Rampart is a premium subscription news publication specialising in Australian business and finance. It was established in 2025 by Joe Aston, Australia’s most incisive and courageous business commentator.
Rampart eschews traditional daily news reporting to focus on investigative commentary, a style Aston pioneered at the Australian Financial Review.
Rampart seeks to inform and to entertain.
Why subscribe to Rampart?
A rampart is, of course, a defensive structure that protects the population of a city from attack. In this age of rampant misinformation and disinformation, Rampart arms its subscribers with the knowledge they need to survive the torrents of nonsense gushing every day from our major companies and elected governments.
Rampart is fearless in laying out the real story; in puncturing the cant and delusion of Australia’s most powerful people and uncovering misconduct in corporations and public institutions. Rampart publishes purely for its readers, not its contacts.
And while others rush to deliver the first take, Rampart takes the time to deliver the best take. Rampart illuminates the facts with their context to reveal what the news really means, providing its subscribers with a calibre of analysis unavailable anywhere else.
Who is Rampart for?
Rampart is for Australia’s top executives, policymakers and investors: those in the know, and those who aspire to be. This isn’t content for the masses - it is for the nation’s most sophisticated news consumers who demand nonpareil. Rampart’s subscribers gain insights they simply can’t afford to miss.
How Rampart makes money
Rampart generates revenue in two ways: via the paid subscriptions of its discerning readers and via commercial sponsorships from corporate partners. Sponsorship content is always clearly differentiated from editorial content and these partnerships never affect Rampart’s editorial judgment - though, of course, that is for readers to judge.
Rampart’s standards
Rampart has three simple operating principles:
1. Accuracy and integrity: Rampart is committed to the factual accuracy of its work and believes in publicly admitting to its mistakes. Any errors of fact are promptly and conspicuously corrected. To request a correction, contact us at hello@rampart.news.
2. Independence: Rampart and its journalists are politically unaffiliated, while none of its journalists directly/actively owns shares in ASX-listed companies or any financial products they write about. Rampart is operated and owned as a standalone journalism business, with no incentive to push related products (such as real estate or streaming).
3. Transparency: All conflicts of interest, potential or real, are declared to readers. Rampart maintains a public register of any external income (such as speaking fees) its journalists receive from corporate interests. Any sponsored travel is also declared. Rampart’s approach is to give its subscribers all relevant information, enabling them to draw informed conclusions about the publication’s motivations and standards.
Rampart’s partnership with the Australian Financial Review
In January 2025, Rampart entered into a commercial partnership with the Australian Financial Review, under which the AFR receives a share of Rampart’s revenue and in return provides Rampart with legal services. Joe Aston also returned to the AFR to write a monthly column, which you can access here.
Rampart’s partnership with Squiz Media
Squiz Media has been contracted by Rampart to provide operational support for its business administration, subscriber management and publishing. Squiz Media is also acting as Rampart’s sales representative for corporate partnerships and subscriptions. If you want to know more about those, get in touch via hello@rampart.news.