TAC in $2m contract furore
NICK MCKENZIE AND RICHARD BAKER The Transport Accident Commission awarded a $2 million contract to a consultancy associated with one of its directors without tendering , prompting conflict-of-interest claims.
ACC rapped over file on ex-minister
NICK MCKENZIE AND RICHARD BAKER Australia's elite crime-fighting agency should reform its handling of top secret information, according to an inquiry.
Nigeria to act on RBA bribe claim
RICHARD BAKER AND NICK MCKENZIE Nigeria's National Assembly is to investigate the country's former central bank governor over allegations he was bribed to award a contract to a company controlled by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
RBA gets 'please explain'
NICK MCKENZIE AND RICHARD BAKER The head of Nigeria's central bank has called on the Reserve Bank of Australia to explain why its bank-note firm's dealings in Africa involved multimillion-dollar payments to offshore tax havens.
RBA bosses approved tactics in Nigeria deal
NICK MCKENZIE AND RICHARD BAKER Senior Reserve Bank of Australia officials approved the high-risk business practices that have put its bank-note firm at the centre of an international police probe.
Australia rebuked on graft cases
RICHARD BAKER AND NICK MCKENZIE The world's leading authority on corruption has criticised Australia's record on pursuing foreign bribery cases as Nigeria moves to investigate kickback allegations against a Reserve Bank of Australia company.
Waterfront is 'fertile territory' for crime
NICK MCKENZIE AND LINTON BESSER A litany of case studies reveals the ease with which contacts on the wharf can be easily cultivated by crime syndicate, despite security measures.
'Cocaine gang' had airport security clearance
NICK MCKENZIE The Federal Government granted unrestricted airport security passes to alleged members of a cocaine smuggling syndicate said to be linked to the Bra Boys surf gang.
Device firm flies in controversial surgeon
NICK MCKENZIE AND GERARD RYLE A surgeon being investigated by the US Senate over his financial ties with medical device giant Medtronic was flown by the company to Australia to lecture doctors.
Crime links to doping race scandal
NICK MCKENZIE Officials fear widespread infiltration of Victorian racing by organised crime after revelations that underworld figures own a horse at the centre of a doping scandal.
Collingwood secretly lobbied for park
RICHARD BAKER Secret meetings between State Government and Collingwood Football Club resulted in decision to shift VIS from its purpose-built Olympic Park headquarters - just four years after it moved in.
Priest calls for sex-case review
NICK MCKENZIE Geelong's most senior priest has broken ranks with his boss, Archbishop Denis Hart, to demand a review of the Melbourne Catholic Church's handling of more than 450 church sexual abuse cases over 13 years.
Surgery frauds alleged
RICHARD BAKER AND NICK MCKENZIE Up to 27 surgeons may have been involved in defrauding the Victorian Government's accident insurers of millions of dollars.
- Kossman told hospital chief of billing to boost revenue
- State 'pressured' college to accredit Alfred surgeon
- TAC probe into doctors' billing
- Surgeons angry over TAC tactic
- Move to boost billing controls
- Doctor 'harvested' insured patients to rort public funds
- 'I always acted with integrity as trauma director'
Locals caught in Dubai property deal gone bad
ROYCE MILLAR AND RICK FENELEY For more than 150 years, Geelong Grammar has provided its privileged graduates with the keys to success in an Anglo-dominated Australian society.
Corruption claim on man linked with PM trip
RICHARD BAKER AND PHILIP DORLING Companies controlled by allegedly corrupt former Taiwanese Government minister paid for Kevin Rudd to visit Taipei and gave $1 million to a Brisbane hospital.
Net journal cans Turnbull story
RICHARD BAKER An online article about Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's fund-raising was pulled shortly before publication yesterday.
Inquiry call for state's judiciary
NICK MCKENZIE AND FERGUS SHIEL Victoria's Chief Magistrate has called for a commission to examine complaints about judges and magistrates.
Concern over adviser's talks with jobs agency
RICHARD BAKER An adviser to Deputy Prime Minister and Employment Minister Julia Gillard met executives from a firm which later won lucrative contracts.
Forensic lab row threatens drug prosecutions
RICHARD BAKER Victoria Police's troubled forensic science laboratory is locked in a dispute that threatens its ability to supply essential prosecution evidence in serious crime cases.
Godwin Grech in Dogs pokie mystery
ROYCE MILLAR "It seems implausible that a senior public servant would commit matters to writing which were not accurate."
Visy distances itself from former manager
NICK MCKENZIE Corporate giant Visy has contacted police and distanced itself from one of its former managers after revelations of its links to a Hells Angels boss convicted of drug trafficking.
Farewell paradise
ROYCE MILLAR When Rob Maclellan says Government backing for a billion-dollar housing scheme looks a bit "dodgy" his words are hard to ignore.
Point Nepean bid clears key hurdle
ROYCE MILLAR Major obstacle to defence land at Point Nepean becoming fully fledged national park removed with Brumby Government withdrawing demand that Canberra pay it millions of dollars to take the site over.
