Raising Hell presents: SLICK (Cover reveal!)
"Can we change the world? No, but hell, we can all try." - Rupert Murdoch, as quoted in News Corp: Making of a Global Media Business (2003)
As faithful readers of this newsletter will know, I spent most of last year studiously devoted to working on a new book. This was an adventure that took me from places Lismore in northern New South Wales — which were still grappling with the aftermath of a catastrophic flood a year on, into dusty archives and courtrooms around the country, and even as far afield as Dubai for COP28 where I watched governments argue about when and how best to end the production of oil, gas and coal.
Hanging out with hell raisers and watching the nation’s oil and gas executives spin the reality of climate change has been, at times, physically and mentally demanding. At the outset of this project, I wanted to know: what did the oil and gas industry know about climate change? When did they know it? You may have heard the oil industry knew about climate change, but most of the time something’s missing. What should be a global conversations has always tended to focus on Europe and North America. What about the rest of us, particularly us here in Australia? How did the petroleum industry learn to wield influence like a scalpel? And how did they go about using this influence?
Well, after 18 months, I now have some answers. I have since learned how the US oil industry was aware of the risk and was actively researching the science of the greenhouse effect, even as it underwrote the creation of the Australian oil industry. From this original sin, the most consequential lie in human history began to take shape. Understanding how it happened now not only offers a chance to help untangle ourselves from the mess we find ourselves in, but an opportunity to hold those responsible to account.
You can find more in Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship With Big Oil, a dark tale about cynicism and greed overriding common sense, conveniently packaged in book form — and I am very excited now that I can start talking about it publicly.
Unfortunately, however, you will have to wait until 1 August 2024 to get your hands all the juicy details, but the good news is that you can pre-order now to get a copy as soon as it hits shelves. In the meantime, the good people at University of Queensland Press (UQP) — the very same who agreed to let me pursue this caper in the first place — have sent word that I’m officially authorised to share the cover design publicly:
You might say it’s looking… pretty slick.
But that isn’t all. In the past few weeks I have spent a bit of time building a website to help promote the book. There you’ll find a photo essay capturing some of the significant moments from my time on the road — some of which form crucial scenes from Slick. Several of the images were shot by the fantastic photojournalist Isabella Moore (find her Substack here) who I sometimes dragged along with me.
The website will also be periodically updated as interesting new things happen, so check back regularly. Reviews, reactions, endorsements (such as the one below from Bill McKibben) will be going up there, along with any teasers or Easter Eggs I can think of between now and publication. When the book does go live on 1 August, I’ll also be presenting a selection of the primary documents I found during research giving a bit more of a taste of what’s inside — but more on that to come on that score.
‘Around the world, the fossil fuel industry's campaign of disinformation and denial about global warming is perhaps the most consequential lie in human history. This comprehensive and carefully reported book shows how that lie was told in an Aussie accent, and why it mattered — and matters — so much.’
- Bill McKibben, environmentalist and author
Friends, lovers, corporate due diligence firms and media monitors are encouraged to share with friends, colleagues and employers alike.
Just a heads up though: as you can probably appreciate, I have now spent a significant amount of time working on this thing in one capacity or another and I’m going to be talking about it a bunch all the way until publication and beyond — to the point where it may get pretty annoying. Climate change is probably the biggest story in journalism going today and I am proud of what I have been able to gather through my research. From the beginning, I wanted to contribute something to the public record on climate change in Australia (and beyond), and I feel I have succeeded — now I want to share what I’ve found.
If you’re the type of person who finds that annoying, consider his your heads up.
And if you also haven’t heard, it’s also pretty tough times for the book business, with the price of paper rising and the cost of living biting. In the middle of it all, you’ve got organisations like Meta killing its news tab and telling Australian publications it won’t pay for content, even as big tech companies are happy to train their AI on this same material in a murder plot to kill the artist. These conditions make it even harder for literary journalism or longform work to find legs, particularly in a country like Australia. So, if you believe in journalism in any capacity, especially longform, literary journalism that dives deep into the corrupt soul of this nation to hold the powerful to account, it requires your support to stay alive. For those of us who make a living this way, this is our life, our heart, our living and our art. Without you, the reader, we are nothing.
Pre-order a copy of Slick from your local bookstore now. Here a few suggestions for some places that should be able to hook you up:
The Book Room (NSW)
Better Read Than Dead (NSW)
Brunswick Bound (VIC)
Hill of Content (VIC)
Riverbend Books (QLD)
Imprints (SA)
Matilda Bookshop (SA)
Mostly Books (SA)
Boffins Books (WA)
Fuller’s Bookshop (TAS)
Paperchain (ACT)
For the period of 27 March to 9 April
Reporting In
Where I recap what I’ve been doing this last fortnight so you know I’m not just using your money to stimulate the local economy …
‘The fossil fuel approval that wasn’t published’ (7am Podcast, 8 April, 2024).
‘Investigation under way after gas pipeline off Victorian coast ruptures’ (Guardian AU, 7 April 2024).
"‘Call for investigation after NSW police brief media on alleged crimes involving five-year-old’ (Guardian AU, 4 April 2024).
‘Santos’ carbon capture commitment looking dubious’ (The Saturday Paper, 6 April 2024).
‘Labor backs down on fuel standards’ (The Saturday Paper, 30 March 2024).
Before You Go (Go)…
Are you a public sector bureaucrat whose tyrannical boss is behaving badly? Have you recently come into possession of documents showing some rich guy is trying to move their ill-gotten-gains to Curacao? Did you take a low-paying job with an evil corporation registered in Delaware that is burying toxic waste under playgrounds? If your conscience is keeping you up at night, or you’d just plain like to see some wrong-doers cast into the sea, we here at Raising Hell can suggest a course of action: leak! You can securely make contact through Signal — contact me first for how. Alternatively you can send us your hard copies to: PO Box 134, Welland SA 5007
And if you’ve come this far, consider supporting me further by picking up one of my books, leaving a review or by just telling a friend about Raising Hell!