AUSTRALIA’S INDEPENDENT NEWS SITES
Australia’s mainstream media, now appropriately called legacy media, is heavily controlled and manipulated by its government and corporate sponsors.
As a direct result almost all of the country’s most challenging journalism is now to be found among independent outlets. Below is a partial list of some of the best.
Australian Independent Media on YouTube
The Other Side
The Other Side is a weekly Australian news analysis show that drops every Friday night on YouTube at 7pm (AEST) for you to catch up on the main stories of the past week and get smart for the weekend ahead!
You can watch whenever you want, on demand on YouTube.
The show openly declares their reporting is from a non-left classical liberal traditional Aussie perspective. The show is written and hosted by former ABC, Network Ten and talk-radio (3AW, 2UE, 4BC) journalist, Damian Coory.
https://www.youtube.com/@OtherSideAus
Topher Field
Topher Field is a Multi-Award Winning Australian Documentary Film Maker, Multi-Award Winning Libertarian Political Commentator, and Human Rights Activist and Author of Good People Break Bad laws.
We can’t speak more highly of Topher Field, a gentle and thoughtful man forced by circumstance to confront the state. Well worth following.
https://www.youtube.com/@TopherField
Rukshan Fernando
One of the most talented and most personable and talented commentators to have emerged onto the Australian scene in recent years, Rukshan bills himself thus: Political Commentator, Independent Journalist & Filmmaker. Based in Melbourne, Australia.
His work goes deeper than that, providing a one-off and often unfiltered record of Australia’s protest movements. If the National Library had any sense of obligation to record Australia’s contemporary social movements, which of course they don’t, they would be collecting his work.
https://www.youtube.com/@therealrukshan
John Anderson
Ever the gentleman, John Anderson served as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia for 6 years between 1999 and 2005 under John Howard. With his worldwide connections, he runs these uniquely civil, thoughtful conversations detailing the social, cultural and political landscape we live in today. As John says: “You cannot get good public policy out of a bad public debate.”
https://www.youtube.com/@JohnAndersonMedia
Leading Australian political commentators on Substack
Fred Pawle
He describes himself as a Journalist, author, optimist. One thing he most certainly is, and that’s extremely hostile to the current state of play, which he regards as deplorable. Fred Pawle has a long experience in mainstream journalism, including at The Australian and ADHTV. As a former surfie and a great mate of the revered cartoonist Bill Leak, he has an irreverent take on just about everything and was an ill fit in corporate media. Well worth a follow.
https://substack.com/@fredpawle
Bettina Arndt
So very very few Australian commentators have spoken out about the damage being done to men and boys, and therefore to the society as a whole, through the government’s slavish devotion to outdated one-sided all men are bastards feminist ideologies. Instead, they all climb on the gravy train, caring less the harm they do. Bettina Arndt is one of the only mainstream commentators in Australia to have had the courage and the integrity to speak out.
https://bettinaarndt.substack.com
Paul Collits
Paul Collits has emerged as one of the most forceful and thoughtful commentators in Australia today; adopting a sometimes conservative and thereby refreshing take on spiritual matters while providing a scathing critique of this sadly dysfunctional period of Australian governance. No one knows more about the sad state of conservative politics in Australia, indeed the glad state of the parties overall, than this man.
Rebekah Barnett: Dystopian Down Under
Independent journalist reporting from Western Australia. BA Communications, Hons, University of Western Australia. One of the brightest stars of Australian journalism to have emerged from the Covid era, Rebekah Barnett has now been honoured with a Fellowship from the Brownstone Institute, one of the world’s leading academic think tanks. Currently on something of a maternity break.
https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au
Alison Bevege: Letters from Australia
One of the best independent journalists to have emerged, fully outraged, from the Covid era. Alison Bevege and her Substack, Letters from Australia, offer an important take outside Australia’s truly hapless mainstream media.
https://lettersfromaustralia.substack.com
Michael Gray Griffith: Cafe Locked Out
A de facto leader of Australia’s freedom movement, and one of the most significant cultural figures to have emerged in the 2020s, his Cafe Locked Out podcasts have expanded to include a number of independent broadcasters. Michael has travelled the country interviewing people Australian’s damaged by their government’s over-the-top authoritarianism during the Covid panic. He is the country’s leading recorder of the Covid era, and his stunning work, including his beautifully written essays, will prove a subject of interest to historians for decades to come.
https://substack.com/@cafelockeddown
News Sites
TOTT News
Uncannily correct on just about everything, and featuring the talents of the very smart Ethan Nash, TOTT News focuses on issues surrounding government control, including the excessive surveillance, censorship and regulation which characterises Australia’s drift into an authoritarian state.
