Impact Report

Chris Hopkins won the 2020 Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year for this photo, titled “I Want to Hold her Hand”. Contents

2 Introduction 15 Workers’ compensation investigation

3 Unprecedented year of growth 17 Global pandemic

4 Stories with impact 22 Coronavirus by the numbers

5 Secrets of War 24 -China relations

6 The Bribe Factory (Unaoil) 26 US election

7 Crown Unmasked 28 Bushfires

8 Dyson Heydon controversy 30 Environment 9 The Faceless Man 32 Opinion

10 Party games 33 Life

11 Sports rorts (Bridget McKenzie) 34 Good Weekend

13 ’s hotel quarantine 37 Photography 14 Casey land scandal 41 Awards

The Age Impact Report 2020 1 Introduction

This has been an extraordinary year for . From Our mantra is independence. We will never be partisan, the bushfires last summer to the health and economic and we do not begin our reporting with an ideological crises caused by the coronavirus, 2020 has thrown up end in mind. That is unusual as media organisations huge challenges and revealed the great resilience of our fragment, but it is our greatest strength because we community. have no set agendas. has a proud history of investigative journalism and this year we continued This year has also underlined the importance of quality our landmark reporting into alleged war crimes by media in a sea of noise. At the same time, financial Australian soldiers. We pursued our investigations into pressures on media organisations have been intense. and exposed the damage caused to our In one of the toughest years in memory, The Age has had democracy by political . one of our strongest years, even though our staff have We can do none of this without subscriber support and worked almost continuously from home since March. I want to thank you. It has been heartening to see how Our readers were interested in the bigger issues raised by strongly our readers have responded. the catastrophic bushfires, and we established a national Subscriptions to The Age are up an extraordinary 25 per and local team devoted to the environment and climate cent and we have reached a record combined readership change. We maintained our foreign correspondents. for print and online, making The Age indisputably the We covered the remarkable US election with a distinct dominant masthead in Victoria. Australian perspective and we led coverage of the tensions in Australia’s relationship with China. We are proud of that, but we don’t take it for granted. We are ambitious. We know that we need the trust and Victoria felt the brunt of coronavirus harder than any support of our readers to do more of the journalism you other state. Our live blog ran seven days a week for demand of us. But for now, after such a year, I wish you all months and this was the place where readers came to a holiday season surrounded by those you love the most. find out the latest news, delve into the health and science Good riddance to 2020 and, like most Victorians, we can’t issues, and share with each other the experience of a wait for 2021. strict lockdown. We have begun in-depth reporting of how Melbourne and Victoria can recover and learn the lessons of the pandemic. In such a year of isolation, we at The Age have never felt so close to our community. In challenging economic times, we chose not to cut staff because journalism is the crux of what we do. One of our duties is to hold the powerful to account. We kept digging on the hotel quarantine shortcomings and the tragedy of aged care, demanded transparency from political leaders and published a range of views on the coronavirus Gay Alcorn, editor response.

The Age Impact Report 2020 2 An unprecedented year of growth

7 comment moderators who #1 25% 93,888 articles published more than Victoria’s most-read masthead increase in the number of published this year

across print and online paying subscribers, that 1,316,138 supported the work of…

64 national New positions 23 business created: 451 43 sports • National environment team staff members nationally, including: • Reader editor • 341 journalists, photographers, editors, 21 world • Newsletter editor videographers, magazine and production staff 20 opinion • Economics editor • 58 national news team members, across 18 culture • Five trainees given full-time positions federal politics, business, environment and world • 52 national life team members, across culture, lifestyle, Good Food and Traveller 18 politics 23,285 10 lifestyle subscriber-only 1,180,183 2 healthcare 3 education event streams newsletters delivered each week 2 technology

1 explainer 2 money 4,195,627 2 environment Please Explain podcast downloads articles published every day comments in 2020

The Age Impact Report 2020 3 Our journalism led to...

Secrets Crown Casey land Unaoil - The of War Unmasked scandal Bribe Factory The most significant inquiry in recent The excoriating of Crown Resorts over The arrest of a senior corporate figure The derailing of a string of military history into alleged war crimes governance failings before a public inquiry and warrants issued for two others linked questionable developer deals in committed by a small clique of SAS soldiers and Crown delaying the opening of its to a global bribery scandal involving the Melbourne’s south-east including an in Afghanistan, with allegations against new hotel and casino in Barangaroo after Australian corporate behemoth Leighton elaborate rezoning scam. Sweeping 19 individuals referred to the soon-to-be- its directors and executives admitted to Holdings (now CIMIC). established office of the special investigator serious wrongdoing. reforms including a toughening of for criminal investigation. rules around donations, lobbyists and conflicts of interest at a local and state level are now expected. Sports rorts Workers’ The Faceless Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie resigning as Federal Sports Minister. compensation Man Dyson Heydon investigation The removal of three Victorian state cabinet controversy ministers as Labor’s national executive The state government launching an intervened in the Victorian division to Hotel An “urgent review” of sexual inquiry into the workers’ compensation preselect state and federal candidates harassment processes in the justice scheme. In NSW, the resignation of until 2023; anti-corruption watchdog system, ordered by the NSW Attorney- the icare CEO, three icare directors, IBAC launched a major inquiry with the quarantine General, and the NSW Supreme Court including the chairman, and the NSW Ombudsman. The reopening of the state hotel appointing an independent adviser to Treasurer’s chief of staff. quarantine inquiry to examine new handle sexual harassment complaints. information revealed by The Age and further clarification from the government Party Games about who knew what and when. The resignation of Liberal Party factional figures and a Liberal Party of Victoria investigation into branchstacking; the corruption watchdog examining the allegations for abuses of taxpayer funds.

