In a 2011 article about alcohol abuse in Indigenous communities, Anna Krien draws a line between the 1967 referendum that meant Aboriginal people were from then on included in the census and the concurrent relaxing of restrictions on the purchase of alcohol in Indigenous communities. She talks to an embattled local publican, who says, ‘In the Territory, we like to call it the drinking-rights referendum. And it was you people in the city who did this to them.’¹ Krien doesn’t like the idea of being lumped in with the urban ‘do-gooders’ who allegedly unleashed this problem, but concedes, ‘Even if I had been alive at the time, I doubt I’d have foreseen the ramifications of entangling drinking rights with equal rights.’

To date, Anna Krien’s work has been characterised by an interest in the unforeseen ramifications that result from moral choices. Her reporting shows over and over again that acting in accordance with our best intentions will  not always produce ideal outcomes. The bulk of her published journalism so far—two books, a Quarterly Essay and sundry articles—represents a detailed illustration of the processes and conditions that distort good motives.