Michael West Media
Michael West Media is Australia’s leading investigative news site, an independent media publisher covering the rising power of corporations over democracy. It is non-partisan, does not take advertising and is funded by readers. Its investigations focus on big business, particularly multinational tax-avoiders, financial markets and the banking and energy sectors.
Founder Michael West spent eight years as a commentator with The Australian and another eight years with The Sydney Morning Herald as a journalist and editor. Much admired within the profession, West is a Walkley-award winner and Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Social and Political Sciences.
Rebel News Australia
The indefatigable Avi Yemini, described by his critics as “far right”, his gig as Australia’s correspondent for the Canadian news site Rebel News has seen him expose many stories Australia’s mainstream media refuses to touch. Once avoided by the chattering classes because of his bolshie coverage of protests ranging in focus from nationalist anti Islamic to anti-lockdown sentiment, he is now broadly accepted and has generated a significant following. A former member of the Israeli Army, he is unlike any other journalist in Australia.
https://www.rebelnews.com/australia
Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog
It’s hard to know where to place this often excellent news and opinion site. Sometimes veering towards predictable left wing orthodoxies, at other times it is absolutely cutting edge. Under the umbrella of the Sydney Criminal Lawyers collective, it represents a new way of funding independent journalism outside the mainstream. Well worth checking out. Features the work of award winning journalist Paul Gregoire.
https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog
Orthodox Left News and Opinion Sites
Pearls and Irritations
Pearls & Irritations is one of Australia’s leading public policy journals and operates from a broadly left-liberal perspective. It began as a blog in 2013. It’s rationale: “We hold good policy development to be the foundation of good politics. We respect ideas, including contrarian ones, and value the free exchange of ideas as the means to help Australia flourish. Founding editor John Menadue was formerly Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Ambassador to Japan.
Crikey
Crikey is an Australian electronic magazine comprising a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. It is subscription only, which tends to diminish its impact. Crikey was founded by activist shareholder Stephen Mayne. In 2005 Mayne sold Crikey to Private Media Partners, a company, owned by former Editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, Eric Beecher, for A$1 million. Beecher added considerable professional polish to the publication and it continues to attract a high level of expertise.
Homepage Crikey 2022 – LIVE
Independent Australia
Established in June 2010, IA supports a range of voices: “We believe Australians are short-changed by the mass media — and so this publication is dedicated to seeking out the truth and informing the public.”Independent Australia is a progressive journal, supporting freedom and justice for individuals, and getting to the truth. IA opposes governments of the country beholden to vested interests. Our main editorial focus is on federal politics, democratic government, the environment, human rights, Australian identity, Indigenous issues, world affairs, economics, finance, health, law and the justice system.”
https://independentaustralia.net
Croakey
Australia’s leading public health journal was founded by Melissa Sweet, one of the country’s most senior and committed health journalists. It has attracted a talented team from around the country. Leans solidly left on issues such as climate change, immigration and public health. Croakey Media works in closely with government agencies and has both journalism and consultancy arms. “We provide a range of social journalism services and related activities that are important for the health and wellbeing of people, families, communities, societies and the environment.”
Croakey Homepage
Think Tanks
Centre for Independent Studies
Founded in 1976 by Greg Lindsay, a young schoolteacher with an interest in classical liberal ideas, CIS was established in a period marked by much social and political discontent. “We are proud to be associated with some of the greatest leaders in business and academia as visiting lecturers or as CIS members, staff or Directors. Through public policy research, media exposure and events, the CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public.
Institute of Public Affairs
Frequently decried as “conservative”, the Institute provides a healthy counterpoint to the herd mentality of Australia’s legacy media. “The freedom to take responsibility for your own life, family, business and community is fundamental to the Australian way of life. It is this freedom that attracts people from all over the world – it must be preserved and promoted.”