The Age Impact Report 2020 4 Secrets of War “Public interest journalism is It is hard to think of a more consequential series of stories The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have published in their 364 not a popularity contest and years of combined history than the investigation into allegations cliques of elite Special Air Service Regiment soldiers committed sometimes the most important war crimes in Afghanistan. When investigative reporters Nick McKenzie and stories are contentious and suggested looking into potential SAS misconduct in Afghanistan in 2017, senior editors expressed the same concerns many uncomfortable.” readers had when they first heard the allegations. How can we be sure these alleged crimes occurred? Were the actions of soldiers justifiable “in the fog of war”? Should we judge brave soldiers fighting in unimaginably tough conditions? A turning point was when McKenzie played back confidential, anonymised interviews with SAS whistleblowers. It was clear listening to their testimony that they themselves had no time for “fog of war” arguments. The whistleblowers were vindicated when the Inspector-General of Defence Force, Paul Brereton, found credible evidence 19 Australian special forces soldiers committed up to 39 murders of innocent Afghans. Now those current or former soldiers will face criminal investigation, possible prosecution and the stripping of their medals. Public interest journalism is not a popularity contest and sometimes the most important stories are contentious and uncomfortable. McKenzie’s moving Good Weekend feature about Dusty Miller, an SAS combat medic haunted by what he saw in Afghanistan, encapsulates why this difficult investigation was so important.

James Chessell, executive editor, and Michael Bachelard, Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen The Age’s deputy editor and investigations editor

The Age Impact Report 2020 5 Unaoil - The Bribe Factory

Sometimes the impact of a story is not felt in the first week, or month, or even year after publication. In the case of The Age and the Herald investigative unit’s expose of international bribery and corruption in the oil industry, it’s taken four years. In 2016, the team and I revealed that a Monaco-based company, Unaoil, was acting as a front that allowed dozens of multinational companies including Rolls-Royce, Halliburton, Hyundai, KBR and Eni to funnel millions in bribes and kickbacks to officials in Iraq, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan and elsewhere. The stories, and the cache of emails they were based on, led to raids overseas, arrests across Europe and the jailing of Unaoil managers in the UK. Unaoil’s owners, the Ahsani brothers, were arrested by the FBI and in 2020 pleaded guilty to serious corruption and bribery. Rolls-Royce and TechnipFMC settled Unaoil-related investigations run by US or British agencies by paying hundreds of millions of dollars. In November, it hit home in Australia. Warrants were issued Former senior executive of construction giant Leighton Holdings, Russell Waugh. Photo: Rhett Hammerton for the arrest of three former executives from the Australian construction company Leighton Holdings (now CIMIC). The data leak and its publication in Australia produced such reams of evidence that ultimately left Unaoil’s owners, the Ahsani family, with no choice but to confess. They have “The stories, and the cache of since agreed to give evidence against others, including former Leighton managers Russell Waugh, Peter Cox and emails they were based on, led David Savage. to raids overseas, arrests across Europe and the jailing of Unaoil Nick McKenzie, managers in the UK.” investigative reporter

The Age Impact Report 2020 6 Crown Unmasked

Crown Resorts was unmasked in July 2019 by an investigative series in The Age which exposed how the company’s lax controls over its high-roller casino operations facilitated organised crime and money laundering, endangered its staff in China, and empowered drug and sex traffickers. After our stories were published, Crown went on the attack. The company’s high-profile board bought a full-page advertisement in News Corp newspapers that described the stories as full of “unsubstantiated allegations ... and outright falsehoods”. Now, under the sustained scrutiny of a regulators’ inquiry in Sydney, the Crown defence has crumbled. Multiple Crown directors and executives have admitted to serious wrongdoing, poor oversight, regulatory failure and a lack of independence. Under questioning, Crown’s largest shareholder, James Packer, agreed that emailed threats he sent to a businessman, whose name was withheld in the inquiry, were “shameful” and “disgraceful”. Counsel assisting the inquiry made lengthy submissions that Mr Packer was involved in the business as a “de facto” director and argued Illustration: Dionne Gain the billionaire’s “deleterious” influence over the group was one of the key reasons Crown was unfit to keep the licence for its Barangaroo casino. Mr Packer attributed his actions to mental illness and bipolar disorder, for which he is now being treated. Inquiry chair Patricia Bergin forced Crown to delay the opening of the “Multiple Crown directors Barangaroo casino. But the full impact of these stories will be played out for years to come. and executives have admitted “Crown Unmasked”, which Grace Tobin, Nick Toscano and I also produced for 60 Minutes, has won a Walkley Award and two major to serious wrongdoing, poor Kennedy Awards: outstanding TV current affairs and outstanding finance reporting. oversight, regulatory failure and a lack of independence.”

Nick McKenzie, investigative reporter

The Age Impact Report 2020 7 Dyson Heydon controversy

When The Age and the Herald broke the news A group of NSW’s top female barristers that former High Court judge Dyson Heydon lodged a complaint with the professional was found by an independent inquiry to have watchdog. Hundreds of female legal sexually harassed six women at the court, professionals called on the federal the impact was “seismic”, according to one Attorney-General to establish an top silk. independent complaints body for judges. The ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions The mastheads revealed the findings of the recommended the AFP investigate independent High Court investigation, along allegations of indecent assault against with exclusive testimony from the victims Heydon. who had fought for justice for years. Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter But we had more allegations of sexual asked anyone who had complaints about misconduct, some meeting the threshold Heydon from his time as royal commissioner for indecent assault, that spanned Former High Court justice Dyson Heydon. Photo: Ben Rushton to come forward, and several people did. The decades and took place under the guise of former judge did not renew his barrister’s several institutions including the Royal practising certificate and his name Commission into Trade Union Governance disappeared from the website of the top and Corruption, Oxford University and the Sydney chambers where he had spent much University of . of his career. Following our report, there were huge In the months since, our investigation has ructions within the legal community with been recognised with several awards: the many asking who had known about Heydon’s Walkley Award for best print/text news “As a result of our reporting, alleged conduct, and for how long. We report, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties revealed two former High Court judges Journalism Award and the Kennedy Award the High Court announced it had reportedly been told about the alleged for Outstanding Investigative Reporting. behaviour. would invite all former judge’s As a result of our stories, the High Court announced it would invite all former judge’s associates who had worked at the associates who had worked at the court during Heydon’s tenure to contact them court during Heydon’s tenure to if they had further alleged misconduct to report. The Law Council of Australia called contact them if they had further on the government to amend the Sexual Discrimination Act to extend anti-sexual alleged misconduct to report.” Kate McClymont, investigative reporter, harassment laws to judges, barristers and and Jacqueline Maley, senior reporter other statutory office holders.

