About

Raising Hell is a newsletter published by Australian journalist and author Royce Kurmelovs. His work has been published online and in print by Drilled, The Guardian AU, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera English, The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, The BBC and others. He is the author of five books including The Death of Holden (2016) and Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship With Big Oil (2024).

What is Raising Hell?

Raising Hell began as a newsletter published through Substack at the outset of the pandemic when the future looked uncertain. Much has changed since that time, including my vision for what this newsletter could be, but today Raising Hell is intended to be a central place for people interested in my work to follow what I have been up to, and way for readers to contribute financially to the cost of research if they are willing and able.

What You Will Get

Once a fortnight you will receive an email to your inbox with all the latest I've been up to and some commentary on world events. The subject will change from fortnight-to-fortnight depending on what is making news, and what I have been working on. This may include a look-under-the-hood at a particular story, or a look at the primary materials that underpin an investigation. Sometimes it will include stray thoughts, anything that could not find a home elsewhere, or a follow up to a story that did not rise to the level of a fresh publication, but is still worth covering.

Subscribers

Freelance reporters do not enjoy the same stability and resourcing of major institutions and so much of the initial work needed for me to take on more complicated, more impactful projects is reader supported. The money you contribute helps pay my bills, fund research, travel and run investigations to obtain documents to allow me to chase stories that would otherwise go uncovered.

For an example of how your contribution will be used, in September 2025 I filed a Freedom of Information application to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) asking for major reports held by the department regarding the toxic algal bloom off the coast of South Australia. In response, DCCEEW asked for a payment of $873.42 to process the request. Funds provided by my subscribers at Raising Hell allowed me to pay the fee in full while I challenged this decision. Without it, I would have had to abandon the effort.

Much of this work is invisible to the public, and so there are times where I will talk about what is happening behind the scenes to keep readers in the loop. All Raising Hell posts are free to the public. This is in keeping with my belief in the value of public interest journalism, transparency and the need to remain accountable for anything I put out in the world. If you chose to become a paid subscriber, your contribution ensures this can continue and we can all learn something new together.

Previous models of Raising Hell tried to encourage a "pay what you feel it's worth" model without set tiers. Ghost, the platform that currently hosts Raising Hell, does not support this functionality. Until it does, different "tiers" have been offered to facilitate this sort of contribution. These tiers do not earn any additional benefit beyond allowing me to keep going. There is also the option to contribute a one-time tip who want to support my work but cannot commit to a regular contribution.