The New Daily’s expose of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Hawaiian holiday during Australia’s devastating bushfires has been named Scoop of the Year at Friday night’s Walkley Awards.
Former TND political editor Samantha Maiden claimed the award for the 2019 story Hawaii Two-O: Scott Morrison’s bushfire holiday.
The Walkey Award judges found that Maiden’s story not only resulted in an apology from Mr Morrison, but had an impact on the PM’s approach to the pandemic just months later.
Maiden broke the story that the Prime Minister was on holiday in Hawaii while Australia endured its worst bushfire season on record.
For a week prior, the rumour mill had churned with Australians wondering where Mr Morrison was after he disappeared from view while the nation burned.
“Calling into question the Prime Minister’s judgment and dominating headlines for weeks, Sam Maiden showed grit and determination in the pursuit of her ‘Bushfire holiday’ scoop, which not only resulted in a public apology but also helped shape the PM’s hands-on response to the COVID-19 crisis,“ they said.
Maiden revealed the Prime Minister had flown business class to Hawaii with his wife and daughters. She also noted that Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese seemingly had no issue with it.
“I have many criticisms of Scott Morrison – one of them isn’t when he chooses to go on leave with his family,” Mr Albanese said at the time.
Book award win
Investigative journalist Lucie Morris-Marr, who exclusively covered the Cardinal George Pell abuse trials for TND, won the Walkley Book of the Year award.
Morris-Marr wrote her best-selling book, Fallen, at the conclusion of the trials as an examination of one of the most controversial legal cases Australia has seen.
You can read some of her coverage here.
