Derryn Hinch

Derryn Nigel Hinch (born 9 February 1944) is an Australian media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author, best known for his work on Melbourne radio and television. He served as a Senator for Victoria from 2016 to 2019.

Derryn Hinch
Leader of Derryn Hinch's Justice Party
Assumed office
12 October 2015
DeputyStuart Grimley
Preceded byParty established
Senator for Victoria
In office
2 July 2016 – 30 June 2019
Preceded byRicky Muir
Personal details
Born
Derryn Nigel Hinch

(1944-02-09) 9 February 1944
New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
Political partyJustice
Spouse(s)Lana Wells
(m. 1965; div. 1970)[1]
Eve Carpenter
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1980)​
[1]
Jacki Weaver
(m. 1983; div. 1996)
​
​
(m. 1997; div. 1998)​

Chanel Hayton
(m. 2006; div. 2012)
Domestic partnerLynda Stoner
(esp. 1979; sep. 1982)
Natasha Chadwick
(esp. 2013; sep. 2015) &
(esp. 2017)[2]
ResidenceMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
EducationNew Plymouth Boys'
High School
Occupation
ProfessionJournalist
Politician
Websitewww.justiceparty.com.au

Hinch was elected to the Senate representing Victoria as the head of Derryn Hinch's Justice Party at the 2016 federal election.[3] Aged 72 at the time, Hinch was, when elected, the oldest federal parliamentarian ever to be elected for the first time.[4] He lost his senate seat in the 2019 election.[5]

He remained host of his weekly program Hinch Live until the election campaign period officially commenced, in a decision supported by Sky News Live.[6] He has been the host of 3AW's Drive radio show, and a National Public Affairs commentator for the Seven Network on Sunday Night, Today Tonight and Sunrise.

Hinch has been convicted of contempt of court three times, serving two prison sentences and one sentence of house detention.

Career

Print

Hinch began his career at the age of 15 with the Taranaki Herald in New Plymouth, New Zealand in 1960. In 1963, he came to Australia on the MS Wanganella and joined The Sun in Sydney. By 1966 he had become a foreign correspondent for the Fairfax organisation, and in New York became bureau chief in 1972. He remained living in New York for 11 years.[7] Hinch returned to Sydney and was editor of The Sun in 1976–1977.

Television

Hinch hosted Beauty and the Beast on the Seven Network between 1982 and 1983. From 1987 to 1991, Hinch hosted his own current affairs show on the Seven Network titled Hinch, which later moved to Network Ten where it ran from 1992–1994. In 1994, Hinch joined the Nine Network and hosted The Midday Show for a year. He has also appeared on Dancing with the Stars, Underbelly and Millionaire Hot Seat as a guest playing for charity.[8]

In September 2012, Hinch rejoined the Seven Network as national public affairs commentator, though there were rumours that Hinch might make a comeback (although this never eventuated).[9][10] From February 2015, Hinch hosted a twice weekly news opinion program, Hinch Live, over the weekend on Sky News Australia.[11][12]

Radio

In the 1970s Hinch had short periods as host of programs on Sydney's 2UW and Melbourne's 3MP and 3XY.[13] He broadcast from 3AW for most of the 1980s and 1990s, and then had further stints at the station in the 2000s and 2010s; he also had a short stint at 3AK[14][15] He was often absent from the programs due to suspension, poor health and house arrest. In August 2012, it was announced Hinch's contract would not be renewed by 3AW, and he would be replaced by financial commentator Tom Elliott.[16] He is the Melbourne correspondent for New Zealand radio network Newstalk ZB and often presents political commentaries on the station.[17][18][19]

Acting

In September 2008, Hinch had a four-week run as The Criminologist (narrator) in the Australian tour of The Rocky Horror Show.[20] He also appeared as himself, in a minor role, in the film The Wog Boy with Nick Giannopoulos, in 2000, and made cameo appearances on Fast Forward, which was the same sketch show where he was parodied as Hunch, played by Steve Vizard. Hinch played the role of Senator in 2016 movie The Colour of Darkness.

