2024 All Media: Scoop of the Year

This reporting exposed the backroom political dealings of Michael Pezzullo and provided a window into how Australia’s then most powerful public servant wielded that influence. After years of examining the Department of Home Affairs’ operations, Nick McKenzie and his team legally obtained hundreds of encrypted messages that Pezzullo, the head of the department, had sent to influential Liberal Party powerbroker Scott Briggs.

The messages revealed Pezzullo’s attempts to influence two coalition prime ministers and cabinet, and to muzzle the press, with the aim of promoting the careers of conservative politicians he considered allies and badmouthing those he did not like.

Securing this scoop entailed months cultivating sources to secure a trove of private messages sent by Pezzullo over several years. The reporters trawled through thousands of WhatsApp and Signal messages to build this exposé of covert influence, which was presented through digital, print and television stories.

On the night the stories went live, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke to the minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil. The following morning, Pezzullo was stood down. O’Neil referred concerns to the Australian Public Service Commission and, within weeks, Pezzullo became the first public servant to be dismissed for misconduct. A National Anti-Corruption Commission inquiry is now under way.