Accountability for Alice is an independent, non-profit research and analysis publication. We cover policing, corrections, courts, coronial findings and public policy in the Northern Territory — focused not on individual crime stories but on the systems, budgets and decisions that produce them.
The Northern Territory has a media environment weighted heavily toward one framing of public safety: more police, more punishment, more prison. That framing is loud, well-resourced, and politically useful. It is not the only framing, and on the evidence it is not the one most likely to reduce harm.
We exist to publish the other side of the ledger. We write research and analysis — not daily news — on what policing, corrections and criminal justice policy in the Territory actually cost, who they actually affect, and what the evidence says about whether they work. We draw on Royal Commissions, coronial findings, Auditor-General reports, FOI-obtained documents, and published academic research. Every piece cites its primary sources.
We are not a campaign. We do not pretend to be neutral about whether the recommendations of two Royal Commissions should be implemented — on that, the record has been clear for 35 years. But our method is analytical and our arguments are footnoted. If you can find an error in our sourcing or reasoning, we want to hear about it, and we will publish the correction.
Accountability for Alice is written and edited by a small group of lawyers, researchers, community workers and writers based in the Northern Territory and interstate. We publish under a shared byline — The Accountability desk — rather than under individual names.
There are two reasons for that. The first is substantive: we want our analysis to be judged on its sources and reasoning, not on who is making the argument. The second is practical: some of us work in fields — law, health, the public service, First Nations advocacy — where putting our name to this kind of writing would create professional or safety risks that we are not willing to ask our colleagues, clients, patients or communities to wear.
That is a position other pseudonymous publications and samizdat outlets have long taken. It does not lower our evidentiary bar; if anything it raises it. A pseudonymous publication that gets a fact wrong has fewer ways of recovering its credibility, so we try very hard not to.
If you want to write for us — pseudonymously or under your own name — see the contact section.
Every investigation we publish follows the same rules:
Every statistic is sourced to a primary document — a Royal Commission report, a coronial finding, an AIC publication, an annual report, or a dataset we've obtained. Sources are cited inline.
Any organisation or individual we make specific findings about is contacted for response before publication. Responses are included in full or summarised fairly.
If we get something wrong, we correct it on the page where it was published, with a dated correction note. We do not silently edit.
We do not name people who have died in custody without the explicit consent of their families and communities. Coronial findings are public; grief is not.
We will not reveal a confidential source under any circumstances. Our submission channels are designed so we cannot identify senders, even if we wanted to.
All reporting is free to read and share. We do not run advertising. We do not accept funding from governments, political parties, police unions, or corrections contractors.
Reader support. That's the short answer. The longer answer lives on this page and will be updated quarterly.
We publish an annual financial statement listing every funder who gives more than $1,000 in a year, along with any editorial conditions attached. (There aren't any.) Individual small donations are aggregated without identifying donors.
We do not accept: funding from governments (Commonwealth, state or territory); from political parties; from police or corrections unions; from companies that hold government contracts for corrections, detention, policing technology, or security services; or from foundations whose editorial conditions we consider incompatible with independent journalism.
We do accept: individual reader donations, recurring supporter contributions, and unrestricted grants from philanthropic bodies that support independent media. Every funder of more than $1,000 per year is listed publicly.
If you believe something we've published is factually wrong, email corrections@accountabilityforalice.org. We aim to respond within 48 hours.
If you believe we've breached our editorial standards, our code of ethics, or the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics — or if you want to complain about something more serious — email editor@accountabilityforalice.org. Complaints we can't resolve internally are referred to the Australian Press Council.
All corrections are published on the original article page, dated and clearly marked. Significant corrections are also posted to Instagram and Facebook.
We welcome tips, leaked documents, firsthand accounts, footage, and dataset corrections. We protect sources. Pick the channel that suits the sensitivity of what you're sending.
For most tips, Signal is the best first step. Messages are end-to-end encrypted and disappearing messages are available. Save the number, then message us.
+61 4__ ___ ___ (add once phone connected)For written submissions or attachments up to 25MB. We publish our PGP key so you can encrypt your email contents to us directly.
tips@accountabilityforalice.orgFor larger document packages, USB drives, or anything you'd rather not send digitally. No return address required; we accept anonymous packages. Mail is collected from a PO Box not associated with any editor's home or workplace.
PO Box ___For comment requests, interview requests, correction queries, or anything not confidential.
editor@accountabilityforalice.orgFor non-sensitive messages, introductions, or feedback on our social content. Do not send confidential material this way — use Signal instead.
@accountabilityforaliceSame as Instagram: non-sensitive only. Messenger is not end-to-end encrypted by default. For anything confidential, use Signal.
fb.com/accountabilityforalice◆ A note on safety If you are an employee of a government agency, police force, or contractor, please consider contacting us from a personal device on a personal network — not from work equipment — and using a browser's private mode. We cannot protect you from metadata your own devices generate before the message reaches us.
Reader support is how we stay independent. A recurring contribution — from $5 a month upwards — directly funds FOI costs, legal review, data subscriptions, and the ability to pay First Nations writers and photographers properly.
Supporters get: the weekly newsletter with behind-the-scenes notes; early access to carousels and data before they go on social; and the warm feeling of funding accountability journalism that isn't going anywhere.
One email a week. New investigation if there is one. Best of the week's social carousels. Short list of things worth reading elsewhere. No ads. Easy unsubscribe.
Logos (wordmark, stacked, monogram), approved photography, editor bios, and a one-page explainer — for journalists writing about us, conference organisers, and anyone embedding our work with credit.