Politics

In 2015, Hinch established Derryn Hinch's Justice Party, and was subsequently elected to the Australian Senate as senator for Victoria at the 2016 double dissolution election on 2 July 2016. He became the oldest person ever newly elected to the Australian parliament.[4] His party's main emphasis is on criminal justice reform, including tougher sentences for violent and sexual offenders, no bail for those accused of a serious violent offence, parole reform, and a public register of sex offenders. Other positions include equal rights for all citizens regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation, tougher laws against animal cruelty, and support for voluntary euthanasia.[21] Following the announcement of the 2016 Senate election results, other Senators negotiated, against Hinch's objections, to allocate him a three-year rather than a six-year Senate term.[22]

In August 2017, it was revealed that Hinch holds an American Social Security number, raising concerns during the dual citizenship crisis that he may be disqualified from office under Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia.[23] However, in September 2017, the Attorney-General made the decision not to refer him to the High Court.[24][25]

Hinch has shown support for capital punishment.[26]

In the 2019 elections, Hinch lost his seat in the Senate, with the seat going to the Greens. Hinch was seeking re-election after three years.[5] This has left his party unrepresented in the Australian federal parliament, although it retains two seats in the Victorian Legislative Council.[27] The constituencies represented being Western Victoria[28]and Northern Victoria.[29]

Controversies

Michael Glennon

In 1985, Hinch found that Michael Glennon, who had previously been convicted on a charge of indecent assault with a minor, was to be tried on new charges while still running a youth camp. Hinch, who says he was concerned that parents were unknowingly sending their children to Glennon's camp, first appealed privately to then Victorian Premier John Cain and the then-Attorney-General, as well as the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, but in Hinch's words, they "washed their hands" of the situation.[30] Subsequently, Hinch publicly identified Glennon during his trial on the third set of charges, in spite of the strong sub judice rule under Australian jurisprudence. This delayed the trial while Hinch was tried on contempt of court charges; Hinch was fined $10,000 and imprisoned for twelve days.[30] This was the first time anyone had gone to prison on a prior restraint issue in Australia.[31] Hinch appealed his case as far as the High Court of Australia, which affirmed his conviction. In its ruling the Court held that despite Hinch's motivation of warning the public that Glennon continued to hold a position in a youth organisation, it was sufficient to inform them of the current charges against him, and that the information about his prior conviction was prejudicial under Australian law.[32][33] Hinch called the incident "the thing I'm most proud of in my life."[30]

Mick Gatto's call

On 24 June 2008, while Hinch was discussing the celebrity status of underworld crime figures during his drive program, Mick Gatto phoned in and had a brief confrontation with Hinch, ending with a death threat.[34]

John Laws

On 30 July 2007, John Laws and Hinch attended the 40 Years of Radio Legends, after which Hinch complained the "event had been turned into a tribute to Laws", among other comments which caused ill feeling between the two.[35]

On 5 December 2007, Hinch was abused verbally with obscenities by John Laws while dining at lunch with 2CH personality Bob Rogers in a restaurant at the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo, Sydney.[36][37]

Sexual relationship with teenager

In his 2004 book The Fall and Rise of Derryn Hinch, and in a radio editorial in March 2005, Hinch admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old female when he was in his early thirties, although he stated he "thought she was about 25". Following his on-air admission, Herald Sun journalist Andrew Bolt called for his prosecution.[38] In 2013, Hinch wrote that after 30 years the woman had contacted him and said he was wrong about her age. She said she was born in 1961 and they met shortly after he joined 3AW in 1979. That made her 17 at the time of the liaison (which is above the age of consent in Australia).[39] The ABC journalist James Purtill article on 6 July 2016[40] mentions only one (of the two) published self-admissions.

Criminal convictions

1987 conviction and imprisonment

Hinch served 12 days in prison and was fined A$15,000 in 1987 for contempt of court after he publicly revealed paedophile Roman Catholic priest Michael Charles Glennon's prior conviction while a trial was still pending.[32][41]

2011 conviction and home detention

In June 2011, he was convicted of breaching suppression orders against the names of two sex offenders, and was subsequently sentenced to five months' home detention.[42]

2014 conviction and imprisonment

In October 2013, Hinch was found guilty of contempt of court for breaching a suppression order by revealing details of the criminal history of Jill Meagher's killer, Adrian Ernest Bayley. The judge gave Hinch 90 days to pay the fine, or else face 50 days in prison.[43] On 16 January 2014, one day prior to the expiration of the 90-day period, Hinch advised that he would not pay the fine 'on principle'. He was imprisoned on 17 January 2014.[44] On 7 March 2014, he was released from prison after 50 days, having served his full sentence. He was greeted by his partner Natasha Chadwick, other friends and a substantial media contingent.[41][45]

