New Matilda editor selling Canberra home to fund independent journalism

Astute buyers looking for a home in the nation’s capital could also help fund independent journalism while they’re at it.

New Matilda editor Chris Graham is selling his Canberra house and will reinvest the money into the online news organisation.

The four-bedroom property at 9 Colbeck Street in Mawson is on the market through LJ Hooker Gungahlin for $719,000.

Mr Graham has moved to Brisbane for a six-month contract managing the National Indigenous Radio Service and will continue on as editor of New Matilda at the same time.

In an open letter written and distributed earlier this week, Mr Graham said New Matilda needed a “serious injection of funds”.

Speaking from Brisbane on Friday, he said the sale of his Canberra house would ensure the media outlet, which is predominantly funded by reader subscriptions, survived long term.

“I’m not going to buy another house, certainly not now,” he said. “[The sale] will be used to fund independent media.

“The business is growing well,. Now it’s sustaining itself enough to pay core staff and contributors but we can’t afford me, which is why I’m in Brisbane doing other things.

“I’ve never drawn a wage from New Matilda … maybe by the end of the year [I will].”

Mr Graham’s Mawson house was raided by the Australian Federal Police in 2006 after the website published an article revealing a source used in an ABC Lateline program lied about sexual slavery in an Indigenous community in northern Australia.

The former Canberran is an avid ice hockey player and built a mini-rink, complete with fake ice and a net, inside the house to practise shooting pucks. The practice rink has since been removed, but the house is conveniently located about five minutes from Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre, home to Ice Hockey ACT.

The Allhomes listing for Mr Graham’s house describes the property as an “outstanding family home with a little bit extra”.

The house sits on a 923-square-metre-block and features a large living room, an open-plan kitchen and meals area, and a covered outdoor entertaining area. There is a rumpus room with a kitchenette on the lower level alongside a bedroom and bathroom: an area which previously housed Mr Graham’s “man cave”.

The property passed in at auction about a fortnight ago.

Mr Graham said traffic to the New Matilda website was up, however the “overwhelming majority” of readers were accessing the site for free.

He said the reinvestment would focus on “convincing folks to help do some of the heavy lifting” by subscribing to the media outlet.

New Matilda will also next week launch a Pozible fundraising campaign to fund the organisation’s weekly columnists.