The Age Impact Report 2020 8 The Faceless Man

The tapes led to the removal of three state cabinet ministers and multiple investigations by anti-corruption commission IBAC, the Ombudsman and police. The ALP national executive launched an extraordinary intervention, appointing party elders Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin as administrators of the Victorian branch, and suspending all state committees until 2023. The Faceless Man story was the product of a year-long joint investigation with Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes. We cultivated sources, obtained hundreds of leaked internal documents and uncovered tapes and video evidence that provided undeniable evidence of misconduct. Somyurek sits on the ALP’s powerful national executive and his numbers gave him great sway over who stands for safe seats in state and federal parliament. The story sparked branch-stacking exposes in NSW (leading to another resignation) and once-in-a- generation reforms to the ALP. The Premier’s office also banned ministerial staff from holding official party positions, becoming factional power brokers and running for preselection. With public anti-corruption hearings flagged for the future, the fallout of the story will last for many months if not years.

Adem Somyurek leaves his home the morning after The Age/60 Minutes Labor Party branch-stacking expose went to air. Photo: Eddie Jim In November, our story won the Walkley for Television/Video: Current Affairs Long (More than 20 Minutes).

“We cultivated sources, obtained hundreds of leaked internal documents and uncovered tapes Nick McKenzie, investigative reporter, and and video evidence that provided Sumeyya Ilanbey, state political reporter undeniable evidence of misconduct.”

The Age Impact Report 2020 9 Party Games

The Party Games investigation exposed how Liberal Young Turk Marcus Bastiaan worked with the taxpayer- funded offices of federal minister and MP Kevin Andrews to stack branches and dominate the Victorian party using electorate officers to perform party-political work. Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer from 60 Minutes, and Paul Sakkal, a talented young reporter who successfully completed a traineeship at The Age before becoming part of our team, obtained audio tapes and other internal communications to support the story. This story exposed potential illegality in the offices of two significant national Liberal figures. It also demonstrated the importance of independent, public interest journalism and its goal to hold the powerful to account. Since the story was published, Mr Bastiaan and others have quit the party, and the Liberal Party in Victoria has appointed forensic accountants to scrutinise its membership and records. Corruption watchdog IBAC is also reviewing the allegations.

Marcus Bastiaan graphic creator/photographer: Jesse Marlow and supplied Michael Bachelard, The Age’s deputy editor and investigations editor “This story exposed potential illegality in the offices of two significant national Liberal figures. It also demonstrated the importance of independent, public interest journalism and its goal to hold the powerful to account.”

The Age Impact Report 2020 10 Sports rorts

Gun-toting Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie’s long-time advocacy for firearms was well known but it was never expected to cost the Victorian her ministerial career. The then sports minister had tried to brush aside the so-called sports rorts scandal, a $100 million fund used to pork-barrel marginal seats, for days until the The Age on January 22 revealed she’d become a signed- up member of the Wangaratta Clay Target Club before it was awarded a $36,000 grant. The revelations triggered a departmental review into whether Senator McKenzie had breached standards of integrity expected of a minister. In Prime Minister ’s own words, the review found: “The timing is such that the potential conflict should have been clear, this is in relation to the gun club membership, to the minister failing to put appropriate arrangements in place to avoid the potential for conflict, such as asking another minister to make any decisions relating to organisations of which she was a member. “The minister had failed to do that, and the secretary found that this was in breach of the ministerial standards. There are also a number of other matters relating to another organisation, but that one in particular dealt with a conflict of interest for an actual applicant who had received the grant. “On the basis of that and that is the conflict of interest and the failure to disclose, the minister has tendered her resignation to me this afternoon.” Illustration: John Shakespeare The reporting by The Age for several days directly revealed a handful of conflicts and revealed concerns within government about the amount of money Senator McKenzie had approved to the sporting shooting associations during her time as a minister. “The reporting by The Age for several days directly revealed a handful of conflicts and revealed concerns within government about

Rob Harris, the amount of money Senator McKenzie national affairs editor had approved to the sporting shooting associations during her time as a minister.”

The Age Impact Report 2020 11 The ADF Third Brigade / Third Combat Service Support Battalion arrive in Melbourne from Townsville to assist with the new hotel quarantine system. Photo: Paul Jeffers

The Age Impact Report 2020 12 Melbourne’s hotel quarantine

There was no bigger Victorian story in 2020 than the failures in the state’s hotel quarantine program which led to a second COVID-19 wave breaking out into the community, killing more than 800 people and triggering a gruelling four- month lockdown. The Age’s Paul Sakkal and Chloe Booker were the first to report on problems with the oversight of the program and reliance on private security instead of police at quarantine hotels. I went on to reveal the questionable financial history of the main contractor, Unified Security, its sourcing of workers, its links to government officials and how the second wave started at Then health minister Jenny Mikakos at a government coronavirus media the Rydges on Swanston hotel in late May. Then conference in September. She went on to resign later that month. Photo: Joe state editor Noel Towell and senior reporter Clay Armao Lucas also made telling contributions. My exclusive report that crucial Health Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, with Health Department deputy secretary Department documents had been withheld from Jeroen Weimar and Premier . Photo: Joe Armao the Board of Inquiry into the failed program led to an extraordinary sitting and the belated provision of more than 200 pages of material detailing a schism between the Chief Health “The Age’s coverage was recognised Officer and other senior officials. with two nominations in the The Age’s coverage was recognised with two Walkley Awards, as a finalist in nominations in the Walkley Awards, as a finalist in the best coverage of an issue or event the best coverage of an issue or category and scoop of the year category. More event category and scoop of the importantly, it kept Victorians informed and held those in power to account. year category. More importantly, it kept Victorians informed and held those in power to account.” The ADF arrives in Melbourne from Townsville on December 4 to assist with Richard Baker, the new hotel quarantine program. Photo: Paul Jeffers investigative reporter

