John Saxon Tingle (2 November 1931 – 5 August 2022) was an Australian politician, journalist and broadcaster. He was the founder of the
Shooters Party
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) is an Australian political party. It primarily advocates for increased funding and services for rural and regional Australia, protecting the right to farm, enhancing commercial and recreational fishi ...
in New South Wales, and was a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...
from 1995 to 2006.
Early life
Born in
Edgecliff, New South Wales
Edgecliff is a small suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Edgecliff is located 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollah ...
, Tingle attended
Sydney Boys High School
Sydney Boys High School (”SBHS”), otherwise known as The Sydney High School (“SHS”) or High, is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically s ...
from 1944 to 1949.
Radio and TV career
He was a broadcaster and news editor at
Deniliquin
Deniliquin () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area.
Deniliquin is located at the intersection of the Riverina ...
from 1949 to 1951 before becoming a journalist 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 ...
from 1951 to 1968. During that time, he was supervisor of
ABC TV News and chief of staff of the
ABC News service, among other positions.
He switched to
commercial radio
Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (an ...
in 1969. Tingle said his decision to leave the ABC and venture into talkback on commercial radio was influenced by
Ormsby Wilkins
Ormsby Cecil Wilkins (6 March 1916 - 18 February 1976) was an Australian radio presenter.
He is most notable for being the first person in Australia to take talkback calls when the format was made legal in 1967.
Career
Wilkins' career began ...
.
Wilkins was notable for taking the very first legal talkback calls on radio in Australia.
Tingle presented current affairs programs on stations including
2UE,
2UW
KIIS 1065 (call sign: 2WFM) is a commercial broadcasting, commercial FM radio station in Sydney, Australia, on a frequency of 106.5 MHz. KIIS 1065 is one of the flagship stations on Australian Radio Network, ARN's KIIS Network. The station's ...
,
Radio Australia
ABC Radio Australia, also known as Radio Australia, is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia's public broadcaster. Most programming is in English, with some in Tok ...
,
2SM
2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group.
The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's.
2SM's progra ...
(1978–1982),
3AW
3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.
The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co.
Hist ...
in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
(1996), and
4BK in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
(1997), before returning to 2SM.
He then worked at 2GB (1982–1992) and
2CH (1992–1995).
[ Originally presenting the 2GB morning program between 9am and 12pm, Tingle was forced to move to an afternoon timeslot in 1985 when the station managed to sign ]John Laws
Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian radio announcer. For 50 years, until 2007, he was the host of an Australian morning radio program combining music with interviews, opinion, live adverti ...
to a three-year contract to host the morning show.
In 1977, Tingle established the Australian Telephone Users' Defence Union to advocate against the seemingly questionable accuracy of the accounting and billing system used by Telecom Australia
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
.[ In the early 1980s, Tingle used his radio show to protest against backdated electricity charges, forwarding 3,000 complaints to the ]Ombudsman
An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...
. The Ombudsman later found that the charging was illegal and the retrospective charging was discontinued.[
During his radio career, Tingle also presented TV programs on ]Seven
7 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
7 or seven may also refer to:
* AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era
* 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era
* The month of
July
Music Artists
* Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...
and Nine
9 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
9 or nine may also refer to:
Dates
* AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era
* 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era
* 9, numerical symbol for the month of September
Places
* Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...
in Sydney, ABC TV Queensland and Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
, WIN4 Wollongong and SBS. Two of Tingle's Channel 9 programs included the Sunday morning current affairs program ''Probe'' and a Sunday evening program called ''Police Five''.
His 1982 radio documentary on the Polish background of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
won a United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Prize
The United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) is the official non-profit, non-government, membership-based, organisation in Australia working on behalf of the United Nations core body to promote its overall aims and ideals, and equally s ...
.
Political career
Tingle founded the Shooters Party
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) is an Australian political party. It primarily advocates for increased funding and services for rural and regional Australia, protecting the right to farm, enhancing commercial and recreational fishi ...
in 1992. Tingle has said he was compelled to establish the Shooters Party after increasing regulation of gun ownership in Australia which included the 1992 Firearms Act introduced into New South Wales parliament by police minister Ted Pickering
Edward Phillip Pickering (born 1 November 1939) is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1976 to 1995.
Pickering was born in Newcastle, and studied for a Bachelor of Science m ...
. Pickering's description of shooters as lazy, inert and apathetic prompted Tingle to register the Shooters Party on Friday 15 May 1992, with 10,000 members.[
In his maiden speech, Tingle said he represented the thousands of outdoor enthusiasts who did not pose a threat to anyone and were frustrated that their activities were becoming limited by a confusing array of laws and regulations that made little sense and seemed to have no benefit.] He was the party's vice-chairman until August 2013, when he resigned from the party due to a disagreement regarding the party's direction.[
He rejoined in 2019, and was reinstated as patron and founder.]
Despite being the founder of the Shooters Party, Tingle at one time denied a claim made by a journalist he was leader of the party.
In 1995, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...
as a Shooters Party (later Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) is an Australian political party. It primarily advocates for increased funding and services for rural and regional Australia, protecting the right to farm, enhancing commercial and recreational fishi ...
) member, serving for eleven years until his resignation in 2006.[ His decision to resign came after he was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in late 2005, a disease from which his father died in 1994.]
During his time in parliament, he initiated seven successful bills, served on the Staysafe Committee for 11 years, and on the Ministerial Advisory Council on Shooting Clubs for 10 years.
Tingle was vocal in his opposition to the Howard Government's proposal to reform Australia's gun laws following the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, although he agreed there was no need for average Australians to have access to semi-automatic or pump-action shotguns. He later described the period following the massacre as his "most unpleasant memory" due to the death threats he and his family received for several months, and the need to be protected by a Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
bodyguard.[
In 2007, he was appointed to the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal.
]
Personal life
Tingle had three children.[ His daughter, ]Laura Tingle
Laura Margaret Tingle (born 14 February 1961''Who's Who in Australia'', ConnectWeb, 2016.) is an Australian journalist and author.
She is the chief political correspondent of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's '' 7.30'' current affairs t ...
, is a political journalist in Canberra, and chief political correspondent of the ABC current affairs program, ''7.30
''7.30'' is an Australian nightly television current affairs program which broadcasts on ABC and ABC News at on Monday to Thursday nights. The program is currently hosted by Sarah Ferguson.
History
The program first aired on 7 March 2011, re ...
''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tingle, John
1931 births
2022 deaths
Politicians from Sydney
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party politicians
Australian nationalists
21st-century Australian politicians