Kate McClymont

Sydney Morning Herald

“We are merely the eyes and the ears for our readers, and everything we do, we do for them.”

Known as the queen of Australian investigative journalism, Kate McClymont has exposed corruption and the abuse of power by key players in Sydney’s political and corporate circles. When on the hunt, this multi-award-winning-journalist will stay on a story for as long as it takes – more than a decade in some cases – to reveal the truth behind murder, bribery, corruption and other criminal behaviour.

Career Timeline

1981: McClymont graduates with a B.A. (Hons) in English Literature from the University of Sydney.

1982: She finds a job at Bay Books, where she stays for 18 months and works on an A-Z of Australia and New Zealand, an experience she later describes as dire. After a break overseas, she works at the Australian Caption Centre, writing movie subtitles for hearing impaired people. 

1985: McClymont applies for a job at The Sydney Morning Herald, and succeeds in securing a graduate cadetship with Fairfax Media. She impresses the panel when she recounts how she earned money during her university days by charging passers-by at Kings Cross to argue with her and, for an extra payment, verbally abuse them or their friends. After an unsatisfying spell at a style section, she moves to The Eastern Herald, where she writes a column, in which she regularly exposes the questionable activities of movers and shakers in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

1986: Her column attracts the attention of editors at The National Times who offer her a job that she accepts; she later moves to the paper’s successor, The Times on Sunday.

1987: McClymont, dedicated to investigative reporting, becomes a researcher at the ABC’s flagship investigative reporting program, Four Corners.

1990: She returns to the Fairfax stable, finding her niche as an investigative reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.

2002: She breaks a story with Anne Davies about salary cap breaches by the Canterbury Bulldogs, resulting in the club being stripped of its points and fined. Davies and McClymont win the Gold Walkley for their investigation.

The pair also accuse NSW Minister and power broker Eddie Obeid of seeking a $1 million donation to the Labor Party in exchange for smoothing the way for a Bulldogs housing development. Obeid successfully sues over the claim in 2006. McClymont continues probing his activities, and in 2013, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) recommends charges be laid against Obeid. In 2016 he is sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.   

2011: MClymont reveals misuse of credit cards, fraud and other offences by Health Services Union president Michael Williamson, who is later jailed for fraud.

2013: She is appointed to the Senate of the University of Sydney.

2014: She becomes a director of the Walkley Foundation.

2015: McClymont agrees to chair the Walkley Advisory Board.

2016: She is awarded the Australian Press Council’s Press Freedom Medal for her “uncompromising investigative journalism, painstakingly uncovering and revealing uncomfortable truths, often at considerable risk’’, according to the council chairman.

2017: McClymont and the ABC expose former popular TV gardening personality Don Burke as a sexual predator, misogynist and bully. 

MClymont is inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

She becomes Pro-Chancellor of the University of Sydney.

2020: She is made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the print media and to investigative journalism.

Awards

1990: NSW Law Society’s Golden Quill award for excellence in legal reporting.

1992: Australian Shareholders’ Association award for excellence in financial reporting (with Colleen Ryan); NSW Law Society’s Golden Quill award for excellence in legal reporting (with Colleen Ryan).

1993: Walkley, best coverage of a current story, print (with Colleen Ryan).

1995: Australian Racing Writer of the Year.

2002: Gold Walkley (with Anne Davies); Walkley, investigative journalism (with Anne Davies); Australian Sports Commission Media Award (with Anne Davies).

2012: Kennedy, Gold Spirax - NSW Journalist of the Year; Kennedy, scoop of the year; Kennedy, outstanding investigative reporting; Walkley, investigative journalism (with Linton Besser); Walkley, print news report; George Munster Award for Independent Journalism (with Linton Besser).

2013: Kennedy, outstanding crime reporting; Kennedy, outstanding court reporting; Kennedy, scoop of the year (with Linton Besser); 

2014: Sir Owen Dixon Chambers Law Reporting Award. 

2016: Australian Press Council’s Press Freedom Medal (with Paul Maley).

2017: Inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

2018: Walkley, print/text news report (with Lorna Knowles, Tracey Spicer and Alison Branley); Walkley, television/video current affairs, short (with Lorna Knowles, Tracey Spicer, Alison Branley and ABC and Fairfax teams). 

2020: Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the print media and to investigative journalism; Walkley, print/text news report (with Jacqueline Maley); Kennedy, outstanding investigative reporting (with Jacqueline Maley; Danger Lifetime Achievement Award.

2021: Walkley, print/text news report; Kennedy, outstanding online news breaking (with Lucy Cormack).

2023: Walkley, outstanding contribution to journalism.

Books

Dead Man Walking: The Murky World of Michael McGurk and Ron Medich (Vintage, Australia, 2014) (with Vanda Carson).
He Who Must Be Obeid: the Untold Story (Vintage, Australia, 2014) (co-authored with Linton Besser).