Barrister Andrew Fraser, husband of the editor of Pearls & Irritations, Catriona Jackson, has been accused of not declaring his interest in the ACT justice system in an article he wrote for the site claiming that there was a threat to “the efficient operation of its criminal-justice system before the financial year is out”.
Sydney resident Greg Bray said in a letter to P&I: “How unfortunate that the only view of the ACT justice system is given to us by one of the people to profit from its existence.
“Andrew Fraser (barrister) should declare his interest, and P&I would do well to balance Mr Fraser’s views with those of an independent and trained investigative journalist.”
[Full disclosure: I worked for P&I for some months between August 2024 and November 2025.]
Fraser has been a contributor to P&I for some time before his wife became the editor on March 17 last year. Many publications declare such affiliations upfront when articles are published but P&I has not done so; in fact, Jackson published an article written by her mother last year without any disclosure of the fact. Jackson was recently also appointed as the chief executive of the site.
P&I was started in 2013 by former public servant John Menadue who has now stepped back from the day-to-day running of the site. Writers are not paid for their contributions but Menadue’s connections ensure that a number of well-informed public servants, among others, contribute to the site.
In his article, Fraser wrote about the issues with the ACT justice system, quoting leading barrister Bernard Collaery as saying the system needed overall reform.
“Legal Aid, prosecutors and the courts are all under pressure, raising concerns about fairness, workload and the effective operation of the ACT justice system,” he wrote.
While he was active, Menadue took pains to be impartial in his approach to what was selected for publication though he has his own likes and preferences. For instance, he has always taken a balanced view towards China, unlike the Australian mainstream media which skews sharply in an anti-China direction.
Despite this position, Menadue has avoided publishing articles submitted by Chinese diplomats and pro-China newspapers (like the Global Times) so that any appearance of favouritism for one set of views is not raised.
However, in September last year, Jackson accepted an invitation from the Chinese government to visit the country, promising that she would write articles about China on her return. But she did not write a single word.
She wrote: “I am in China for P&I this week, with a group of Australian journalists on a visit sponsored by the Chinese Government and will be very keen to share my impressions when I return.”
One reader, Perth-based Geoff Taylor, sent in a couple of letters inquiring as to when Jackson was going to write the articles she had promised to write. I passed these up the chain to Jackson for approval but neither letter was approved.