Why subscribe?

For the last six years I’ve been telling real stories about real people from all across Australia as a freelance journalist.

My work has been published online and in print by Al Jazeera English, The BBC, CNN, The Guardian, VICE, The Saturday Paper, and The ABC among others. Some of this has won me two SA Media Awards for best freelance contribution in both 2018 and 2019. I’ve also written three books, including the bestseller The Death of Holden (2016) for Hachette, with a fourth on the way for UQP.

In other words, I get around.

The catch is freelancing isn’t easy. Books take time and journalism doesn’t come cheap. Working through Substack means I can keep telling those stories that matter while preserving my independence, but to keep going takes money and that is where I need your help.

This newsletter is my way of helping to support myself so I can keep doing this work, while remaining accountable to my readers on whose behalf I am raising hell.

What You Will Get

Once a fortnight a newsletter will land in your inbox with a brief description about what I’ve been doing. It will contain a few stray thoughts on whatever’s going on, links to anything I’ve published or what I have been researching, my recommended readings from the last fortnight and a caustic, tongue-in-cheek summary of the latest news.

As a bonus, this will also be the place where I’ll publish anything I’ve wanted to write but couldn’t find a home for. If there is a pressing issue, or a story that needs to be told that I can’t place elsewhere, I will distribute it here. If there’s a screed that wouldn’t otherwise see print, this is where you’ll find it. If you’re a subscriber, you’ll also have a chance to pitch me on stories you want me to investigate further, or an issue you want me to take on.

Down the road, and depending on what people want, I may take up other projects.