The Age Impact Report 2020 13 Casey land “The Age probe derailed a string of allegedly corrupt and questionable deals including an scandal elaborate rezoning scam in Melbourne’s south-

The Casey corruption scandal is one of the more east that would have netted as much as $150 concerning examples of public misconduct in Victorian history. Following initial revelations by the Age in late 2018, million for Woodman and his associates.” the extraordinary saga of bribes and dodgy political deals has been a massive story over the past year. Through the latter half of 2018, reporters Ben Schneiders, Clay Lucas and I investigated allegations that Ferrari- driving developer John Woodman had manipulated and corrupted planning and politics in the city’s south-east. Despite multiple defamation threats, The Age has continued its investigation and exposed Woodman’s outsized influence with councillors and state MPs, unlawful council decision-making, a fake community campaign to help win lucrative planning approvals and undeclared political donations to Victorian MPs. The Age probe derailed a string of allegedly corrupt and questionable deals including an elaborate rezoning scam in Melbourne’s south-east that would have netted as much as $150 million for Woodman and his associates. The combination of investigations by The Sunday Age and the Victorian anti-corruption commission is expected to lead to criminal investigations and sweeping reforms, including a toughening of rules around donations, lobbyists and conflicts of interest, at a local and state level.

Royce Millar, investigative reporter

Developer John Woodman leaving an IBAC hearing in December 2019. Photo: Justin McManus

The Age Impact Report 2020 14 Workers’ compensation “Insurers are paid bonuses to meet targets. Those targets include terminating a certain number of investigation workers’ claims at key points in time. This is a system in crisis and our investigation was long overdue.”

Australia’s workers’ compensation system has failed injured workers for years but it has largely slipped under the radar. Worth $60 billion, it’s big business. We went behind the safety net and found that injured workers are getting sicker and employers, who fund the schemes, are left holding the bill. The investigation was produced with ABC’s Four Corners and some of the stories told by injured workers were harrowing. They touched the nation. We heard about a single mother in Victoria who was driven to suicide by an insurance agent who was delaying and denying her claims while she was in excruciating pain. The Victorian Ombudsman described some cases within the state’s workers’ compensation system, WorkSafe, as “downright immoral and unethical”. Insurers are paid bonuses to meet targets. Those targets include terminating a certain number of workers’ claims at key points in time. This is a system in crisis and our investigation was long overdue. The state government has initiated an independent review into the system. In the NSW system, three directors of government agency icare resigned including the chairman. The CEO has resigned, the NSW Treasurer’s chief of staff has resigned, an inquiry has been launched and the agency has agreed to compensate underpaid Chris Iliopoulos, who suffered injured workers. a back injury at work, shared her harrowing experience of the workers’ compensation system. Photo: Jason South

Adele Ferguson, investigative reporter

The Age Impact Report 2020 15 A huge year of news...

A blood red sky over the Foreshore Holiday Park in Mallacoota. Photo: Justin McManus

The Age Impact Report 2020 16 Global pandemic

Coronavirus seemed to happen slowly then all of a sudden. In the second week of March – the last time most staff would work from the office for months – it was revealed Tom Hanks had caught the virus and was in lockdown on the Gold Coast. The next day, the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix was cancelled. That feels a long time ago now. There are three questions the audience wants us to answer: what is happening right now, what is really going on and what does this all mean? The “right now” we handled through our blogs. We started live-blogging pandemic news a few days before Hanks’ diagnosis and – with a brief hiatus when things looked better in June – have blogged every single day. To date, subscribers have spent more than 59,393,411 minutes reading our coronavirus live blog, and our total audience has spent more than 215,547,653 minutes with it. The habits we’ve built with our audience and within the newsroom are strong and the effects will be long-lasting. The response to live-streaming press conferences has been incredible. With Premier Daniel Andrews standing up more than 100 days in a row, we were there streaming, blogging and reporting with real-time news. The audience numbers during the second wave lockdown were substantially larger than in the first, as we built and sustained habits around the daily rhythm of case numbers, press conferences and fallout. We ran live blogs 147 days in a row – all in front of our paywall in order to provide everyone in the community with important up-to- date information. We’ve built a strong feedback loop with readers to talk about their experiences with restrictions, home schooling or the dramatic lockdown of public Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy sanitise their hands housing. We harvested hundreds – often thousands – of comments a day on these blogs before entering a National Cabinet meeting at Parliament House. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen which come from people forming their own community. Our guiding mission is to provide our audience with independent, well-sourced and agenda-setting news. Our breaking news teams reported the hotel quarantine failures as they happened, the first signs that community transmission had jumped containment lines and that contact tracing was struggling to keep up. The quantity of news and its pace meant readers also wanted to understand how this all pieced together. Here, our comment, analysis, data journalism and explainers came into their own. Explainers on the lockdown rules, what COVID-19 does to the body and whether you have to wear a mask have been some of the best-read stories of the year.

Mathew Dunckley, digital editor

The Age Impact Report 2020 17 Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews with Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton at one of their many press conferences. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

The Age Impact Report 2020 18 Alice Gibson’s children, Fergus, Harley and Lorelei put teddy bears in their windows to entertain other children when they go for walks. Photo: Joe Armao

A patient is removed from the St. Basil’s Homes for the Aged Care in Victoria in Fawkner. Photo: Penny Stephens

Metropolitan Fire Brigade firefighters in hazmat suits enlisted to distribute food into the towers in North Melbourne. Photo: Jason South

The Age Impact Report 2020 19 Writer and lawyer, Nyadol Nyuon says lockdown has given her much needed time for herself and her family. “The pandemic forced a Photo: Justin McManus conversation I had been waiting to have but in the busyness of turning up to modern life, to work, to community, and to motherhood, I had run out of time to be alone.”

