Latest news with #GoldWalkley
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald journalists scoop the pool at Kennedy Awards
Journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have scooped the pool at the 2025 Kennedy Awards, taking home eight major prizes. Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie was named journalist of the year for the third time for a body of work that included the Building Bad series, which exposed high-level corruption and organised crime links at construction union the CFMEU. The investigation, which won the Gold Walkley last year, also garnered The Age, Herald, Australian Financial Review, and Nine's 60 Minutes, the award for outstanding investigative reporting. Herald health reporter Angus Thomson was named young journalist of the year for work including an investigation exposing high blood lead levels among Indigenous children in the mining town of Broken Hill, and a series of exclusive reports on Sydney's troubled Northern Beaches Hospital. Testament to the success of cross-platform collaboration at Nine, the Herald 's Eryk Bagshaw, Clare Sibthorpe and Bianca Hrovat and 60 Minutes ' Natalie Clancy won the award for outstanding television current affairs reporting for their exposure of sexual assault and migrant worker exploitation in Sydney's restaurant industry. Photographer Flavio Brancaleone claimed two awards for his arresting images from the Vatican of the funeral of Pope Francis, including the prize for outstanding news photography. The public voted his image of the late pope lying in state the winner of the 'Power of the Lens' award. The Age journalists Michael Bachelard and Charlotte Grieve won the prize for outstanding reporting on the environment for their story on carbon offsets, 'Dollars in the dust: Is outback scrub really saving the planet?' In recognition of the unseen work that is the backbone of the Herald newsroom, associate editor Kathryn Wicks was named mentor of the year. She shared the award with 60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thompson.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The Age's Nick McKenzie wins journalist of the year at Kennedy Awards
Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie has claimed the title of Kennedy Awards journalist of the year for a third time, in the annual celebration of excellence in journalism. McKenzie's award was among eight recognising the work of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald 's journalists on Friday night. McKenzie led the mastheads' groundbreaking Building Bad investigation, which earned the gong for outstanding investigative reporting. The investigation – which won the Gold Walkley and Gold Quill and was the culmination of years of work by teams across the Age, the Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes – exposed allegations of intimidation and corruption in the building industry. Age senior writer Michael Bachelard and Age investigative reporter Charlotte Grieve received the Kennedy Award for outstanding reporting on the environment for their exploration of whether carbon offset schemes in the outback are working. Former Age political editor Michelle Grattan was honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the ceremony in Sydney, alongside inaugural Kennedy chairperson Peter Ryan. The award for outstanding television current affairs reporting in the longform category went to Out of Order, a joint 60 Minutes investigation by Herald investigative journalist Eryk Bagshaw, Herald crime reporter Clare Sibthorpe, Good Food editor Bianca Hrovat and 60 Minutes associate producer Natalie Clancy. The investigation exposed allegations of sexual harassment, drug abuse, and wage exploitation inside some of the country's most prestigious restaurants. Age editor Patrick Elligett congratulated all winners and finalists. 'These results confirm The Age 's reputation as the country's premier outlet for investigative journalism,' he said.
The Age
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
The Age's Nick McKenzie wins journalist of the year at Kennedy Awards
Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie has claimed the title of Kennedy Awards journalist of the year for a third time, in the annual celebration of excellence in journalism. McKenzie's award was among eight recognising the work of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald 's journalists on Friday night. McKenzie led the mastheads' groundbreaking Building Bad investigation, which earned the gong for outstanding investigative reporting. The investigation – which won the Gold Walkley and Gold Quill and was the culmination of years of work by teams across the Age, the Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes – exposed allegations of intimidation and corruption in the building industry. Age senior writer Michael Bachelard and Age investigative reporter Charlotte Grieve received the Kennedy Award for outstanding reporting on the environment for their exploration of whether carbon offset schemes in the outback are working. Former Age political editor Michelle Grattan was honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the ceremony in Sydney, alongside inaugural Kennedy chairperson Peter Ryan. The award for outstanding television current affairs reporting in the longform category went to Out of Order, a joint 60 Minutes investigation by Herald investigative journalist Eryk Bagshaw, Herald crime reporter Clare Sibthorpe, Good Food editor Bianca Hrovat and 60 Minutes associate producer Natalie Clancy. The investigation exposed allegations of sexual harassment, drug abuse, and wage exploitation inside some of the country's most prestigious restaurants. Age editor Patrick Elligett congratulated all winners and finalists. 'These results confirm The Age 's reputation as the country's premier outlet for investigative journalism,' he said.