Personal life

Hinch has been married five times.[1] His first marriage was to Lana Wells, an editor. His second marriage was to Eve Carpenter, a flight attendant.[46] He then married Australian actress Jacki Weaver. They were married in 1983 and remained so for 13 years before divorcing in 1996. It has been widely reported that they remarried in 1997 before divorcing again in 1998, however Weaver has denied that any such second marriage ever took place.[47][48] He married Chanel Hayton in February 2006 and they separated in late 2012.[1] His most recent publicised relationship was with Natasha Chadwick, a former detective sergeant with NSW Police and freelance journalist.[45]

In March 2017, Hinch told the New Zealand Herald that he had been molested by a brother of one of his father's friends as a nine-year-old boy in his childhood home in New Plymouth in 1953.[49]

Hinch identifies as an atheist.[50]

Health

In 2006, Hinch lost weight and his health declined.[51][52] On 4 March 2007, he revealed on 60 Minutes he had been suffering from advanced cirrhosis of the liver, and that a tumour had been found on his liver. On 27 April 2007, Hinch returned to hospital for additional scans.[53][54][55] On 4 August 2007, Hinch revealed he had inoperable liver cancer.[56]

On 20 September 2010, Hinch confirmed the liver cancer diagnosis, and said that he expected to undergo surgery to remove a third of his liver, and that this would take him off-air for several weeks. Doctors gave him a 60 per cent chance of surviving a further five years.[57] On 4 November 2010, Hinch told his listeners that his doctors had told him that without a liver transplant, his maximum survival would be 12 months.[58]

On 6 July 2011, Hinch underwent liver transplant surgery at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.[59]

Published works
  • The Scrabble Book (1972, rev. ed. 1977), ISBN 0-333-23073-6
  • Death at Newport (1986), ISBN 0-207-15422-8
  • AIDS – Most of the Questions, Some of the Answers (1987), ISBN 0-9587779-1-8
  • Death in Paradise (1989), ISBN 0-207-16165-8
  • The Derryn Hinch Diet (1991), ISBN 0-14-016527-4
  • That's Life (1992), ISBN 0-14-016986-5
  • The Ultimate Guide to Winning Scrabble (2001), ISBN 1-86325-324-6
  • 101 Ways To Lose Your Mobile Phone (2001), ISBN 0-646-40631-0
  • The Fall and Rise of Derryn Hinch: How I Hit the Wall and Didn't Bleed (2004), ISBN 1-74066-159-1
  • You are So Beautiful – The Passion and the Pain of Relationships (2006), ISBN 0-646-46322-5
  • I Beat the Booze and You Can Too (2009) ISBN 978-0-9805726-0-5
  • Human Headlines: My 50 Years in the Media (2010) ISBN 978-0-9805726-1-2
  • A Human Deadline – A Story of Life, Death, Hope and House Arrest (2012) ISBN 9780980572629
  • Hinch vs Canberra: Behind the Human Headlines (2017) ISBN 978-0-522-87317-7
  • Unfinished Business: Life of a Senator (2020) ISBN 978-0-522-87353-5

