From regional newspapers in Australia to Cambodia's English-language daily, journalist Erin Handley is now pursuing an interest in human rights.

A cadet on the Northern Daily Leader in the "country music capital" of Tamworth, and following six months at the Bendigo Advertiser, she now does the rounds at the Phnom Penh Post as a reporter and sub-editor.

The English-language newspaper employs a staff of Cambodian and foreign journalists and publishes national and business news, lifestyle and sport. Established in July 1992, it claims to be the oldest existing independent newspaper in any language in Cambodia.

Handley says she joined the Post with ambitions of reporting at both a national and international level, and had been a long admirer of the newspaper when the role presented itself.

"Cambodia itself was a big draw card - to be able to live and write in an entirely different country, and one that in some senses is developing rapidly, but in many others is lacking the basic cornerstones of hygiene and health care," she says.

As a reporter she writes news and analysis, covering social issues in the rapidly-changing country. A recent assignment has been the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, as well as politics, land disputes, refugees and domestic violence.

"The Tribunal is fascinating," she says. "I'm learning a lot of history through the process, but there are complex questions about the role of international courts in delivering justice in the face of such immense loss. I've also been able to pursue stories I'm passionate about, in writing about violence against women and the pervasive culture that tells women their husband has a right to beat them."

She says the Tamworth cadetship was "where I honed my hard news craft and my reporting skills - I was handed the health round which I loved, and learned so much from my thoughtful editors."

A main point of difference in Cambodia is the collaboration and trust she has built with her new colleagues: "I rely heavily on my Cambodian colleagues to translate and give me reliable information from their Khmer sources, and they, likewise, rely on me to transmit their reporting into English for an international audience, or to help give shape to the story," she says.

"We have to talk to each other constantly, to question, to clarify, to open a new line of investigation. There's not much room for ego - I really value this collaborative process."

Fiscal pressures and redundancies such as those at her former employer Fairfax Media have not yet affected the Post to the same degree: "With exceptions for rare breaking stories, we're not 'digital first' and still writing for the next day's paper.

"My articles get a thorough edit, whereas it was possible for me to publish back home without a second pair of eyes glancing over the story. There are all the same hallmarks of journalism - the morning pitch meeting, the frequent phone calls and meetings with contacts," she says.

"Moving to Cambodia to work at the Phnom Penh Post has broadened the scope of what I thought was possible for me in journalism. It's an award-winning paper - it's thorough, it's intelligent and it's hard-hitting - and I am thrilled to be part of their hard-working team."

She told GXpress the move to Cambodia in February was driven by a long-time interest in human rights: "I was thirsting for something bigger, and in Cambodia I knew there would be more of an opportunity to investigate deep-seeded social issues," she says.

• Partly based on a report from Influencing.com, a platform which connects media and influencers with PR and newsmakers and publishes daily news about the media and marketing communications industries.