The Age
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
The Sydney Morning Herald journalists scoop the pool at Kennedy Awards
Journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have scooped the pool at the 2025 Kennedy Awards, taking home eight major prizes. Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie was named journalist of the year for the third time for a body of work that included the Building Bad series, which exposed high-level corruption and organised crime links at construction union the CFMEU. The investigation, which won the Gold Walkley last year, also garnered The Age, Herald, Australian Financial Review, and Nine's 60 Minutes, the award for outstanding investigative reporting. Herald health reporter Angus Thomson was named young journalist of the year for work including an investigation exposing high blood lead levels among Indigenous children in the mining town of Broken Hill, and a series of exclusive reports on Sydney's troubled Northern Beaches Hospital. Testament to the success of cross-platform collaboration at Nine, the Herald 's Eryk Bagshaw, Clare Sibthorpe and Bianca Hrovat and 60 Minutes ' Natalie Clancy won the award for outstanding television current affairs reporting for their exposure of sexual assault and migrant worker exploitation in Sydney's restaurant industry. Photographer Flavio Brancaleone claimed two awards for his arresting images from the Vatican of the funeral of Pope Francis, including the prize for outstanding news photography. The public voted his image of the late pope lying in state the winner of the 'Power of the Lens' award. The Age journalists Michael Bachelard and Charlotte Grieve won the prize for outstanding reporting on the environment for their story on carbon offsets, 'Dollars in the dust: Is outback scrub really saving the planet?' In recognition of the unseen work that is the backbone of the Herald newsroom, associate editor Kathryn Wicks was named mentor of the year. She shared the award with 60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thompson.
The Advertiser
03-07-2025
- The Advertiser
The sooner we close for-profit childcare centres, the better
Is it safe to take my grandchildren to childcare? Is it? What are the odds of them becoming victims of sex abuse at the hands of a predator? I don't care what the odds are. There should be no chance that we take children to daycare and they will be violated. Penetrated. Poisoned. Victims of utter perversion. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years, later that our babies - babies, toddlers - must be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years later that they may bear scars of trauma we did not even know about. That we couldn't possibly know about. This week, we learned that 26-year-old Melbourne man Joshua Dale Brown is charged with abusing eight children at different centres in Melbourne. Some of them were as young as five months old. He is alleged to have abused them, filmed them. He worked at 20 centres. 20 centres. He allegedly did it over years, and the alleged abuse was only just discovered. This is an absolute disgrace. And the sooner we close all childcare centres which are run for-profit, the better. Get Affinity out of the sector. It was home to nine of the 20 centres where the alleged sex offender worked. Where was he working when these charges were laid? A G8 centre, also for-profit, and God knows how many kids he may have harmed before his alleged abuse was discovered. Did you know that the text message asking parents to test their kids for sexually transmitted infections was sent to 1200 parents? How would you manage if you got that text message yourself? Brown is obviously innocent until proven guilty, but the mere fact that someone who has worked in the childcare industry for a lengthy period is accused of such horrific crimes going back some years raises real questions about the operation of the sector. I would not normally interview another journalist, but I called Adele Ferguson, a Gold Walkley award winner who has now turned her focus on childcare. Thank God. She revealed horrific images of a baby being slapped repeatedly by "carers", also an Affinity centre. Those utter vermin filmed the incident and laughed. She told us about the centre owner who kept children on a bus during a quality inspection. And what does she say about who should run childcare in this country? It should be publicly funded, not-for-profit. "It should be about learning and socialisation and not profit," she says. The continued domination of the private sector in childcare has led to a serious misalignment of values. Instead of thinking about what's best for children, owners of these centres think about what's best for their shareholders, says Ferguson. This. Must. Stop. Can we seize what might be called the means of production of labour power? Those are the places where we learn the skills to contribute to society. Invaluable institutions which need to be protected. They are not protected right now. I asked Caroline Croser-Barlow, former senior public servant and now CEO of The Front Project, which focuses on early childhood systems, if we should ban all commercial investment in childcare. Anything is possible, she says, but it would be an enormous