriller — which premiered on July 17 — has sent 20 ordinary Aussies A.K.A “fugitives” into the wild, only to be hunted down by the “hunters”.

Hunted Australia 2022 Hunters
The Hunted Australia 2023 “hunters” have been identified. Source: Ten.

ICYMI: The so-called fugitives will have limited funds and resources and will have to think of ingenious ways to survive and remain undetected for 21 days.

The hunters are some of the world’s best investigators who are selected from the Australian Federal Police, Australian Defence Force, British Intelligence, skilled cyber analysts, Special Ops and private security who will use their expertise and replicated powers of state.

The fugitives will be hunted down by some of the world’s best investigators who are selected from the Australian Federal Police, Australian Defence Force, British Intelligence, skilled cyber analysts, Special Ops and private security. Source: Ten.

Scroll through to meet the “Hunters” from Hunted Australia 2023!

David Craig — HAU Chief

Dr David Craig has 22 years of experience in the Australian Federal Police and 11 years as a Detective Superintendent. Source: Ten.

Dr David Craig has 22 years of experience in the Australian Federal Police and 11 years as a Detective Superintendent, where he worked predominantly in counter-terrorism, covert operations and intelligence.

He has also been part of teams that have tracked down some of the world’s most dangerous people, including terrorists and organised criminals.

He also has conducted international research into and assessed undercover & covert infiltration programs in Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

In 2005, he lead the investigation into the Bali bombings and has also personally undertaken and supervised many covert operations and roles.

Dr David has also written two books called Unlocking Secrets and Lie Catcher.

He will be leading the Hunted AU team of elite operatives in their selective fields.

Ben Owen — Former British Intelligence and HAU Deputy

Ben Owen is no stranger to the Hunted family, having starred in both the British and U.S. versions of the show. Now, he will play Head of Intelligence in the Aussie version. Source: Ten.

Former British Intelligence agent, Ben Owen, is no stranger to the Hunted family, having starred in both the British and U.S. versions of the show. Now, he will play Head of Intelligence in the Aussie iteration.

Off-screen, Ben is an internationally recognised expert in covert operations, surveillance and online investigations. He also has over 17 years of experience working at the very height of national security in the UK, in military operations, and in the private sector.

He now works as a cybersecurity and intelligence expert and consults across the globe, and even dabbles in keynote speaking.

Reece Dewar OAM — Former Special Forces

reece dewar hunted australia
Reece Dewar has over 20 years of experience in the Australian Defence Force and 12 years of service with Special Operations Command (Australia). Source: Ten.

Reece Dewar has over 20 years of experience in the Australian Defence Force and 12 years of service with Special Operations Command (Australia).

Reece is highly experienced in Counter-Terrorism and Offshore Recovery Operations and has also been an advisor to the UAE Government.

He was also awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to the Special Operations Community and was responsible for the development of National Level Defence and Law Enforcement Capabilities within Australia and the Middle East.

Karla Lopez — Forensic Psychologist

Dr Karla Lopez has a decade of experience as a Forensic Psychologist and a decade of policing in corrections Victoria. She also specialises in sex, violent and recidivist offenders.

With an understanding of human behaviour and motivations, she is able to help the Hunted team by showing how those relationships play out in the real world.

According to the Global P Conference website, Dr Karla has worked closely with Victoria Police to develop their offender management framework to guide the risk management of sex offenders in the community. 

She has also consulted across several Australian states on matters of offender risk assessment and management.

Dr Karla has also worked on Victoria Police’s dynamic risk assessment tool, which has now been implemented by most other Australian law enforcement agencies.

Graeme Simpfendorfer — Lead Investigator

With over 25 years in the Police force, Graeme Simpfendorfer knows Victoria like the back of his hand.

After witnessing a bank robbery while working as a teller when he was younger, Graeme knew he wanted to be an officer.

“I really made my mind up that I wanted to be on the other side of what was going on that day,” he told the Border Mail during a recent interview.

Graeme worked the ‘beat’ across metropolitan Melbourne before being promoted to Detective in 2003. Then, in 2006, he transferred to the Homicide Squad.

Graeme then led small teams in the world of armed robbery investigations before obtaining two departmental commendations for some high profile, infamous investigations.

After this, the investigator moved to the North East of Victoria as the Officer in Charge, Wodonga Detectives.

On top of this, he has also received the National Emergency Medal (Black Saturday Bushfires 2009), National Medal (25 years service), National Police Service Medal and Victoria Police Ethical Service Medal.

Ah-mazing!

Jay Banerji — Cyber Team

Jay Banerji
Digital forensics and incident responder Jay Banerji will head up the cyber team. Source: Ten.

Jay Banerji is a digital forensics and incident responder.

According to his Linkedin, he is an “IT Nerd, Martial Artist, and lifelong learner”.

In 2020, he was a speaker for the AUSCERT2020 cyber security conference and with good reason.

Jay’s experience includes a range of incidents, including large and complex network breach responses.

His skills also include deep forensic analysis, malware analysis and cyber threat intelligence, backed by his experience in security research and he was also closely involved with some of the major attacks against Australia in 2020.

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