Our top three stories of the year

Through 2025, we’ve worked on some great stories. Let’s have a quick look back at some of the biggest and most important reporting we did this year.

Starting in May, we have this interview with a scrutineer in Bradfield.

During the Federal election, misinformation on the election process was rampant. The fact that the majority of the count — and subsequent recount, for Bradfield — occurred behind closed doors did not help this. 

When the Bradfield Greens agreed to let me interview their head scrutineer, we expected to meet some big party honcho. What we were not expecting was Bill, who kindly invited us into his lovely Lindfield house for a cup of tea and an incredibly interesting chat.

Having been scrutineering for 20 odd years, Bill had a wealth of experience to talk about, and the interview shed a lot of light on what was actually happening up in the Asquith warehouse where the recount was happening.

Next up we’ve got our story about the St Leonards dead zone, which we published only a couple weeks ago. 

This story came from a reader who wrote to us, asking why this little area in St Leonards seemed so sparsely populated. As it turns out, she was not alone, and chatting to locals around the area, we found it to be quite a common question. Clearly the video resonated with many: it’s one of our most watched of all time.

While this story might not have been exposing a web of corruption or calling out politicians on lies, it was a solid piece of public interest reporting, looking into whether high rents in Sydney are contributing to these dead zones.

Finally let’s turn to some of our local political reporting. Part of the way we look at our role as reporters is to keep our elected officials honest, regardless of party affiliation.

One way that’s been clear recently is how politicians on the North Shore approach climate issues. It’s no secret that in our pocket of Sydney, climate is a big issue and, depending on who you speak to, a vote winner. 

While it might be a dominant majority right now, Labor often gets a free pass on climate, because many expect them to be better than the Coalition by default. As reporters, we are more interested in looking at the actual results, facts, and what experts are saying about policy.

In the 48th parliament, we’ve already gotten a lot of cleverly worded spin on things like the NorthWest Gas Expansion, questionable emission targets, and most recently, the Environmental Protection Reform Bill. 

This is an issue that one of our local members, Jerome Laxale, has been very vocal about. 

When Labor falls short on addressing climate change, criticism is often directed towards Albanese, Watt, and other prominent frontbenchers. But in our reporting, we focused specifically on our local member for Bennelong: weighing up what he promised locals, against what his party delivered. 

This is why we do local media: individual candidates representing our areas aren’t often held directly accountable for the policies their party enacts. With us here, they know they’re being watched.

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