So what's it all about? It's a series based on freedom of information requests that our journalists have made across all levels of government and their agencies. It's about the truth and transparency. It's about holding politicians and bureaucrats to account. It's about your right to know more about the issues that matter to our community.

We've published nine articles so far - and there's a lot more to come.

Already it's making an impact.

It was only last Saturday that we kicked off the series with Donna Page's report on the Truegain contamination nightmare at Rutherford. Six days later, after years of inaction, the NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean was on the "appalling" site with the EPA promising action on the issue.

The series has also shed new light on the Newcastle East Public School asbestos scare and revealed the alarming number of assaults on staff at Hunter hospitals - a number those on the firing line say is only the tip of the iceberg.

But just as important as the information we've been able to bring you has been the information we haven't been.

Though it's called freedom of information, the reality is that the information is anything but free.

The system is stacked in favour of the government. The process is expensive, laborious and too often ends in rejection and redactions.

Matthew Kelly's outstanding story on the Herald's requests that had been knocked back revealed a system that isn't working in favour of the public.

It's incredibly frustrating but I can assure you we'll keep digging.

You may have seen reference to the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas in the stories and wondered what that was all about.

Well, the good people at the institute have made this project possible by providing a grant for us to fund these freedom of information applications.

Joanne McCarthy won the grant at the Kennedy Awards in 2019 when she won the award for regional and rural newspaper reporting.

She was determined that the Herald use the grant for an all-of-newsroom series - and this week's work has been the result. Just another reason why Joanne McCarthy is a champion. Though she has retired from journalism, her legacy lives on and her work is still making a difference.