enterprise worth billions of dollars. "Is the safety of our children more likely to be in good hands if we did that? Probably," she says. "That's worth thinking about." More. Likely. To. Be. In. Good. Hands. That should be enough, shouldn't it? We don't see schools sold off to be run by private equity, do we? Mind you, the Albanese government's appetite for socialism isn't huge. So if we can't buy out every for-profit provider (even though we should), what other suggestions does Croser-Barlow have? "You don't have to socialise to get increased not-for-profit provision - but I understand the impulse which is to say profit dynamics are impacting on the safety and quality of provision." And here's when she kills me: "It is true to say that, on average, that taken as a whole, a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be high quality than a for-profit provider and a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be providing a service to disadvantaged cohorts than are for-profit providers." I see that there is a campaign by some that men should not be allowed in childcare centres. Look, there is a lot wrong with modern men. They are responsible for most of the horrific violence in this country and they definitely need urgent help away from their barbaric practices and behaviours. But in this case, it's allowing our babies to become commodities, their care bought and sold for profit. How tight can you keep your food budget? How many lies can you tell to make it look like you have enough educators to care for the number of children at your centre? And why not pay a pathetic amount to the casual who barely has qualifications instead of hiring experienced educators. One former childcare worker tells me that children are often left alone with one educator and that the workforce is massively casualised (which has an impact on the kids). And she reminds me that most child sex abuse is perpetrated by someone the children know, often in their family. The Albanese government did a lot to improve conditions for childcare educators - but now we need much more regulation, we need policing. We need to shut down centres which don't comply. And I swear to God, seize any profits made by centres where serious breaches happen. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, has some very good advice for the government. We urgently need clarification around who is responsible for what in early childhood education and care. We must stop the fragmentation which makes it so easy for a predator to slide between one centre and the next. The Parenthood and so many others are calling for a National Early Childhood Commission to oversee all of it. Strict reporting lines. Ensure quality. Assure quality. Tough regulatory settings. "We need a far more direct relationship between funding and the required outcomes," says Dent. And the most required outcome? The absolute safety and sanctity of all children. Is it safe to take my grandchildren to childcare? Is it? What are the odds of them becoming victims of sex abuse at the hands of a predator? I don't care what the odds are. There should be no chance that we take children to daycare and they will be violated. Penetrated. Poisoned. Victims of utter perversion. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years, later that our babies - babies, toddlers - must be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years later that they may bear scars of trauma we did not even know about. That we couldn't possibly know about. This week, we learned that 26-year-old Melbourne man Joshua Dale Brown is charged with abusing eight children at different centres in Melbourne. Some of them were as young as five months old. He is alleged to have abused them, filmed them. He worked at 20 centres. 20 centres. He allegedly did it over years, and the alleged abuse was only just discovered. This is an absolute disgrace. And the sooner we close all childcare centres which are run for-profit, the better. Get Affinity out of the sector. It was home to nine of the 20 centres where the alleged sex offender worked. Where was he working when these charges were laid? A G8 centre, also for-profit, and God knows how many kids he may have harmed before his alleged abuse was discovered. Did you know that the text message asking parents to test their kids for sexually transmitted infections was sent to 1200 parents? How would you manage if you got that text message yourself? Brown is obviously innocent until proven guilty, but the mere fact that someone who has worked in the childcare industry for a lengthy period is accused of such horrific crimes going back some years raises real questions about the operation of the sector. I would not normally interview another journalist, but I called Adele Ferguson, a Gold Walkley award winner who has now turned her focus on childcare. Thank God. She revealed horrific images of a baby being slapped repeatedly by "carers", also an Affinity centre. Those utter vermin filmed the incident and laughed. She told us about the centre owner who kept children on a bus during a quality inspection. And what does she say about who should run childcare in this country? It should be publicly funded, not-for-profit. "It should be about learning and socialisation and not