Mafia scrutiny under question
RICHARD BAKER AND NICK MCKENZIE The Australian Federal Police's closure of its Rome office shows Australian law enforcement agencies have been underestimating the Calabrian Mafia's reach, senior Italian anti-Mafia investigators claim.
Debus orders crime agency review
NICK MCKENZIE AND RICHARD BAKER Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus orders review of internal workings of Australian Crime Commission after one of its senior officers improperly created a file on his personal habits and political views.
Richard Baker
In 2005 Richard Baker was involved in a series exposing Victoria’s gambling crisis and revealed structural concerns about the WestGate Bridge. He is one of the biggest users of Freedom of Information laws at The Age and despite many frustrations, finds it a good way to break stories. Richard has previously covered state politics (2001-2004), holding the position of state political reporter.
He covered the rural round before that and enjoyed the role immensely, winning several Rural Press Club of Victoria awards for news stories and features. Richard was a trainee in 1999. His main interests are politics, exposing corrupt or improper actions by powerful authorities, environmental issues and Freedom of Information. Richard has broken stories on the Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority, China wanting to set up its own uranium mine and Tigris Petroleum in Iraq.
Royce Millar
Royce Millar is an investigative journalist with a special interest in public policy and government decision-making. His move to the investigative unit in 2008 followed a three-year stint as city editor overseeing a team covering urban affairs, transport and major Melbourne events such as the 2006 Commonwealth Games. For many years Royce was a specialist in planning, development, infrastructure and property in Melbourne. His newspaper career began at a weekly in the Latrobe Valley, followed by stints on suburban papers. He has also worked in radio. Royce has won a string of awards including Melbourne Press Club Quills for transport and his expose of conflicts of interest at the City of Greater Geelong. In 2000 he co-authored Wanna Bet, a critique of the Australian gambling industry. Royce was City Editor before joining the Investigations team. He has reported in Melbourne for 20 years.
Nick McKenzie
Nick McKenzie began his career as an cadet journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He joined the ABC investigative unit in 2003, where he broke major national stories on terrorist financing and abuse in immigration detention centres. In 2003, he exposed in a series of reports the first links between senior European Al Qaeda figures and extremist networks in Melbourne and Sydney.
In 2004, he won his first Walkley award, Australia's leading journalism award, and a Melbourne Press Club investigative reporting award for his expose on Victoria police corruption and the murder of a state corruption witness. One of the stories led to an independent inquiry by Tony Fitzgerald QC, later tabled in state parliament.
While at the ABC, he worked on investigative stories for the 7.30 Report and 4-Corners, before joining The Age's investigative unit in 2006. In 2008, he won a Gold Quill and an investigative Quill for his work exposing the misconduct of one of Australia's leading surgeons. He also won his second Walkley award for his expose of organised crime in the horse racing industry.
Defence 'rejected' minister spy link concerns
Defence officials responsible for covert inquiry into Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon's relationship with businesswoman Helen Liu believe she has had links with China's military intelligence agency.
- Minister's new China link
- Defence fails to find evidence of Fitzgibbon spy probe
- Isolated Fitzgibbon a 'dead man walking'
- Fitzgibbon stays mum on security accessing of computer
- Joel Fitzgibbon's ministerial days appear numbered
- Revealed: Fitzgibbon's other free trip
- Fitzgibbon met Chinese generals with Liu on trip
- Fitzgibbon made error of judgment: Gillard
- Fitzgibbon's wife held big mine share portfolio
- 'I was wrong': Fitzgibbon says sorry
- Fitzgibbon must go: Opposition
- Defence chiefs order probe into Fitzgibbon dirt file
- Dirt file: Defence chiefs order probe into Fitzgibbon leak
Military in Afghan cover-up
Australian military personnel were involved in a cover-up of an investigation into the alleged role of special forces soldiers in the killing and maiming of Afghan civilians.
Pressure puts lobbyist register on list
Brumby Government preparing to introduce lobbyist register as pressure intensifies around ALP over mates, money and influence.
Report tipped to lambast ALP figures
A scathing expose of power abuse and branch-stacking in Melbourne's west is today expected to place the future of a rising ALP star under a cloud.
Ashby told to 'be careful'
Minister tipped off Noel Ashby in 2007 that then union chief Paul Mullett might be under investigation, according to a secret paper.
- OPI tells police to review Mullett bullying probe
- Taking aim: the Ashby conspiracy
- Ex-cop names senior minister
- Pallas denies he warned Ashby
- Linnell spared jail over lies, leaks
- Police outrage Ashby money
- Police union slams shake-up
- Bullying in police training
- Anti-corruption police 'shunned' at academy
Private spies hired by police
Internet communications and websites of anti-war campaigners, environmentalists, animal rights activists and other protest groups are being secretly monitored by state and federal agencies.
Royal Women's called in over lists
The Royal Women's Hospital told the Victorian Government last month that it had submitted false data about waiting lists, prompting accusations of a high-level cover-up.
Doctor silent on money
Senior Melbourne doctor who extolled virtues of surgical implants at international medical conference failed to tell audience of financial ties to a company that sells implants.
Trouble at the Tax Office
A second official from the Australian Taxation Office's tax crime investigation unit has been suspended amid denials of systemic misconduct among its top investigators.