The Institute Of Public Affairs Home
The Australia Institute
Leans firmly left. “We change minds,” the Institute declares. The Australia Institute provides intellectual and policy leadership. We conduct research that drives the public debate and secures policy outcomes that make Australia better. We are confident that we consistently deliver on the promise of our motto: research that matters.”
https://australiainstitute.org.au/
Conservative Leaning Sites
Nick Cater: Reality Bites
Nick Cater is an Australian author, broadcaster, columnist and Senior Fellow at the Menzies Research Centre. He is a former senior editor at The Australian.
https://substack.com/@nickcater
Quadrant
“Our principal purpose is the defence of the values, practices, and institutions of a free and open society by fostering literary and cultural activity of the highest standard. Our principal objective is as relevant today as it was in 1956 when the magazine was founded at the height of the Cold War. We publish essays on literature, music, art, film, television, theatre, architecture, as well as history, philosophy, religion, politics, Australian society and Western civilisation.” Formerly edited by the redoubtable cultural warrior Keith Windschuttle Quadrant offers a vigorous, fiercely intellectual opposition to the state run, culturally left Australian Broadcasting Corporation and to the vacuous coverage of the Murdoch run press, which has 70% of the nation’s daily newspapers.
Home
Caldron Pool
Caldron Pool is a politically and theologically conservative Christian website providing news and opinion on current events.
Caldron Pool
The Unshackled
Lively, irrelevant, youthful, sometimes dismissed as “right wing” because it steps outside the groupthink progressive stances which characterise much of the poseur intellectual life of Australia. It derives considerable energy from its politically incorrect stances and makes extensive use of new media. It is another outlet which has risen in response to the void created by the disdain of mainstream media for the opinions of ordinary working people.
Home
Politicom
Politicom serves as a dedicated online repository for conservative opinion and commentary in Australia, featuring articles, analyses, and perspectives from prominent right-leaning voices on topics such as politics, culture, and policy. It was launched to counter the rote left-wing dominance of Australia’s mainstream media.
Telegram Channels
Cops for Truth
Originally badged Cops for Covid Truth, just in case you thought the nation’s frontline police were onboard with all the government insanity of the era. This site remains an interesting glimpse into a realm never reported in the mainstream. There were many harrowing tales of senior police quitting their jobs in protest at what they were being asked to do, none of which ever properly reported.
t.me/copsforcovidtruth
David Oneegs Aussie Chat
Blessed with the honorific of “conspiracy theorist” by the Murdoch press, David Oneeg established a loyal following during the Covid years, and continues to hold fast to values of truthfulness and decency. He preaches the benefits of exercise, diet and helping others. He attracts a substantial audience.
t.me/daveoneegsauschat
Reignite Democracy
Run by Monica Smit, author of Cell 22. She was a major player in the protests that shook Australia during the Covid era and has established herself as a new generation of political leaders. She declares: “The more the government ignores the people, the louder they will become! We believe that Democracy only works when voters participate. Our mission is to empower citizens around the world.”
t.me/reignitedemocracy
Our Favourite International Sites
Brownstone Institute
Founded during the Covid era, the Brownstone Institute has gone on to be the world’s preeminent and highly influential website for dissident intellectuals.
The Daily Sceptic
If you don’t believe a word your government says, you’re not alone. As the saying goes, government’s lie, and this government lies absolutely.
Home
The Marginalian
The world’s best literary blog. The brainchild of Maria Popova, a Bulgarian born New York based polymath with a rare eye for beauty. She has read everything so the rest of us don’t have to.
Matthias Desmet
The author of The Psychology of Totalitarianism, which introduced the world to the notion of mass formation, this Belgian philosopher is one of the towering intellects of our era.
https://substack.com/@mattiasdesmet
The Red Hand Files. Nick Cave.
From the legendary Nick Cave. Generous with his gifts.
https://www.theredhandfiles.com
The Vigilant Fox
Licensed healthcare professional turned independent journalist. I didn’t trust the media, so I became the media.
https://substack.com/@vigilantfox
Children’s Health Defense
Founded by Robert F Kennedy Jr: “The greatest that America faces today is the chronic disease epidemic in American children.”
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A Sense of Place Magazine is the brainchild of veteran Australian journalist John Stapleton. It began life in 2017 as a book blog. The publication is politically neutral, draws from a wide range of sources, crosses boundaries, is often in the face of the authorities and assumes an intelligent audience.