References
  1. "Human Headline splits with wife". The Age. 20 February 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  2. Byrne, Fiona (1 July 2017). "After trading insults over booze and bunnies, crusading senator Derryn Hinch reunited with fiery former lover". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  3. Adam Holmes (3 August 2016). "Hinch in, Muir out as Senate results confirmed". Bendigo Advertiser.
  4. Australia's 45th Parliament: Meet the record breakers: ABC 31 August 2016
  5. "Senate results: Hanson, Young returns but Hinch, Anning and Burston are gone" The Guardian 19 May 2019 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/19/senate-results-hanson-young-returns-but-hinch-anning-and-burston-are-gone
  6. Perry, Kevin (13 October 2015). "Derryn Hinch to remain on-air for now, as political campaign commences". Decider TV. Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  7. Hinch, Derryn (24 January 2010). "Big Apple con artists fleeced me of $4000". Herald Sun. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  8. "Hot Seat: Celebrity Week". TV Tonight. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  9. "Rumour mill: Hinch back on Seven?". TV Tonight. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  10. "Derryn Hinch signs with Seven Network". TV Tonight. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  11. Knox, David (15 December 2014). "Derryn Hinch joins SKY News". TV Tonight. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  12. "Derryn Hinch back on TV". news.com.au. 6 February 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  13. "Hinch, the Dickens ad and Me | radioinfo".
  14. "I'm Derryn, I'm back and that's life". 26 February 2003.
  15. Carbone, Suzanne (26 February 2003). "I'm Derryn, I'm back and that's life". The Age. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  16. "Derryn Hinch sacked from 3AW drive radio show". The Australian. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  17. "Derryn Hinch: Australian election". newstalkzb.co.nz. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  18. "Derryn Hinch: Latest from Australia". newstalkzb.co.nz. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  19. "Derryn Hinch: Sex-offenders register campaign turned down". newstalkzb.co.nz. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  20. "Oh boy – Derryn Hinch has signed on for Rocky Horror". The Age. 6 August 2008. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  21. Derryn Hinch's Justice Party - official website
  22. "Election 2016: Pauline Hanson secures six-year Senate term, Derryn Hinch has three years until re-election". ABC News. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  23. Dziedzic, Stephen; Belot, Henry (31 August 2017). "Derryn Hinch faces Section 44 uncertainty over US social security card". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  24. "Derryn Hinch cleared over citizenship concerns, not going to High Court". ABC News (Australia). 2 September 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  25. "Who are the other Australian MPs and senators born overseas?". ABC News. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  26. "Last man hanged: 50 years in Australia without an execution". BBC News. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  27. "MINISTERS & MEMBERS SEARCH - SEARCH RESULTS". Parliament of Victoria.
  28. "MINISTERS & MEMBERS SEARCH - MR STUART GRIMLEY (WESTERN VICTORIA)". Parliament of Victoria.
  29. "MINISTERS & MEMBERS SEARCH - MS TANIA MAXWELL (NORTHERN VICTORIA)". Parliament of Victoria.
  30. "That's life for a radio survivor". The Fifth Estate. RMIT University. 15 June 2004. Archived from the original on 19 August 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  31. "Under the hammer". The Fifth Estate. RMIT University. 8 August 2004. Archived from the original on 19 August 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  32. Hinch & Macquarie Broadcasting Holdings Ltd v Attorney-General (Vic) [1987] HCA 56, (1987) 164 CLR 15 (2 December 1987), High Court (Australia)
  33. The Law Reform Commission of Western Australia (March 2002). "Discussion Paper on Contempt by Publication" (PDF). Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  34. Duncan, Jamie (23 June 2008). "Gatto wishes 'maggot' Hinch dead". news.com.au.
  35. "Laws calls Hinch a jerk". Herald Sun. 1 August 2007.
  36. Connolly, Fiona (6 December 2007). "Laws didn't call me an 'armpit transplant' – Hinch". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Archived from the original on 8 December 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  37. "Laws launches tirade at Hinch and Rogers". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  38. "HINCH.net - The Official Derryn Hinch Website". 16 June 2005. Archived from the original on 16 June 2005. Retrieved 26 July 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  39. Hinch, Derryn. "A Personal Postscript". humanheadline.com.au. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  40. Purtill, James (5 July 2016). "The fall and rise of Derryn Hinch". Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  41. "Emotional Derryn Hinch released from jail over contempt". The Australian. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  42. "Derryn Hinch guilty of breaches, not sorry". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 June 2011.
  43. Portelli, Emily (18 October 2013). "Derryn Hinch fined $100,000 for breaching suppression order". Herald Sun. News Ltd. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  44. Anderson, Paul (17 January 2014). "Broadcaster Derryn Hinch to serve 50 days in jail after refusing to pay $100,000 fine". Herald Sun. News Ltd. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  45. "Hinch Released". Seven News Melbourne (Interview). Melbourne: Seven Network. 7 March 2014.
  46. Stritof, Sheri. "The Five Marriages of Jacki Weaver: Third Marriage: Derryn Hinch". About.com. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  47. Casamento, Jo (21 February 2013). "Weaver gives interview to ex-husband Hinch". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  48. "Jacki Weaver". Time Out Sydney. 1 December 2010. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012.
  49. "Derryn Hinch reveals he was 'petrified' during childhood sexual abuse in New Zealand". New Zealand Herald. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  50. "The right to be racist?". Sunrise. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  51. www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18767737-29277,00.html.
  52. dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18667947-5001022,00.html.
  53. "Drunks All Round". Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  54. "Health Detour". Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  55. "The Home Straight". Archived from the original on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  56. Edmonds, Mike (7 August 2007). "Derryn Hinch admits inoperable liver tumor". Herald Sun.
  57. "Hinch announces he has cancer on air". The Spy Report. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  58. "Hinch has year to live without transplant". The West Australian. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  59. Levy, Megan (6 July 2011). "Hinch gets liver, transplant under way". The Sydney Morning Herald.
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