profit," she says. The continued domination of the private sector in childcare has led to a serious misalignment of values. Instead of thinking about what's best for children, owners of these centres think about what's best for their shareholders, says Ferguson. This. Must. Stop. Can we seize what might be called the means of production of labour power? Those are the places where we learn the skills to contribute to society. Invaluable institutions which need to be protected. They are not protected right now. I asked Caroline Croser-Barlow, former senior public servant and now CEO of The Front Project, which focuses on early childhood systems, if we should ban all commercial investment in childcare. Anything is possible, she says, but it would be an enormous enterprise worth billions of dollars. "Is the safety of our children more likely to be in good hands if we did that? Probably," she says. "That's worth thinking about." More. Likely. To. Be. In. Good. Hands. That should be enough, shouldn't it? We don't see schools sold off to be run by private equity, do we? Mind you, the Albanese government's appetite for socialism isn't huge. So if we can't buy out every for-profit provider (even though we should), what other suggestions does Croser-Barlow have? "You don't have to socialise to get increased not-for-profit provision - but I understand the impulse which is to say profit dynamics are impacting on the safety and quality of provision." And here's when she kills me: "It is true to say that, on average, that taken as a whole, a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be high quality than a for-profit provider and a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be providing a service to disadvantaged cohorts than are for-profit providers." I see that there is a campaign by some that men should not be allowed in childcare centres. Look, there is a lot wrong with modern men. They are responsible for most of the horrific violence in this country and they definitely need urgent help away from their barbaric practices and behaviours. But in this case, it's allowing our babies to become commodities, their care bought and sold for profit. How tight can you keep your food budget? How many lies can you tell to make it look like you have enough educators to care for the number of children at your centre? And why not pay a pathetic amount to the casual who barely has qualifications instead of hiring experienced educators. One former childcare worker tells me that children are often left alone with one educator and that the workforce is massively casualised (which has an impact on the kids). And she reminds me that most child sex abuse is perpetrated by someone the children know, often in their family. The Albanese government did a lot to improve conditions for childcare educators - but now we need much more regulation, we need policing. We need to shut down centres which don't comply. And I swear to God, seize any profits made by centres where serious breaches happen. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, has some very good advice for the government. We urgently need clarification around who is responsible for what in early childhood education and care. We must stop the fragmentation which makes it so easy for a predator to slide between one centre and the next. The Parenthood and so many others are calling for a National Early Childhood Commission to oversee all of it. Strict reporting lines. Ensure quality. Assure quality. Tough regulatory settings. "We need a far more direct relationship between funding and the required outcomes," says Dent. And the most required outcome? The absolute safety and sanctity of all children. Is it safe to take my grandchildren to childcare? Is it? What are the odds of them becoming victims of sex abuse at the hands of a predator? I don't care what the odds are. There should be no chance that we take children to daycare and they will be violated. Penetrated. Poisoned. Victims of utter perversion. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years, later that our babies - babies, toddlers - must be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years later that they may bear scars of trauma we did not even know about. That we couldn't possibly know about. This week, we learned that 26-year-old Melbourne man Joshua Dale Brown is charged with abusing eight children at different centres in Melbourne. Some of them were as young as five months old. He is alleged to have abused them, filmed them. He worked at 20 centres. 