The Age Impact Report 2020 20 and Australian Defence Force patrol the Docklands area. Photo: Jason South

The line outside the York Street Centrelink office in South Melbourne. Photo: Jason South

COVID-19 screening clinic at the Austin Hospital. Photo: Eddie Jim

The Age Impact Report 2020 21 Coronavirus by the numbers

There have been more than 65 million coronavirus cases recorded globally since the start of the pandemic. In Australia there have “For many readers, been more than 27,000. By the time you read this, worldwide case numbers will have inevitably gone up - at a pace that sadly continues checking the data to accelerate as many countries deal with second waves that are turning out to be even bigger than the first. It’s a dizzying – and centre has become quite confronting – amount of information to comprehend, but our COVID-19 data centre has condensed all these numbers into an easy- a part of their daily to-understand dashboard. routine and a way of The data centre has consistently been one of the most-read items on the The Age website these past few months, which shows how tracking exactly what vital this information is to so many. For many readers, checking the data centre has become a part of their daily routine and a way of is happening with tracking exactly what is happening with infection numbers, right down to their local area. It’s been a huge undertaking for our team infection numbers, to create and maintain, and as the pandemic situation evolves, so too has the level of information we have made an effort to present right down to their in the dashboard. Data journalist Nigel Gladstone and I sourced the data and made sure the information being collected across different local area.” jurisdictions all matched up. We continue to run checks on the numbers each day. This is harder than it might look, since sometimes states report case numbers differently, information gets revised or the data being collected changes. Design director Mark Stehle came up with a layout that displayed the information clearly and concisely, and developer Soren Frederiksen worked out how to turn this design into a reality and combine multiple data feeds, some of which are automated and some which involve information being entered manually. We plan to tweak the data centre, shifting to a more automated experience, until the 5,806,628 time comes (hopefully soon) that checking the latest coronavirus information is no longer a part of the daily routine. COVID data centre visits (and counting)

The Age Coronavirus data centre, which was built Craig Butt, during the first Australian lockdown. data reporter

The Age Impact Report 2020 22 Burlesque dancer Zelia Rose had to postpone an international tour with Dita Von Teese due to Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown. Photo: Jason South

The Age Impact Report 2020 23 Australia-China relations

The task of covering a story so complicated, far- Bagshaw covered the brutal crackdown on Hong Kong’s reaching and significant as the rise of China and its democracy movement by the Chinese Communist impact on us in Australia is a newsroom-wide effort. Party that has culminated in draconian new national Some of our biggest and most engaged stories of the security laws there, and Australia’s offer to provide year have been about our relationship with our biggest some Hong Kongers with a safe haven. trading partner, a relationship that has grown more Bagshaw has led the news coverage of China’s response tense than ever. to the pandemic from the beginning. In “Trapped It has also become, for the newsroom, one of our between a global health crisis, diplomatic tensions greatest challenges. Eryk Bagshaw was appointed China and a logistical nightmare”, Bagshaw and foreign correspondent at the end of 2019 and, for a range of affairs correspondent Anthony Galloway covered reasons including COVID-19 and safety issues after the extraordinary predicament of Australians in the introduction of new Chinese security laws, he Wuhan before the Australian government launched completed the first year of his “posting” in Canberra an unprecedented rescue mission to bring them to rather than Beijing. This prompted a rethink of our quarantine on Christmas Island. Asia coverage and in the new year Bagshaw will move to They have also tracked the deterioration of our Singapore as North Asia correspondent where he will relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, be joined by Chris Barrett, who will also be based there breaking worldwide exclusives on Australia’s campaign as our new South-east Asia correspondent. for an independent investigation into the origins of Maintaining our ranks of foreign correspondents is coronavirus, the launch of the world’s largest trade a big priority for The Age. Foreign bureaus are very deal, a 14-nation pact that includes Australia and expensive and labour-intensive operations to manage, China, and the escalating ‘tongue war’ triggered by especially during a global pandemic. But the news, China’s list of grievances about Australia. analysis, features and colour stories produced by our correspondents, which also include Bevan Shields in London and Matthew Knott in Washington, DC, are among our most well-read articles for subscribers. From the very beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Tory Maguire, international editor Peter Hartcher has put China’s national editor response to the source of the outbreak in context in pieces including “What coronavirus teaches us about China”, “The coronavirus crisis was made in China but no one will say it”, and “Twitter-post garbage the clearest sign yet of desperation in Beijing.”

Illustrations: Matt Golding

The Age Impact Report 2020 24 Taylors Wines Managing Director, Mitchell Taylor, has had his family business disrupted by China’s trade sanctions against Australia. Photo: Janie Barrett

The Age Impact Report 2020 25 US election 17,249,576

The US presidential election was always views on US election live blog coverage going to be one of the biggest stories of the year and The Age made it a top priority to provide our readers with distinctive and insightful coverage of this seismic moment in world history. Our readers had an almost insatiable appetite for content about the election and we worked hard to deliver it to them across all our platforms. 5,238,434 As US correspondent I was determined to visit as many swing states as possible views on a single live blog on November 4 and speak to voters on the ground rather than rely on polls (which again proved to be faulty). During the campaign, I travelled twice to Wisconsin, and also made reporting trips to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Florida. No other Australian media outlet covered so much ground. In the months leading up to election day, I wrote a weekly newsletter on Graphic: Dionne Gain the campaign and recorded a weekly Please 2,313,150 Explain podcast with national editor Tory Maguire. Farrah Tomazin, a senior writer world editor Michelle Griffin and election views on the US election results tracker at The Age, spent two months reporting editor Heath Gilmore. It’s been extremely in the US and then continued filing after gratifying to hear from many readers that returning to Australia. In the week before they appreciated the depth and breadth of election day, we held a subscriber webinar our coverage, as well as our commitment hosted by former US correspondent Nick to reporting fairly and accurately O’Malley. while not giving a free pass to lies and misinformation. Meanwhile, a team of outstanding bloggers swung into action for an around-the- clock election blog. On the day after the 14 1 election, the blog received an incredible 5.2 million page views. Bringing all these live event with our Matthew Knott, dedicated US election components together required months of former and current US US correspondent newsletters planning and co-ordination from Maguire, correspondents

