Brian Wilshire (born 30 March 1944 in
Strathfield
Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A ...
, Sydney, Australia) is a retired radio broadcaster for
2GB Sydney. He hosted the 'Australia overnight' programme (12:00am – 3.30 am) up until 11 December 2015
The signature of the show was the tune, "Hanky Panky", by Pete Fountain.
Brian Wilshire began his radio career in November 1969 at 2NZ in Inverell
He won almost every survey at 2GB for 36 years.
Wilshire has many interests including snow skiing, car racing (having won his class in 1993 at
Bathurst, New South Wales, Bathurst), writing books (his ''The Fine Print'' was Australia's best-selling book in 1992 — source: Dymock's, Who Magazine), and playing drums in bands "
Stringybark
A stringybark can be any of the many ''Eucalyptus'' species which have thick, fibrous bark. Like all eucalypts, stringybarks belong to the family Myrtaceae. In exceptionally fertile locations some stringybark species (in particular messmate strin ...
" and "Koala Soup".
Wilshire has previously expressed sceptical views on mainstream climate change science.
Controversy over racial comments
On 16 December 2005, Wilshire was forced to make a public apology, after allegedly saying on air that many Middle Eastern immigrants were inbred as a result of
consanguinity
Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin '' consanguinitas'') is the characteristic of having a kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor).
Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are related by blood fr ...
and thus hard to educate.
"Many of them (referring to the carloads of youths who invaded the Sutherland Shire following the Cronulla riots) have parents who are first cousins whose parents were first cousins. The result of this is inbreeding – the result of which is uneducationable (sic) people...and very low IQ.”
At no stage during the discussion was there any mention of the race of the rioters. The media assumed Wilshire was talking about Lebanese.
His comments were met with outrage. "It reveals an uneducated comment on his part – they are disgraceful comments," then Premier,
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
, said.
Stephen Stanton, spokesman for the Lebanese human rights organisation Cedarwatch:
"One is
ydney radio2GB and the moronic manner that gargling boofhead has been berating and denigrating you. The airwaves are useless if they are used by people such as that. The other is newspapers such as The Australian."
Following condemnation, including by Premier Iemma, Wilshire has since apologised for his comments.
He has since returned to 2GB Overnights in about May 2016, only about five months after retiring.
Referencing the 2gb.com website as of 22 November 2018, Wilshire is no longer working with the radio station in any capacity.
Bibliography
*''The Fine Print: Australia's Special Role in the New World Order'' (1992)
*''Fine Print 2'' (1993)
*''"One Man Banned"'' (1996) with Peter Sawyer
*''Monday School: What They Didn't Teach You in Sunday School'' (1996)
References
External links
News report about his controversial comments
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilshire, Brian
1944 births
Australian non-fiction writers
Conservative talk radio people
Australian radio personalities
Living people
People from Sydney
People educated at Barker College
Former 2GB presenters