20 centres. He allegedly did it over years, and the alleged abuse was only just discovered. This is an absolute disgrace. And the sooner we close all childcare centres which are run for-profit, the better. Get Affinity out of the sector. It was home to nine of the 20 centres where the alleged sex offender worked. Where was he working when these charges were laid? A G8 centre, also for-profit, and God knows how many kids he may have harmed before his alleged abuse was discovered. Did you know that the text message asking parents to test their kids for sexually transmitted infections was sent to 1200 parents? How would you manage if you got that text message yourself? Brown is obviously innocent until proven guilty, but the mere fact that someone who has worked in the childcare industry for a lengthy period is accused of such horrific crimes going back some years raises real questions about the operation of the sector. I would not normally interview another journalist, but I called Adele Ferguson, a Gold Walkley award winner who has now turned her focus on childcare. Thank God. She revealed horrific images of a baby being slapped repeatedly by "carers", also an Affinity centre. Those utter vermin filmed the incident and laughed. She told us about the centre owner who kept children on a bus during a quality inspection. And what does she say about who should run childcare in this country? It should be publicly funded, not-for-profit. "It should be about learning and socialisation and not profit," she says. The continued domination of the private sector in childcare has led to a serious misalignment of values. Instead of thinking about what's best for children, owners of these centres think about what's best for their shareholders, says Ferguson. This. Must. Stop. Can we seize what might be called the means of production of labour power? Those are the places where we learn the skills to contribute to society. Invaluable institutions which need to be protected. They are not protected right now. I asked Caroline Croser-Barlow, former senior public servant and now CEO of The Front Project, which focuses on early childhood systems, if we should ban all commercial investment in childcare. Anything is possible, she says, but it would be an enormous enterprise worth billions of dollars. "Is the safety of our children more likely to be in good hands if we did that? Probably," she says. "That's worth thinking about." More. Likely. To. Be. In. Good. Hands. That should be enough, shouldn't it? We don't see schools sold off to be run by private equity, do we? Mind you, the Albanese government's appetite for socialism isn't huge. So if we can't buy out every for-profit provider (even though we should), what other suggestions does Croser-Barlow have? "You don't have to socialise to get increased not-for-profit provision - but I understand the impulse which is to say profit dynamics are impacting on the safety and quality of provision." And here's when she kills me: "It is true to say that, on average, that taken as a whole, a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be high quality than a for-profit provider and a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be providing a service to disadvantaged cohorts than are for-profit providers." I see that there is a campaign by some that men should not be allowed in childcare centres. Look, there is a lot wrong with modern men. They are responsible for most of the horrific violence in this country and they definitely need urgent help away from their barbaric practices and behaviours. But in this case, it's allowing our babies to become commodities, their care bought and sold for profit. How tight can you keep your food budget? How many lies can you tell to make it look like you have enough educators to care for the number of children at your centre? And why not pay a pathetic amount to the casual who barely has qualifications instead of hiring experienced educators. One former childcare worker tells me that children are often left alone with one educator and that the workforce is massively casualised (which has an impact on the kids). And she reminds me that most child sex abuse is perpetrated by someone the children know, often in their family. The Albanese government did a lot to improve conditions for childcare educators - but now we need much more regulation, we need policing. We need to shut down centres which don't comply. And I swear to God, seize any profits made by centres where serious breaches happen. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, has some very good advice for the government. We urgently need clarification around who is responsible for what in early childhood education and care. We must stop the fragmentation which makes it so easy for a predator to slide between one centre and the next. The Parenthood and so many others are calling for a National Early Childhood Commission to oversee all of it. Strict reporting lines. Ensure quality. Assure quality. Tough regulatory settings. "We need a far more direct relationship between funding and the required outcomes," says Dent. And the most required outcome? The absolute safety and sanctity of all children. Is it safe to take my grandchildren to childcare? Is it? What are the odds of them becoming victims of sex abuse at the hands of a predator? I don't care what the odds are. There should be no chance that we take children to daycare and they will be violated. Penetrated. Poisoned. Victims of utter perversion. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years, later that our babies - babies, toddlers - must be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea. We shouldn't have to hear weeks, months, years later that they may bear scars of trauma we did not even know about. That we couldn't possibly know about. This week, we learned that 26-year-old Melbourne man Joshua Dale Brown is charged with abusing eight children at different centres in Melbourne. Some of them were as young as five months old. He is alleged to have abused them, filmed them. He worked at 20 centres. 