Billionaire brings former Gold Walkley winner back from the cold

In this week’s On Background, two journalism powerhouses return to the field, News Corp struggles to fill one of its top tabloid jobs, and Punters Politics baffles the Canberra press gallery.

EXPOSED: round two

Two very different forces in journalism, which have been dormant for some years, are coming back.

On Background hears the Gold Walkley-winning investigative reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna, best known for the controversial three-part Ghost Train series published by the ABC, is back on the tools, working on a project backed by billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson.

While details are scant, Meldrum-Hanna is working to produce a program on Indigenous Australians, with the backing of Neilson’s deep pockets.

The two are certainly an interesting combo. Meldrum-Hanna won five Walkleys in the 2010s during her time at the ABC, eventually working on a series of investigations under the “EXPOSED” brand that confusingly ran in the Four Corners time slot but wasn’t strictly part of it. Very ABC.

Four Corners itself has been in trouble recently after it was forced to remove multiple episodes fronted by Mahmood Fazal over sourcing issues. But before then, there was Exposed: the Ghost Train Fire, which sparked a furore from friends and colleagues of the late NSW premier Neville Wran. An independent ABC review praised the program overall, but found it had also unfairly implied Wran was complicit in the fire at Sydney’s Luna Park involving the underworld boss Abe Saffron.

Meldrum-Hanna took extended leave from the ABC in the aftermath and later returned for one solitary Four Corners episode in 2022, before quietly exiting the broadcaster entirely in 2023.

Neilson, on the other hand, pledged $100 million back in 2018 to help save journalism, arguing it doesn’t need critics, “it needs champions”. “I want to contribute to something that makes a lasting impact and I acknowledge this will require a significant and sustained commitment,” Neilson said at the time.

But after Neilson apparently let her minions run free with her millions, hosting lavish parties with plans to create a new award with a $1 million cash prize in the name of public interest journalism, the institute fell apart. Neilson, who had taken an arms-length approach to her journalism fund, decided she wanted to be more involved and change direction, leading to a mass exodus of its directors.

Since then, it has pretty much lain dormant, despite a pledge to still spend the remaining $70 million in 2024. Public records last showed it had more cash sitting in Sydney property assets than has actually been spent on saving journalism!

Meldrum-Hanna passed On Background’s inquiry to Judith Neilson Institute boss Simon Freeman, who confirmed she is one of a number of journalists they are now working with, exploring a number of issues both in Australia and abroad.

But the results are not expected to be broadcast or published for another year, at least, he said. “We’re happy working in the shadows for now.”

It has been a long time since the institute was in the light, but we’re delighted it’s coming back.

Poisoned chalice?

Another month goes by, and still, News Corp cannot fill the job seemingly no one wants: national political editor of the tabloids.

It has been almost a year since its former top dog in the Canberra press gallery, Clare Armstrong, joined the mortal enemy at the ABC as chief digital political correspondent in October 2025. Yet still, the job ad sits vacant on News Corp’s careers page. It truly is lonely at the top!

The job has been offered around the company’s newsrooms like the last slice of pizza, and still no one has taken it up.

But in its current structure, leading a team of three journalists in Canberra while reporting into four separate editors in four separate cities with four different demands doesn’t seem to be an appealing offer.

On Background hears the understaffed bureau has caught the eye of some of the company’s big shots in New York. As we know, power trickles down from the Big Apple. News Corp sources now say more hires in the capital are imminent.

This week, the trio of federal reporters who remain in the bureau were tasked with giving the PM a workout ahead of his annual ritual of showing up to News Corp’s Hancock Prospecting-branded Bush Summit.

In years gone by, the tabloids would give Albo a light touch ahead of his appearance at the summit. This year, the tabloids’ headlines said he was in for a “torrid time”. Sounds appealing.

Punter’s press pass

This week on Four Corners, the ABC’s Mark Willacy took a run at Canberra’s most invasive species: lobbyists.

One of those leading the fight for transparency over lobbyists’ essentially unfettered access to Parliament House is Punters Politics, the social media star and a key proponent of the push for a big tax on gas exports.

Punter, real name Konrad Benjamin, was filmed walking around Parliament House wearing a yellow lanyard in shoots for Four Corners, which caught the eye of some in the federal press gllery, as that colour is strictly reserved for accredited press, and the social media activist does not hold one.

Even On Background was issued a mere visitors pass when visiting the big house!

Like (too) many, Benjamin does, in fact, have access to Parliament House, but through a sponsored pass usually reserved for lobbyists themselves. He appears on Senator David Pocock’s website as someone the ACT independent has sponsored.

But it turns out Benjamin’s yellow lanyard wasn’t some purloined press gallery privilege. In fact, it’s a custom Punters Politics lanyard. And if one looks closely enough, you can see the slight differences.

Like any good activist, Benjamin was eager to use the moment to press home his case, noting an example heard in the Senate of a senior military officer who was involved in a contract to buy $2.8 billion of Lockheed Martin helicopters shortly before going to work for the arms company.