The Age Impact Report 2020 26 Burnt eucalypt forest along the Princess Highway from Orbost to Mallacoota. Photo: Justin McManus

The Age Impact Report 2020 27 Bushfires As fires raged through Gippsland over the 2019 Christmas break, Victoria declared its first state of disaster, ordering 30,000 holidaymakers to evacuate. The Age’s bushfire coverage was made free for all readers. From December 30 to January 13, more than 3 million readers came to our live blog for up-to-the-minute news they could trust. In Mallacoota, award-winning staff photographer Justin McManus captured the enormous air-and-sea evacuation of those trapped by the flames in images that have reverberated around the world, and marked the environmental impact in his series on the birdlife toll along the beaches. Throughout our black summer, The Age’s reporters and photographers travelled hundreds of kilometres across eastern and northern Victoria to tell the stories from the fire fronts: the couple exhausted from fighting the fires twice in one week; the daughter elated she’d saved her father’s farmhouse; the bushman sleeping under the stars near the ruins of his family home. Those eyewitness accounts were backed by rigorous examination of the economic and environmental cost of the fires, linking the summer’s destruction to the accelerating pace of climate change, backed by the work of eminent scientists and emergency chiefs whose warnings we had reported for several months prior. Our political, economic and environment news teams have not forgotten the fires during the pandemic, breaking stories on the impact on the economy and on the landscape while reporting the regrowth in the bush and the struggles of local towns to survive when the inferno was followed by a People stranded in Mallacoota after being evacuated due to bushfires. Photo: Justin McManus pandemic.

Michelle Griffin, world editor and former news director

The Age Impact Report 2020 28 Mark Brooks at the wreckage of his house in the Upper Thowgla. Photo: Eddie Jim

The Age Impact Report 2020 29 The environment

As the nation battled a bushfire catastrophe and prepared for a delayed United Nations climate change summit, The Age significantly ramped up climate and environmental coverage. We have built a team of specialist journalists including environment reporters Peter Hannam and Miki Perkins, working closely with resources writer Nick Toscano and the Canberra bureau’s climate and energy reporter Mike Foley. As the world was overwhelmed by the pandemic, the mastheads remained committed to their environmental coverage. The team was central to coverage of the fires and joined families as they arrived to inspect the damage. In the months that followed, it covered the state and federal inquiries. Hannam’s work was recognised with a Kennedy Award for Outstanding Reporting on the Environment and with an award from Australia’s emergency management agencies. It dug into the government’s technology road map to reduce emissions and its plans for a gas-led economic recovery, revealing concern among scientists and engineers about the environmental cost. In the corporate world, the team tracked the investor revolt against the expansion of gas without stronger decarbonisation goals. It broke the news about the abandonment of coal by Australia’s Above: Burnt melaleuca at Bastion Point second largest superannuation fund, First State Super, and it tracked Mallacoota. Photo: Justin McManus the rapid drift from coal and uptake of net zero targets by Australia’s Right: Homes destroyed by bushfires in key markets and allies, and growing concern in diplomatic circles Mallacoota. Photo: Justin McManus about the perceived lack of ambition in climate targets.

Nick O’Malley, national climate and environment editor

The Age Impact Report 2020 30 Zellanach Djab Mara next to the culturally significant Djab Wurrung directions tree that was cut down in October for a road project in western Victoria. Photo: Justin McManus

The Age Impact Report 2020 31 Opinion

Increasingly, editors and algorithms are more The year’s most-read opinion pieces interested in publishing comment and analysis “In a year when the media pieces that are likely to conform with a reader’s (social and otherwise) has tackled the biggest issues for Australia and views. At The Age, however, we believe our the world, often in counterintuitive ways. audience is smart enough to make up its own been flooded with poorly mind. sourced opinion, The Age We are committed to airing a range of views has sought credible and and topics across the ideological spectrum. Our Peter Hartcher selection criteria is that the journalism must be influential voices to make It wasn’t planned but Australia is on the verge of intelligent, well-written and fact-based. a meaningful contribution an exciting possibility In a year when the media (social and otherwise) has been flooded with poorly sourced opinion, The to debates about Victoria Age has sought credible and influential voices to and our nation.” make a meaningful contribution to debates about Victoria and our nation. Look at the US and the UK and be glad we’re not like them Among the most read opinion pieces this year Other important opinion pieces published in was one in October by The Age’s chief political recent times include a piece by Fiona McLeay, the correspondent David Crowe who warned Victorian Legal Services Board commissioner, on that Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was the importance of lawyers behaving with integrity, the biggest threat to Scott Morrison over his and a piece by Ben Gauntlett, the Disability Jacqueline Maley handling of the pandemic. The piece was widely Discrimination Commissioner, who highlighted Why did so many people vote for Trump? Like it read by subscribers and prompted widespread that only seven of our top 50 ASX-listed companies or not, he is a ‘safe space’ for millions commentary. Not everyone agreed. But we thought actively promote employment of people with a it was a worthwhile perspective to debates about disability. the political response to the pandemic. Regular columns by writers including Waleed Mr Andrews’ leadership drew similarly strong Aly, Jacqueline Maley, Peter Hartcher, George interest from readers when, in July, regular Julie Szego Megalogenis and Julie Szego - some of the most Enough of the scolding, Dan, it’s time to show contributor urged the Premier to respected names in Australian journalism - some accountability seriously consider locking up people who failed rounded out a strong year for The Age’s opinion to self-isolate after they were being found to be section. infected with the COVID-19 virus. And when long-time political commentator and contributor Shaun Carney pointed out in a piece John Silvester in August that complacency by some Victorians, Police, phones and protesters: Nobody is above plus failings in the hotel quarantine system, were Margaret Easterbrook the law responsible for the second wave of infection, opinion editor readers reacted strongly.