20 centres. He allegedly did it over years, and the alleged abuse was only just discovered. This is an absolute disgrace. And the sooner we close all childcare centres which are run for-profit, the better. Get Affinity out of the sector. It was home to nine of the 20 centres where the alleged sex offender worked. Where was he working when these charges were laid? A G8 centre, also for-profit, and God knows how many kids he may have harmed before his alleged abuse was discovered. Did you know that the text message asking parents to test their kids for sexually transmitted infections was sent to 1200 parents? How would you manage if you got that text message yourself? Brown is obviously innocent until proven guilty, but the mere fact that someone who has worked in the childcare industry for a lengthy period is accused of such horrific crimes going back some years raises real questions about the operation of the sector. I would not normally interview another journalist, but I called Adele Ferguson, a Gold Walkley award winner who has now turned her focus on childcare. Thank God. She revealed horrific images of a baby being slapped repeatedly by "carers", also an Affinity centre. Those utter vermin filmed the incident and laughed. She told us about the centre owner who kept children on a bus during a quality inspection. And what does she say about who should run childcare in this country? It should be publicly funded, not-for-profit. "It should be about learning and socialisation and not profit," she says. The continued domination of the private sector in childcare has led to a serious misalignment of values. Instead of thinking about what's best for children, owners of these centres think about what's best for their shareholders, says Ferguson. This. Must. Stop. Can we seize what might be called the means of production of labour power? Those are the places where we learn the skills to contribute to society. Invaluable institutions which need to be protected. They are not protected right now. I asked Caroline Croser-Barlow, former senior public servant and now CEO of The Front Project, which focuses on early childhood systems, if we should ban all commercial investment in childcare. Anything is possible, she says, but it would be an enormous enterprise worth billions of dollars. "Is the safety of our children more likely to be in good hands if we did that? Probably," she says. "That's worth thinking about." More. Likely. To. Be. In. Good. Hands. That should be enough, shouldn't it? We don't see schools sold off to be run by private equity, do we? Mind you, the Albanese government's appetite for socialism isn't huge. So if we can't buy out every for-profit provider (even though we should), what other suggestions does Croser-Barlow have? "You don't have to socialise to get increased not-for-profit provision - but I understand the impulse which is to say profit dynamics are impacting on the safety and quality of provision." And here's when she kills me: "It is true to say that, on average, that taken as a whole, a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be high quality than a for-profit provider and a not-for-profit provider is more likely to be providing a service to disadvantaged cohorts than are for-profit providers." I see that there is a campaign by some that men should not be allowed in childcare centres. Look, there is a lot wrong with modern men. They are responsible for most of the horrific violence in this country and they definitely need urgent help away from their barbaric practices and behaviours. But in this case, it's allowing our babies to become commodities, their care bought and sold for profit. How tight can you keep your food budget? How many lies can you tell to make it look like you have enough educators to care for the number of children at your centre? And why not pay a pathetic amount to the casual who barely has qualifications instead of hiring experienced educators. One former childcare worker tells me that children are often left alone with one educator and that the workforce is massively casualised (which has an impact on the kids). And she reminds me that most child sex abuse is perpetrated by someone the children know, often in their family. The Albanese government did a lot to improve conditions for childcare educators - but now we need much more regulation, we need policing. We need to shut down centres which don't comply. And I swear to God, seize any profits made by centres where serious breaches happen. READ MORE JENNA PRICE: Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, has some very good advice for the government. We urgently need clarification around who is responsible for what in early childhood education and care. We must stop the fragmentation which makes it so easy for a predator to slide between one centre and the next. The Parenthood and so many others are calling for a National Early Childhood Commission to oversee all of it. Strict reporting lines. Ensure quality. Assure quality. Tough regulatory settings. "We need a far more direct relationship between funding and the required outcomes," says Dent. And the most required outcome? The absolute safety and sanctity of all children.
