IA celebrates 16 years of truth telling

Independent Australia turns 16 today, 24 June 2026. Beginning in turbulent times amidst a 2010 Labor leadership spill, history editor Dr Glenn Davies provides his tribute to IA — ‘news with a conscience’.

THE FOUNDING OF Independent Australia 16 years ago certainly didn’t happen during a time of political quiet.

Currently in Britain, there hasn’t been any political quiet since the disastrous local council elections on 5 May 2026. The following ten weeks of leadership speculation and plummeting opinion polls resulted in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing on 22 June 2026 his intention to resign and pave the way for the “king of the north” and newly elected MP Andy Burnham to replace him in the top job

If successful, Burnham will be the seventh British Prime Minister in just under ten years. The revolving PM door has also been an Australian political tradition since 2010. This reporter remembers 16 years ago when the first article was published — the day after the “night of long knives” when Julia Gillard rolled Kevin Rudd for the prime ministership.

At the same time, Kevin Rudd was being deposed, Independent Australia emerged as an independent Australian voice.

Pauline Hanson, Joh Bjelke-Petersen and the IA story

IA founder Dave Donovan explains why holding politicians like Joe Bjelke-Petersen and Pauline Hanson to account is paramount for Independent Australia, and has shaped its existence.

Independent Australia believes in a fully and truly independent Australia, a nation that determines its own future, a nation that protects its citizens, its environment and its future. A country that is fair and free.

IA founder David Donovan explained recently how the publication's origin story is founded on holding politicians like Joh Bjelke-Petersen and Senator Pauline Hanson to account, and how paramount this is for Independent Australia.

IA accordingly rejects the principles of hereditary monarchy, as well as dictatorial, theocratic or bureaucratic models of government.

Interestingly, 100 years before the birth of Independent Australia, the then Labor Prime Minister Andrew Fisher was attempting to “Australianise” our government system and national symbols. Fisher took a keen interest in the complex question of national identity. Home-grown symbols, he knew in his heart, were essential for a nation so young. The fragile cultural fabric needed connections, some stitching and some leadership.

Among other initiatives, such as the introduction of the Australian penny in 1911, Fisher had the Australian Coat of Arms (designed by the College of Arms in England) remodelled to give it a more Australian flavour by having wattle included as the decoration surrounding the Coat of Arms.

One hundred years later, former Australian Republic Movement vice national chair David Donovan continued to fight the good fight of Fisher’s to create an independent Australia.

Since those first days in 2010, IA has become the premier republican voice in Australia — the modern-day version of The Bulletin in its heyday of the 1880s and 1890s.

Australia has a long tradition of independent, republican journalism. This tradition was first established in newspapers such as the People’s Advocate and Empire of the 1840s and 1850s and supported by The Age in the 1870s and 1880s.

This prevalent theme in publications continued into the 1890s, such as in the Newcastle Radical, the Wagga Hummer, the Cairns Advocate, the Melbourne Tocsin, the Hobart Clipper and John Norton’s Truth. But it was in the pages of The Bulletin of the 1880s and 1890s that the flowering of republican ideals can mostly noticeably be seen to emerge.

Over the past 16 years, the task of documenting our shared republican history has included Dr Lee Duffield, Stephen Williams, David Muir, Barry Everingham, Dr Benjamin Thomas Jones, Lewis Holden, Scott Crawford, Dr Klass Woldring, John Skene, Robert Vose, Roy McKeen, Ynes Sanz, Alan Austin, Kelly Butterworth, Sarah Brasch, Len Liddelow, Robert Wood, Geoff Bayly, John Warhurst, GJ Burchall, John Quiggin, John Jiggens , Daniel Gregory, Mike Pepperday, Michael Keating, Stuart Edser, as well as, of course, myself and David Donovan himself.

For this reporter, this historical journey had begun much earlier with a 1988 James Cook University history honours thesis, The Australian Republican: a Charters Towers based radical journal, 1890-1891. Coincidentally, the first edition of The Australian Republican was published on 21 June 1890 — 136 years, almost to the day, before Independent Australia.

But there is still a great deal more to document. Australia’s republican past has a rich and deep seam. It is important to remember that our future is inextricably linked to our shared past.

Australia’s republican voice has been lost for a long time. There have certainly been many writers, artists, academics and politicians who have actively advocated for an Australian republic over the past century. However, they have not had a home where they can all shelter under the same roof.

Independent Australia has become that space – a republican space, a republican civic space – where republicans and others can debate the issues that are important to our political and civic future.

Thanks to David Donovan and all the contributors to Independent Australia, the republican tribe can look around and see who they are.

It is a relief that in a volatile and changing online media landscape, Independent Australia has not only managed to stay afloat but has become a strong, alternative voice to the mainstream media. It has been a long time since Australia has had such a strong republican voice.