The Age Impact Report 2020 32 MAY 5, 2020

TRAVELLER.COM.AU Life

DECEMBER 5, 2020 What happens when a pandemic forces cooking – not just sourdough (although we theatres to drop the curtains, restaurants all made plenty of that) but also vegetarian to close their kitchens and borders to slam recipes, one-dish wonders and old- shut? For the Life team at The Age and The fashioned baking. Traffic for our recipes at Sydney Morning Herald, it meant rethinking goodfood.com.au soared from April, with every aspect of what we do. our unique audience up nearly 50 per cent on the previous month, and peaking in While the Traveller team was grounded, May with a record unique audience of 1.46 with many unable to leave their home million. states let alone the country, the Saturday and Sunday sections paused publication A recipe by one of our top cooks such as THE while the travel industry went through Adam Liaw, Neil Perry and Jill Dupleix GIVEMEA(CITY)BREAK unprecedented financial pain. We switched became one of the components of a special DIY Check in to our ultimate Marvellous Melbourne staycation our attention from writing about travel new daily page, called Home Front, which GO FOR BROKEN HILL GOLDEN GUIDE TO SILVER CITY REVOLUTION RANTS & RAVES THE WEEKEND’S FAVOURITE TRAVEL FORUM destinations to the stories of greater interest we launched in the print editions of The How to startt a v vegetableegetable g garden,arden, m makeake y yoghurt,oghurt, h herbalerbal tea, o oatat m milkilk a andnd m more PAGE 4

Help feed people in need PAGE 3 Mother’s Day recipes from the Ottolenghi team PAGE 6 to readers at that moment, such as travel Age and the Herald on March 23. It served NATAGE G001 For the latest travel-related THE ONE DESTINATION THAT’S ALWAYS OPEN updates and advice, as well as more than booking refunds and the impact of COVID-19 as a survival guide to lockdown, covering traveller.com.au 40,000 inspiring travel stories, head to traveller.com.au on Australian tourism. Just like the tourism wellness, mental health, relationships NATAGE E001 AUGUST 4, 2020 industry, Traveller is getting back on its and ways to switch off. That page was so feet with the Saturday section growing popular it has remained a weekday staple, in size and once again focusing on travel now called Life, with a broader remit of JUNE 27, 2020 inspiration, starting with our own beautiful smart, engaging lifestyle content. backyard. Given our collective focus on cooking, it’s The mammoth task of reviewing for the not surprising that our readers also showed Say annual Good Food Guide – typically about immense interest in stories about staying CHEESE A celebration of 750 restaurants around the country – was fit, eating better and getting more sleep. Australian finest curds, how to get them then create the ultimate toastie paused in March. We subsequently made the We’ve launched a new weekly newsletter PAGE 4 difficult decision not to publish the book for called Live Well, sent every Monday the first time since the early 1990s as it felt evening to get your week off to a healthy unfair to judge the restaurant industry in start. Other new newsletters include The such a difficult year. Instead, in December Booklist by books editor Jason Steger, and we published a special gloss magazine The Watchlist by veteran TV critic Michael edition of Good Food called 100 Good Things, Idato. a celebration of survival and an invaluable guide to the best eating and drinking over WE’RE BACK As galleries and museums reopen, summer in Melbourne and Sydney. volunteers couldn’t be happier P4

Skye McAlpine’s roast chicken with a heavenly twist PAGE 7 Why DIY saves time and money PAGE 8 NATAGE G001 The one bright spot for the Good Food team this year was the renewed interest in home Monique Farmer, LUNCH Gabbie Stroud’s life lessons P3 FILM Dev Patel does Dickens P6 MUSIC The shows must go on P8 BOOKS Horrors of a racist ‘classic’ P 11 life editor NATAGE G001

The Age Impact Report 2020 33 Good Weekend For more than 35 years, Good Weekend has been holding a mirror to Australian society, writing definitive stories about the people, places and issues that matter to us. This year was no exception, with the team producing ground-breaking journalism that attracted strong readership; introducing new special issues and bolstering existing ones with fresh columns; and expanding our footprint into podcasts, video, newsletters, live events and merchandise. Good Weekend landed exclusive profile stories in 2020 with , Nicole Kidman, Jane Fonda, Hamish Macdonald, Tayla Harris and Ben Fordham, plus more. Unsurprisingly, politics and health were particularly popular with our readers this year. The most-read story among both subscribers and non-subscribers was Melissa Fyfe’s profile of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, published amid heated debate about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Madonna King’s recreation of the events leading to the death of Brisbane mother Hannah Clarke and her three children at the hands of her husband strengthened calls for coercive control to be criminalised. We published compelling first person pieces, including Matthew Knott’s piece on falling five storeys off a New York brownstone; a woman’s piece on discovering her husband was a paedophile; and Alexandra Collier’s account of her path towards single motherhood. Two stories looking at the issue of older female homelessness resonated with readers, as did investigations of the loneliness epidemic, climate change, the decline of Bauer Media, the rise of kindness during lockdown, adult children “divorcing” their parents, and the compelling yet ultimately destructive power of secrets.

Katrina Strickland, Good Weekend editor

25,761 17,067,772 29,414,095 Good Weekend page views engaged quiz Instagram minutes fans

The Age Impact Report 2020 34 The Age Impact Report 2020 35 9am in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall. Photo: Jason South

The Age Impact Report 2020 36 Photojournalism from the frontline The year began with smoke blanketing our city skylines as firefighters tried to keep the raging fires in Victoria and NSW from breaking containment lines. With the help of several of our regular contributors, our staff photographers covered the bushfire emergencies from multiple locations. Joe Armao captured the fire disaster from Wangaratta to Bairnsdale, Eddie Jim was in the Alpine regions and other parts of Gippsland, and Justin McManus made it into Mallacoota via boat with a Nine news crew just as the sky turned dark red. When he arrived, he found holidaymakers stranded at the water’s edge as the fires bore down on local beaches. McManus caught the tense army and navy operation to evacuate hundreds of people.

