Gerard Henderson (born 1945) is an Australian author,

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

and political commentator. He founded and is executive director of The Sydney Institute, a privately funded Australian current affairs forum.

Education and earlier career

Henderson attended

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. ...

in Melbourne, before studying arts and law at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

and completing a PhD. Henderson taught at the

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and La Trobe universities before working for four years on the staff of Kevin Newman in the Fraser Government. He moved to the Department of Industrial Relations in 1980; from 1984 to 1986 he was chief-of-staff to

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

, during which time Howard was deputy leader, then leader, of the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

. The Keating Government appointed Henderson to the board of the Australia Foundation for Culture and the Humanities. Later, the Howard government appointed him to the Foreign Affairs Council. He was one of the people invited to

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

Australia 2020 Summit The Australia 2020 Summit was a convention, referred to in Australian media as a summit, which was held over 18-19 April 2008 at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, aiming to "help shape a long-term strategy for the nation's future". Announ ...

held in April 2008.

Works

For several years, Henderson had a weekly column in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''. He also writes "Media Watch Dog", a weekly compendium of media criticism, written from the perspective of a

blue heeler The Australian Cattle Dog (ACD), or simply Cattle Dog, is a breed of herding dog originally developed in Australia for droving cattle over long distances across rough terrain. This breed is a medium-sized, short-coated dog that occurs in two ...

named Nancy. In December 2013, his column moved to ''The Weekend Australian'', which also carries Media Watch Dog. He has written several books. * ''Mr Santamaria and the Bishops'' (Hale & Iremonger, 1982; ) * ''Australian Answers'' (Random House Australia, 1990; ) * ''Gerard Henderson Scribbles On'' (Wilkinson Books, 1993; ) * ''

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

' Child: The Liberal Party of Australia'' (HarperCollins, 1994; second edition 1998: ) * ''A Howard Government? Inside the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

'' (HarperCollins, 1995; ) * ''B. A. Santamaria'' (HarperCollins, 2005; ) * ''Santamaria: A Most Unusual Man'' (MUP, 2015; ) * ''Cardinal Pell, the Media Pile-On & Collective Guilt'' (Connor Court Publishing, 2021; )

Media appearances

In 1994, Henderson profiled former prime minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

TV program ''

Four Corners The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...

''. He was a regular political commentator on radio, and appeared occasionally on '' Insiders'', another ABC TV program. In early 2020, Henderson was dropped from the show after new host

David Speers David Gordon Speers (born 9 September 1974 in Inverell, Australia) is an Australian journalist and host of '' Insiders'' on ABC TV. Previously he was political editor at Sky News Australia, as well as host of '' PM Agenda'', '' The Last Wor ...

reportedly wanted to try new conservative voices amid claims from sources in the ABC that Henderson failed to sufficiently engage with issues during panel discussions.

Views

In 2006, Henderson said

had lost the ongoing

culture wars A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...

, writing, "In my view, there is only one area where the Coalition has failed to have a significant impact – namely, in what some have termed 'the culture wars'." He has supported the movement for Australia to become a republic.Republicans may feel entitled to sneer, but it won't help their cause
Gerard Henderson's Weekly Column, 29 March 2014

References

External links

Gerard Henderson columns
in ''

''
Media Watch Dog archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Gerard 1945 births Living people Journalists from Melbourne Bloggers from Melbourne Australian columnists The Australian journalists Australian public servants People educated at Xavier College University of Melbourne alumni Conservatism in Australia Australian republicans University of Tasmania faculty La Trobe University faculty People from Balwyn, Victoria