It’s time to stop paying Putin

3 months ago 19

One of the great things about editing a newspaper is being able to throw a spotlight on issues that might otherwise struggle to attract attention – and keep the glare firmly fixed until you achieve a result.

We have a great track record of that at the Herald. Recently, we have revealed systemic corruption in the CFMEU via our “Building Bad” investigation. We have also pushed the federal government to fix the leaking roof at the National Gallery of Australia via a “Save our NGA” campaign, lobbied hard for an overhaul of poker machine policy in NSW through the “State of Addiction” series, and lifted the lid on underquoting in the Sydney property market with the “Bidding Blind” probe.

Australia is inadvertently helping to fund Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

The Herald this week launched our latest campaign, “Blood Oil”, showing how oil imported to Australia is helping Russian President Vladimir Putin pursue his evil war on Ukraine. It’s sick, it’s wrong and it needs to end. It’s time to stop paying Putin.

Australia banned the import of Russian crude in early 2022 when Ukraine was invaded, but a loophole is allowing the import of oil products of Russian origin if they have been refined in a third country. Russia and the big oil companies have scrambled to find a way around these measures by “laundering” the oil through refineries in India, Malaysia, Singapore and China.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a non-profit group based in Europe, estimates that between February 2023 and June 2025, Australians bought $3.8 billion worth of petrol and diesel produced from Russian crude and refined in India alone, generating about $2 billion in tax revenue for Moscow.

Shamefully, Australia has recently been the world’s largest importer of refined fuels made from Russian crude. And at a time when we should be cutting out any reliance on Russian products, Australian imports from Indian refineries using Russian crude more than doubled between September and October.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, thinks it’s possible that Australian consumers, industry and perhaps even the Australian Defence Force have never consumed more Russian-derived fuel than they do today.

“It seems immoral that Australia’s $2 billion in payments to Russia exceeds its $1.5 billion of support to Ukraine,” he recently wrote in the Herald.

The European Union and United Kingdom have pledged to shut down this back-door trade but the Albanese government has bizarrely dug in its heels, arguing it is powerless to do anything. The Herald disagrees, and supports advocates in the Ukrainian community in Australia who are pushing Labor to do more.

We have published several pieces on this issue so far, including:

A great overview from Europe correspondent David Crowe examining the scale of the problem and how it might be fixed.
A story by foreign affairs correspondent Matthew Knott revealing that Australian superannuation funds have been profiting from the Russian shipments.
A visual exploration by investigative reporter Eryk Bagshaw of the sort of Russian weapons the oil revenue could be funding.
A very personal opinion piece by Mark Corrigan, one of the campaigners for change.
A story on the potential price impacts for motorists of blocking Russian oil from Australia.
Two editorials explaining our campaign and urging the government to act.

There is much more to come, including a podcast episode on Monday featuring Kateryna Argyrou, the brilliant chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations and honorary consul of Ukraine in Sydney. Kateryna’s cousin, Yurii Sayenko, was recently killed by a Russian drone on the frontlines.

Before I go, a call-out to subscribers about a separate issue

The Herald now has a longstanding partnership with the Committee for Sydney’s annual Sydney Summit. The summit is a chance to think about what our city can become. And, with a state election due in early 2027, February’s event will be an opportunity to reflect on the first NSW Labor government in more than a decade, and what it must prioritise over the next 12 months.

Each year’s event also includes a session inviting everyday Sydneysiders to pitch their big ideas for this city. There have been some fascinating and exciting ideas to revitalise the city. At more recent summits, Sydneysiders have made the case for allowing dogs on trains, dropping suburban speed limits to 30 km/h, and rewilding Rushcutters Bay.

This year, we would like to widen our search for these big ideas, and ask Herald readers to submit their own. We will feature some of the best ideas in this newspaper over January, and finalists will be invited to present their ideas at the 2026 summit.

Please submit your ideas using this form.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.