Message from Michelle
Hello dear subscribers
Many thanks for your continuing support: your contribution makes a big difference to my shoestring budget!
This email is to explain why the published output of Undue Influence has reduced in recent months.
In July 2024 I had a significant health issue. It was dealt with quickly, however a subsequent course of treatment – to help prevent the issue recurring – ended up causing a serious and rare complication that emerged early this year and has required treatment all year. Unfortunately, recovery from this aspect has taken a long time. While I have continued working this year, I was unable to maintain my usual output. In particular, it has slowed progress on the Revolving Door database project.
Before the initial health issue surfaced, I had temporarily put aside work on the database project due to two significant events last year that demanded attention given the absence of any serious reporting by mainstream media:
Australia’s decision to continue exporting F-35 parts and components to Israel despite clear evidence that Israel was committing serious violations of international law using its F-35 aircraft, and also given the highly misleading (at best) mantra from senior ministers, including the prime minister, that Australia was not exporting weapons to Israel. This was always a dubious claim, which I investigated and exposed as false, early and repeatedly – here and here, for example – and have continued to do so – here and here. Despite this being an issue of national integrity, in the grave context of a possible genocide, in early 2024, it was only picked up by mainstream media many months later.
National Anti-Corruption Commission’s abject failure to do its job and investigate the six people referred to it by the Robodebt Royal Commission. The NACC was forced to rectify this failure following a massive public outcry that was investigated by the NACC Inspector who showed that the NACC Commissioner had not appropriately managed a serious conflict of interest. We had reported on this failure long before the Inspector’s report was published.
Why has Undue Influence pursued the NACC over this, along with news of other ongoing conflicts in the NACC leadership? (Here, for example.) Because Australia needs a squeaky clean, fearless and transparent national integrity body to properly investigate Defence and arms industry corruption allegations. The signs so far are that the NACC is not such a body under its current leadership.
By the way, the devastating and extensive human cost of the illegal Robodebt ‘welfare’ scheme is brilliantly portrayed in this recent SBS series: The People vs Robodebt. I highly recommend it.
In addition to the above lines of reporting, late last year I was asked to be a researcher on an ABC Four Corners program that investigated the arms industry and its links with the Australian War Memorial. (Watch it here.) This was welcome recognition of the singular journalism of Undue Influence.
You can scroll through all our other reporting in our archive.
Current work
My top priority in recent months has been to return to working on the unique and time-critical Revolving Door database. I am confident it will gain national coverage. Nothing like this has been published in Australia (or internationally, to my knowledge). It has demanded concentrated work over a long period, and I will now progress with that work exclusively for the rest of the year.
For that reason, there will continue to be few posts for the next 2-3 months. Dear subscriber, I request your patience. I would also appreciate your ongoing financial support of Undue Influence during this time. I am sure you are going to be satisfied with the results: it is a major investigative piece of work.
If you are a free subscriber and would like to make a one-off contribution to this work (any amount), rather than subscribe, reply to this email and I’ll provide PayPal and/or bank account details.
If you have other questions or comments, please be in touch. It is always good to hear from you.
With my appreciation and good wishes
Michelle