This story is about the evolution of political narrative, the rewriting of history, and the impact on communities who live with the consequences.
All the flying kicks were in the headlines. The real fight was locals landing truth where it counted.
There are moments in your life when you discover that the people holding power are not the ones holding the line. My time as the civics reporter at our local newspaper taught me that over and over again. It gave me a front-row seat to people who were brave, stubborn, principled and sometimes exhausted, and it showed me how far federal, state and local governments can blur the lines long before anyone steps in to hold them accountable.
Writing about these issues was never simple. But it introduced me to some extraordinary individuals, including three men whose names deserve far wider recognition: former MP John Hatton, community investigator Peter Alison, and researcher Alan Burrows. For more than 16 years, they have tracked, analysed, documented and repeatedly raised the alarm about one of the most extraordinary corruption scandals in regional NSW. Their work was sitting in folders, waiting to be shared, waiting for someone to pick it up again.
If Cat Holloway had not made the decision to publish their research on Spark Shoalhaven, that story would have slipped quietly into silence. See her first exposé and the follow-up that dug even deeper It certainly would not have been given oxygen by people like me, or debated on local platforms, or forced into the sunlight once the Shaolin abbot’s arrest made it impossible to ignore.
And this is the point. When we start handing out state funerals to figures like Graham Richardson, we shouldn’t be surprised that so many people feel powerless. We have normalised a culture where political misbehaviour is excused, sanitised or quietly forgotten. Communities watch this pattern repeat and begin to wonder whether anything they do matters.
A group of journalists and community advocates have decided it does, and I’m proud to stand with them. Over the next 12 months we will be spotlighting the people who refuse to give up, the people who keep speaking even when they’re ignored, the people who still believe integrity matters. These are the researchers, whistleblowers, campaigners and everyday residents who know their voice can cut through.
We have had enough of corruption being normalised. Enough of governments ignoring detailed, painstaking evidence while dismissing those who gather it. Enough of communities being told to move on.
This next chapter belongs to those who didn’t.
And now, for anyone who enjoys contrast, here’s a short chapter in “Things Said Out Loud Then, and Things Said Very Carefully Now.”
Then versus now: what they said in 2007 vs what they’re saying in 2025
Matt Brown — Then (2007, Sydney Morning Herald)
As NSW Tourism Minister, he championed the Shaolin proposal:
“It will be the first time in 1500 years that another Shaolin Temple will be built and to have it built in Australia is a huge coup.”
He assured the abbot the NSW Government would “do whatever it can for the project.”
He helped connect the monks with Shoalhaven Council and began the land conversation.
Matt Brown — Now (2025, ABC Illawarra)
Eighteen years later, the tone has shifted:
“There were just some practices I felt a little uneasy with… discomfort with what was said and then not followed up.”
A huge coup in 2007.
A vague uneasiness in 2025.
This is how political memory is revised.
Greg Watson — Then (2007)
When Brown told him the monks wanted land, Watson, then Shoalhaven Mayor, replied:
“Have I got a deal for you.”
He led delegations, promoted the land, and moved the project forward with enthusiasm.
Greg Watson — Now (2025)
His current position is that criticism is:
“politically-motivated electioneering to re-write history.”
But the history is written in their own words.
What happens now
Now that the Shaolin story has burst wide open, every key figure will step forward with their carefully crafted lines. Their PR advisers will try to airbrush the past, soften their role and retreat into the language of misgiving and hindsight.
But communities are smarter than that.
They remember.
And they recognise the people who kept the truth alive when no one in power wanted to hear it.
The real warriors weren’t performing flying kicks.
They were locals landing truth where it counted.
Disclaimer:
And because public commentary in NSW seems to require a legal pre-emptive strike:
I am not accusing anyone of wrongdoing.
I am not alleging corruption, misconduct or illegal behaviour by any person named or quoted.
Everything referenced here comes from individuals’ own publicly recorded statements , from 2007 media coverage and from interviews given this week
#Shoalhaven #NSWPolitics #IntegrityMatters #DemocracyInAction #PublicInterestJournalism #CommunityPower #PlanningFailures #Accountability #LocalGovernment #TruthTellers