Writer
Quentin Dempster
Quentin Dempster AM is a journalist, broadcaster and author. He is a former ABC presenter, interviewer, producer and investigative reporter. He is a former chairman of the Walkley Foundation and former chair of the Walkley judging panel for the annual awards for excellence in Australian journalism. Quentin is also a regular contributor to Pearls and Irritations and other publications.
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Subs and secrets: Will Australia choose AUKUS or sovereignty?
Australians have become locked in to US military planning, entrenching our status as a US staging post. In this more dangerous world is a country’s sovereignty now a myth? Continue reading »
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The Americanisation of Australia: how we’re rapidly losing our cultural sovereignty
Like a tsunami, America’s influence has been spreading to most regions of the globe. While some countries are willing to allow this and even welcome their own culture being subsumed, others are not so inclined. Continue reading »
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An exploratory platform for thinkers and analysts
John Menadue’s website adds real value across all aspects of Australia’s governance and policy development. Continue reading »
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Meta versus Australia
The ABC now faces an awful dilemma. If, as now seems certain, it loses the media bargaining code revenue it has been receiving from Facebook, now Meta, it will have to sack many of the 60 journalists and support staff it has recruited since entering into commercial contracts in 2021. Continue reading »
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Podcast: Australia’s recognition of the State of Palestine an overdue move in support of peace
Respected journalist Quentin Dempster and former Ambassador to Palestine, Ali Kazak discuss the situation in Palestine and how the Australian governments reticence to recognise the State of Palestine is overdue and would be a positive action in support of peace. Continue reading »
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Podcast: Rifts in the art world over Gaza
Quentin Dempster interviews Australia’s living national treasure, Barry Jones, on the rifts in the Australian art world over Gaza, and the pathways away from violence and towards a political settlement in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Continue reading »
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Accessory to genocide in Gaza
Mary Kostakidis and Quentin Dempster explore the Australian mainstream media’s blind eyes on the humanitarian catastrophe now unfolding in Gaza. Continue reading »
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Journalism, propaganda and war
Journalism, whether practised in a proclaimed democracy or in a country controlled by politburo or despot, is fraught and contentious but it is meant to tell the public and the world what is really going on. Continue reading »
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Ita out – so what’s next for the ABC?
The Albanese ALP government now has an opportunity to reinvigorate and rebuild the ABC. Continue reading »
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“Their minds are not clear” – the late Evan Whitton
In an era of mis and disinformation and downright propaganda, John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations has gained exceptional traction in Australia and internationally as a forum for fact-based analysis, commentary and reportage. Continue reading »
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Pearls and Irritations: taking you places commercial media dare not go
Pearls and Irritations has become invaluable to understanding how Australia and the world actually works … or doesn’t work. Continue reading »
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Laura Tingle: the next ABC staff-elected director?
So Laura Tingle, the ABC’s 7.30 political editor, has nominated for the staff-elected director position on the ABC board. Interesting. Continue reading »
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Don’t be relieved by that ABC funding promise: it’s not what it seems
The Coalition has a demonstrated pattern of dishonouring election promises to the national broadcaster. Continue reading »
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Last chance saloon: ABC crucial to the survival of local TV production
A new report commissioned by the ABC reveals that the public broadcaster’s local productions contribute at least $744 million to the Australian economy. Continue reading »
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Under fire: Ita Buttrose goes into battle for ABC independence
For the current government “the enemy” appears to be anyone trying to hold that government to account — and right now, that’s the ABC. Continue reading »
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Expect to hear from Ita Buttrose as ABC faces uncertain funding future
It’s our ABC, but the national broadcaster remains at the whims of the government of the day, which headed by Scott Morrison is a long way from the friendly camp. Continue reading »
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Why can’t we agree on the powers needed for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission?
Ministerial discretion under the Westminster system as it is applied in Australia is a useful but corruptible power. Continue reading »
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Assange: Still waiting… for your right to know
We’re all still waiting … for your right to know. The right of the public in our democracies to know what’s really going on is being tested at this very moment at the Old Bailey in Merry England. Continue reading »
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Les Miserables – Killing the ABC in a time of national emergency
Empty chairs at empty tables … where my friends will sing no more. (Les Miserables – the musical). The departure of many of the ABC’s most experienced journalists, producers and presenters has immiserated the public broadcaster. Continue reading »
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The ABC’s five-year plan is spin for managed decline
Ita Buttrose and her ABC board have produced a glossy five-year plan to cover up the fact the ABC is in accelerating decline through Morrison government de-funding. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. BuzzFeed out: So much for diversity in Australia’s media
Two years after Australia’s competition watchdog green lighted the biggest consolidation of media ownership here in more than 40 years, the withdrawal of online start-up BuzzFeed has exposed its misjudgment. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Let ‘er rip!: Snowy 2.0 project now an integrity test for Gladys Berejiklian
The New South Wales Berejiklian Government now faces an integrity test over the fast tracking of final approval for the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro electricity project in Kosciuszko National Park. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Catholic Church duplicitous and unaccountable in needs-based school funding says Malcolm Turnbull
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has detailed private conversations with a Catholic Church leader to substantiate claims that the church has been duplicitous and unaccountable in distributing taxpayer money within its school system. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Google and Facebook versus News Corp/Nine as Australia’s newspapers are declared “terminal”
With Australians about to lose their local and metropolitan newspaper coverage the competition watchdog sent to the rescue is facing the prospect of litigation from tech giants Google and Facebook. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER supports Pearls and Irritations.
Pearls & Irritations has become an exploratory platform for thinkers and analysts out to both share their insights and knowledge and test themselves against an informed peer group. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. The Frankenstein effect – why whistleblowers are needed now, more than ever
If we’re not properly informed .. we can create monsters. This is called the Frankenstein effect. Whether you’re a taxpayer, a citizen, a consumer or a shareholder expecting to live in a free and fair society with peace and prosperity, you certainly need whistleblowers and the journalists prepared to seek out and publish their revelations. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. New nuclear arms race brings higher risk of global catastrophe
The world is at its highest risk of a global catastrophe in decades, thanks to an unpredictable resumption in the nuclear arms race. Veteran defence and security analyst Brian Toohey has warned that talk of war between the West, and China and Russia, along with brinkmanship with North Korea and Iran, has escalated the conditions Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Press Freedom – thank god for Annika Smethurst’s underwear drawer
Thank god for Annika Smethurst’s underwear drawer…. that’s all I can say. Never in the history of Australia’s battered democracy has the secret state and its understandably paranoid intelligence agencies been exposed by the undergarments of a Murdoch reptile. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Why the Libs cannot be trusted with the ABC..
2 March 1996. Journalist: The commitment to maintain (ABC) funding in real terms … does that stand?Senator Alston (on behalf of incoming Prime Minister John Howard): Absolutely. 6 September 2013. Incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott: .. and no cuts to the ABC and SBS. These reassuring public commitments were soon exposed as lies. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Berejiklian government in danger in NSW election
With just two weeks to go to the state election, a political dispute over Sydney’s Allianz stadium has galvanised New South Wales voters. Continue reading »
