This is the policy the newsroom works to. It spells out what we will and will not run as a fact, what an editor has to sign off before a piece publishes, how complaints and corrections are handled, and how AI tools sit in the workflow. If we fall short of what is written here, that is a mistake on our part and we want to hear about it.
The beat
Trending Sheet Australia writes for readers living in Australia. The remit is the stuff that lands in an Australian household: interest rates, mortgage and rent pressure, Centrelink and Services Australia changes, energy bills and retailer price steps, Medicare and bulk billing, the ATO calendar, workplace and Fair Work matters, transport and weather disruption, and the state-level policy calls that move any of those. That is the lane.
Sources we will stand behind
Every factual claim in a piece has to land on a source we can point to by name. Our hierarchy:
- Primary sources. Commonwealth and state government publications. The Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Taxation Office, Services Australia, Centrelink, Medicare, the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Fair Work Commission, the Australian Energy Regulator, APRA, ASIC, the Department of Home Affairs, the Bureau of Meteorology, and the state-level equivalents (for example ESC in Victoria, IPART in NSW, ICRC in the ACT).
- Tier-1 Australian wire and mastheads. ABC News, AAP, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, Guardian Australia, Nine News, SBS News, Sky News Australia, News.com.au for original reporting, and the Australian Financial Review for finance and markets.
- On-the-record statements. Named company announcements to the ASX or via corporate affairs, named union statements, named MPs and ministers, court filings and judgments.
A claim that does not reach at least one of those tiers does not run. If we can only find a summary and cannot locate the original, we either chase the original or cut the paragraph.
What the editor checks before a piece goes live
- Every number, percentage, and dollar figure matches the primary source, including the effective date and the geographic scope (national, state, city, postcode).
- Every name, organisation, electorate, and title is spelled and formatted the way the primary source spells it.
- Every quote is verbatim and attributed to an identifiable person or organisation.
- Forecasts, analyst estimates, and market expectations are labelled as forecasts in the copy rather than presented as settled facts.
- Where credible sources disagree, we name both and spell out the disagreement in the article.
- The Sources block at the end of the article lists every source used, with outbound links to the primary where possible.
AI and the newsroom
The draft is written by a person. AI tools are used for copy editing, for generating illustrative hero artwork, and for the voice narration on our short-form video clips. AI is not used to pick stories, draft copy, verify facts, or generate opinion. The detail, including what each AI tool does and does not touch, is on the AI and Editorial Disclosure page.
Your Money, Your Life
Articles about health, tax, superannuation, Centrelink, Medicare, insurance, and legal matters are checked line by line against the authoritative source: Healthdirect, the myGov and Services Australia portals, the ATO, MoneySmart, the APRA register, Law Council of Australia material, and state health department pages. We report what a policy or rule says and point readers to where they can get advice that is tailored to them. We do not give personal financial, tax, medical, or legal advice ourselves, and no article on this site should be read as a substitute for a professional who knows your circumstances.
Unnamed sources
We will only run information from an unnamed source when the material is in the public interest, there is a genuine reason the source cannot go on the record, and a second source has corroborated the substance. Where an article relies on an unnamed source, the article says so and explains why.
Right of reply
Anyone named in an article, including businesses and public bodies, can respond on the record. Send the response through the Contact page. Depending on what the facts require, we will either add the response to the article, amend the piece, or run a follow-up.
Corrections and complaints
Tell us when we get something wrong. We will correct the article, add a dated correction note at the bottom explaining what changed, and if the error was material we will flag it at the top. The original publication timestamp stays. We do not quietly edit published work.
To flag an error or lodge a complaint, use the Contact page.
Advertising and independence
Trending Sheet Australia is independently owned and edited from outside the advertising business. The site carries display advertising via Google AdSense, and the newsletter may carry sponsor placements via Beehiiv. Advertisers and sponsors have no say in story selection, framing, or publication timing. Any sponsor placement in the feed or newsletter is labelled. We do not accept payment for favourable coverage, and we do not take down accurate stories because someone does not like them.
Who is responsible for a piece
Every article is signed off by an editor. Where a piece carries the institutional byline Trending Sheet Editorial, the responsible editor has read and approved the article against this standard. They are accountable for that article.