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INQ is Crikey’s Inquiry Journalism unit.

INQ’s mission is investigative reporting that digs, questions, probes, analyses and scrutinises — relentlessly and without fear or favour.

INQ is part of Crikey, Australia’s most vigorously independent news publication, with almost 20 years of fearless journalism under its belt.

The digging has started.

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The Stories

Wheelchair ramp planned and cash refunded after Inq investigation

After reading Inq's story about Jay White, a provider has offered to build a safe ramp for his home at no cost.

From the recesses of the internet to the front page of The Australian: a bomb-thrower’s journey

Inspired by Sky. Cooked in a dark room. Delivered by the Oz. This is how a News Corp exclusive is made

How shonky providers are draining the accounts of people with disabilities

The NDIS says it has zero tolerance for fraudulent disability providers, but a former investigator tells Inq that fraudulent claims are all too common.

Sky’s the limit as online influence soars and the law struggles to catch up

Sky News' digital strategy has allowed its partisan video content to enjoy an explosive growth online.

Cosy relationships and a front organisation: how Sky News operates as a law unto itself

When the body in charge of regulating pay TV is stacked with Foxtel's own executives, why are we surprised when Sky News' baseless conspiracy theories go unchallenged?

See more stories

Endlessly questioning

Our Inquiry Journalism model is built on questions. We don’t just look for the big stories, we look for the side-stories, the stories under the surface that reveal where the real power lies, and who is influencing it.

Fiercely independent

We’re not part of any establishment, we’re here to scrutinise the establishment and call bullshit when we need to. And unlike so much of Australia’s “local” media, we are actually owned and controlled here, not a mere cog in someone’s global network.

Freely transparent

We often take our readers behind the curtain and under the hood, because how the story happens is sometimes just as important as the story itself. Our journalists reveal the side details so our members get the inside running.

Unshackled from convention

We’re not interested in filling columns, or baiting clicks. Our membership model requires us only to tell important stories, and to live up to the high expectations of our members. Story length, team structure, format, everything is open for discussion. The truth is the only thing that matters.

Follow the money

How investigative journalism is paid for is one of the biggest questions facing the media at the moment. We can’t speak for everyone else, but we can share how INQ is funded. INQ is part of Crikey, which over nearly 20 years has avoided industry trends and remained a subscriber-only email supported by a paywalled site. This reluctance to follow trends has insulated us from industry changes. It seems like every time an algorithm flaps its wings, a news site dies.

Who's Digging?

Meet the team

David Hardaker Reporter
David Hardaker
Reporter
Based in Sydney.

​David has an extensive career as a journalist and broadcaster, primarily at the ABC where he worked on flagship programs such as Four Corners, The 7.30 Report, Foreign Correspondent, AM and PM. He spent eight years reporting in the Middle East and can speak Arabic.

David will be covering legal affairs and crime.

@factualityoz
[email protected]

Kirsten Drysdale Reporter
Kirsten Drysdale
Reporter
Based in Newcastle.

Kirsten started her journalistic career in Brisbane producing video and text content for museums and exhibitions. From there she made her way to TV where she wrote, produced and presented, starting on the ABC’s Hungry Beast in 2009, followed by stints at SBS’ The Feed, various Chaser productions including The Hamster Wheel, Media Circus, The Chaser’s Election Desk, and most notably six seasons of consumer affairs program The Checkout. In addition to her television work, Kirsten produced and hosted Radio National consumer psychology podcast Talking Shop and authored a book I Built No Schools in Kenya.

Kirsten will be covering rural and regional affairs.

@KirstenDrysdale
[email protected]

Georgia Wilkins Reporter
Georgia Wilkins
Reporter
Based in Melbourne.

Georgia has worked as a journalist in Australia and overseas, including six years as a reporter for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. During this time, she worked as a business and finance reporter, covering corporate misconduct, multinational tax avoidance and wrongdoing at the big end of town. She also worked at The Weekly Review and the Phnom Penh Post, where she covered the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

Georgia will be covering business and consumer affairs.

@georgiamareew
[email protected]

Justine Landis-Hanley Reporter
Justine Landis-Hanley
Reporter
Based in Sydney.

Justine has just completed a media and philosophy degree at the University of Sydney. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Saturday Paper and The Age. She has worked as a casual reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, an international fellow to the Agence-France Presse Tokyo bureau, editor of student newspaper Honi Soit, and was The New York Times Australia bureau’s first reporting intern. Justine is passionate about gender equality, and has undertaken public policy research work and fellowships with the G20, the Australian Human Rights Commission, and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

If you have a tip on education you can contact Justine.

@justinel_h
[email protected]

Emily Watkins Reporter
Emily Watkins
Reporter
Based in Sydney.

Emily has been Crikey’s media reporter since she joined in early 2017. She has been a journalist for 12 years, having previously worked for ABC’s Media Watch, the NT News, news.com.au and SA’s Sunday Mail.

Contact Emily about all things media and technology.

@emilykwatkins
[email protected]

Chris Woods Reporter
Chris Woods
Reporter
Based in Melbourne.

Chris began their career in journalism at Long Island newspaper The Statesman in 2013. They spent the next five years freelancing for The Saturday Paper, Junkee, Pedestrian.TV and Brisbane startup blog The Tech Street Journal, before joining Crikey as a freelancer in 2017, Worm writer in 2018, and, finally, INQ reporter in 2019. Chris also volunteers at intersectional feminist current affairs program 3CR Tuesday Breakfast and law reform group Liberty Victoria’s Rights Advocacy Project.

Chris will be covering indigenous affairs.

@tophermwoods
[email protected]

Kishor Napier-Raman Reporter
Kishor Napier-Raman
Reporter
Based in Sydney.

Before joining Crikey in 2018, Kishor was an editor of the University of Sydney’s student paper Honi Soit, an intern at the Sydney Morning Herald on the state news beat, a casual legal reporter for Justinian and the Gazette of Law and Journalism, and a research assistant at the Australian Human Rights Commission.

In his spare time, he is completing a law degree at the University of Sydney.

Kishor will be covering issues with respect to immigration, race and religion.

@kishor_nr
[email protected]

Amber Schultz Reporter
Amber Schultz
Reporter
Based in Sydney.

Amber has been a reporter for The Age, writer for ABC Comedy’s Tonightly, and creator of student talk show The Struggle. She was awarded the Jacoby-Walkley scholarship in 2018, and was an Associate Producer at Nine News. Amber has studied an undergrad degree in The Netherlands and a Masters of International Relations and Journalism at Monash in Melbourne. She is fluent in Spanish.

Amber will be covering all issues related to health for INQ.

@AmberMaySchultz
[email protected]

Charlie Lewis Reporter
Charlie Lewis
Reporter
Based in Melbourne.

Charlie writes chiefly about industrial relations, politics, culture and social services. Prior to INQ he worked in various roles across government and unions and was a researcher for RN’s the Daily Planet. He hosted the Alternative History on Triple R radio, and is a regular guest and occasional host on Breakfasters. He spent the 2019 election in Warringah, covering the fight for Tony Abbott’s seat for Crikey.

Charlie will primarily cover environment and energy, and has a strong interest in industrial relations, politics, culture.

@theshufflediary
[email protected]