Melburnians protest Victoria’s stage four lockdown restrictions. Photo: Our flora and fauna were hit hard by the fires. After more than two weeks without food and water, it Justin McManus was a race against time to save animals who survived the fires before they starved or died of thirst, with much of their habitat wiped out. We were fortunate to gain access to one of three triage centres where we photographed Zoos Victoria’s chief vet, Dr Michael Lynch. He had spent long days tending to native animals, mainly koalas, at the field hospital outside Mallacoota. Our photographers worked tirelessly during this disaster and well into February covering the aftermath of the bushfires. Soon after, in March, we were hit with a global pandemic. The threat of coronavirus put us all in lockdown with almost the entire editorial team at The Age forced to work from home to avoid infection. One exception was our dedicated team of photographers who wore a new type of uniform on the frontline - PPE. We helped to tell stories about Victorians who could no longer do their jobs and what life in lockdown was like for many. Christopher Hopkins won this year’s Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year prize for the emotionally moving “I Want to Hold her Hand”. The photo showed Robyn Becker, her daughter, Alex, and Robyn’s sister, Jennifer, who flew from California to see her terminally ill sister, only to have her visits restricted by coronavirus quarantine. Robyn would pass away several weeks later. Just as restrictions began to ease, Melbourne had a spike in positive coronavirus cases. Residents in several public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne were ordered into immediate hard lockdown. Soon after, people living in metropolitan Melbourne and parts of Victoria were living under stage four restrictions and the state borders were closed to prevent further spread of the virus.

COVID-19 testing station at the Metone Bunnings. Photo: Eddie Jim

Danie Sprague, picture editor

The Age Impact Report 2020 37 Evacuees board the HMAS Choules after being ferried from Mallacoota. Photo: Justin McManus

The Age Impact Report 2020 38 A message of support from neighbours across from the lockdown scene at the towers in North Melbourne. Photo: Jason South

COVID-19 isolation ward at the Austin Hospital. Photo: Eddie Jim

Tara Bishop getting ready for the Melbourne Cup at home. Photo: Simon Schluter

The Age Impact Report 2020 39 Sophie Cunningham and Christos Tsiolkas’ podcast takes listeners to their favourite places in Melbourne. Photo: Simon Schluter

The Age Impact Report 2020 40 Awards 2020

6 Walkley Awards for: • The Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary: • Samantha Lane won the “Best sports profile - Waleed Aly, The Age, Ten Network. written” in theSports Australia Media Award. • Television/Video - Current Affairs Long (More than 20 Minutes): Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and • News Photograph: Jason South, “Pell”. • Jake Niall won “Best opinion and analysis” at the Sumeyya Ilanbey, ‘The Faceless Man’, 60 Minutes. 2020 Australian Football Media Association • News Report in Writing: David Estcourt and Clay awards. • Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique: Tony Lucas, “How stupid could you be?” Wright, The Age. • The Naked City podcast with John Silvester has • Podcasting: Richard Baker, Rachael Dexter, Kate been selected as Apple Podcasts’ Our Favourites • Print/Text - Feature Writing Short (under 4000 Cole-Adams and Siobhan McHugh, “The Last This Year: Australia. words): Liam Mannix, “The Perfect Virus: Two gene Voyage of the Pong Su”. tweaks that turned COVID-19 into a killer”, The Age. • “The Invisible Crime” investigation won the prize • Sports Feature: Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend of “Equality and Women’s Promotion, Best Graphic • Print/Text - News Report: Jacqueline Maley and magazine, “Brain Storm”. Awards (Digital)” at the International Malofiej Kate McClymont, “Dirty Dyson: A harasser on the Awards. High Court”, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Other Age awards for 2020 • “The Invisible Crime” investigation also won a • Outstanding Contribution to Journalism: Ross • Christopher Hopkins won the 2020 Nikon-Walkley bronze medal (gender/identity and social issues), Gittins, The Sydney Morning Herald. Photo of the Year Prize for “I Want to Hold her an award of excellence for information graphics Hand”. and an award of excellence for public interest at the • Feature/Photographic Essay: Nick Moir, Society of News Design Awards. “Firestorm”, The Sydney Morning Herald. • Nick McKenzie won Journalist of the Year at the Kennedy Awards. • Soren Frederiksen won gold in the humanitarian 11 Quill Awards for: category at the Information is Beautiful Awards • Nick McKenzie, Nick Toscano and Grace Tobin won for his work on “The Invisible Crime” investigation. • Harry Gordon Sports Journalist of the Year: Outstanding Finance Reporting at the Kennedy Richard Giliberto won four awards of excellence at Konrad Marshall. Awards for “Crown Unmasked”. • the 41st Society of News Design awards. • Business News: Nick McKenzie, Grace Tobin • Traveller won Publication of the Year at the Konrad Marshall was runner up in the and Nick Toscano, The Age/60 Minutes, “Crown Mumbrella Travel Marketing Awards in March. • UNSW Press for his Good Unmasked”. Bragg Prize for Science Writing • The Last Voyage of The Pong Su won gold at Weekend piece Jeepers Creepers. • Cartoon: Jim Pavlidis, “Who Are You Wearing?” the New York Festival Radio Awards for best documentary/narrative podcast. • Roy Ward won an NBL media award for best • Coverage of an Issue or Event: Chris Vedelago, feature story, “The NBL’s Slam Dunk”. Sumeyya Ilanbey and Cameron Houston, “Toxic • The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald won “Best Sharon Bradley’s Good Weekend cover story House Cowboys”. coverage of a sporting event” for The Ashes 2019 at • the Sport Australia Media Awards. Call (February 8, 2020) won the best feature • Feature Writing: Tom Cowie, “Two guys and the category in the Victorian Homelessness Media Yiayia Next Door”. • Konrad Marshall won the “Best sport coverage by Awards. an individual - written” in theSport Australia • Features Photograph: Jason South, “Christchurch Media Awards. Mosque Massacre”.

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