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.
Quentin's recent articles
2 December 2024
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?
18 August 2024
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.
14 August 2024
An exploratory platform for thinkers and analysts
John Menadue’s website adds real value across all aspects of Australia’s governance and policy development.
9 May 2024
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.
28 April 2024
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.
12 March 2024
Accessory to genocide in Gaza
Mary Kostakidis and Quentin Dempster explore the Australian mainstream medias blind eyes on the humanitarian catastrophe now unfolding in Gaza.
13 December 2023
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.
25 August 2023
Ita out - so whats next for the ABC?
The Albanese ALP government now has an opportunity to reinvigorate and rebuild the ABC.
12 August 2023
Their minds are not clear - the late Evan Whitton
In an era of mis and disinformation and downright propaganda, John Menadues Pearls and Irritations has gained exceptional traction in Australia and internationally as a forum for fact-based analysis, commentary and reportage.
17 February 2023
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 doesnt work.
1 February 2023
Laura Tingle: the next ABC staff-elected director?
So Laura Tingle, the ABCs 7.30 political editor, has nominated for the staff-elected director position on the ABC board.Interesting.
11 February 2022
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.
8 December 2021
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.
17 November 2021
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.
22 October 2021
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.
29 June 2021
Why cant 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.
23 September 2020
Assange: Still waiting for your right to know
Were all still waiting for your right to know. The right of the public in our democracies to know whats really going on is being tested at this very moment at the Old Bailey in Merry England.
15 September 2020
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.
25 June 2020
The ABCs 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.
20 May 2020
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. BuzzFeed out: So much for diversity in Australias media
Two years after Australias 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.
14 May 2020
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.
3 May 2020
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.
30 April 2020
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Google and Facebook versus News Corp/Nine as Australias 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.
5 April 2020
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.
25 November 2019
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. The Frankenstein effect - why whistleblowers are needed now, more than ever
If were not properly informed .. we can create monsters.This is called the Frankenstein effect. Whether youre 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.
2 September 2019
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 that can lead to catastrophic accidents and mistakes.
29 August 2019
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Press Freedom - thank god for Annika Smethursts underwear drawer
Thank god for Annika Smethursts underwear drawer. thats all I can say. Never in the history of Australias battered democracy has the secret state and its understandably paranoid intelligence agencies been exposed by the undergarments of a Murdoch reptile.
9 May 2019
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.
10 March 2019
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Berejiklian government in danger in NSW election
With just two weeks to go to the state election, a political dispute over Sydneys Allianz stadium has galvanised New South Wales voters.
7 February 2019
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. The ABC is now fighting for its survival (Speech delivered on 7 February 2019)
In trying to defend the ABC as an institutional pillar of a fearless free media in Australias robust democracy, first, we have to confront paranoia.It comes in the form of constant Murdoch Press complaints that the ABC is biased and a force for left wing ideology.All the ABCs presenters are left wing! columnists and ABC critics have written. I found myself on Monday night (4/2/19) on Sky News after dark being interviewed on the Chris Kenny on Media program. And again the paranoia was in the air.Name me one conservative or right-of-centre presenter at the ABC? Mr Kenny demanded.I...
13 December 2018
PMs anti-corruption commission is a picture of impotence (The New Daily, 14.12.18)
No public hearings? Prime Minister Scott Morrisons proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission is deeply flawed in its current conception under the authorship of Attorney-General Christian Porter and the Attorney-Generals department.
9 November 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Mass media power plays and the death of Fairfax
The competition regulator ACCC has now green-lighted the death of Fairfax Media Ltd., the governance entity what has been a foundational influence on public interest journalism in Australia since 1831.
31 October 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Google vs News Corp in Australian algorithm war
Its Google versus News Corp Australia in a battle over the way algorithms can be controlled to drive internet search engine traffic.
23 October 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. A short history of the ABC. Part 2.
The Senate will be enquiring into political interference at the ABC. Quentin Dempster provides useful historical background to that inquiry.
22 October 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. A short history of the ABC. Part 1.
The Senate will be enquiring into political interference at the ABC.Quentin Dempster provide useful historical background to that inquiry.
27 September 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. ABC: Frontrunners to replace Justin Milne emerge (the New Daily, 27.09.18)
The Morrison government is to appoint a new ABC chairman immediately as fallout continues over the sacking of managing director Michelle Guthrie.
26 September 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Government moves ABC chair Justin Milne to the exit ramp (the NewDaily, 27.09.18)
The Scott Morrison government and the ABC board are moving to pressure ABC chairman Justin Milne to resign as soon as possible.
24 September 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Was there a political motivation behind ABCs Michelle Guthrie sacking?
The unexpected sacking of ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie has raised one big question, among the many.
27 July 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Because its wreck-able: Anger mounting at decision to end Fairfax.
The proposed end of Fairfax Media as an entity governing the editorial output of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and regional newspapers has provoked mounting anger by some of Australias most prominent journalists.
24 June 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. The new coalition that is really governing Australia.
Theres a new coalition governing Australia. On Thursday it was personal tax cuts and the contentious elimination of the 37.5 per cent tax bracket from 2024.
27 May 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Australias sledge hammer to crack foreign influence pedlars.
New laws to protect Australias democratic governance and economy are about to be determined, now with heightened fear about Chinese influence. Draft bills before federal parliament cover electoral funding, cybersecurity and espionage and a new enforceable regime of self-registration for transparency of foreign influence.
14 May 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Now only 4 cents a day: ABC Board planning public campaign
A meeting of the ABC board in Sydney on Thursday is expected to plan a roadshow campaign to take its case for triennial funding to the public.
8 April 2018
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Positions vacant: NBN Cos death seat.
After Mike Quigley and Bill Morrow, whos next for NBN Cos CEO death seat? It can be called an executive death seat because the NBNs business plan to start recouping the cost of the Turnbull governments mis handled $49billion multi-technology mix (MTM) rollout has been shredded.
22 February 2018
Emma Albericis now more critical tax cuts analysis reposted by ABC
After a bitter dispute between ABC management and their star chief economics correspondent, Emma Alberici, the ABC today reposted her analysis of the Turnbull governments plan for big corporate tax cuts.
18 February 2018
Has the ABC buckled to PM Malcolm Turnbull by removing critical analysis of the claimed benefits of corporate tax cuts?
The ABCs chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici stands by her analysis.Significantly the ABC, through Ms Albericis editorial superiors Gaven Morris, the director of ABC News, and Alan Sunderland, director of editorial policies, do not.In a promoted article posted on February 14 after the broadcast of an ABC News item reporting that many Australian companies did not pay any tax, Ms Alberici intro-ed her analysis with this sentence: There is no compelling evidence that giving the countrys biggest companies a tax cut sees that money passed on to workers in the form of higher wages.
11 February 2018
The ABCs selective publication of classified documents: gutless kow-tow or responsible journalism?
The ABC has been blasted by journalist critics over its selective editing of the national security classified and Cabinet-in-secret documents it received from a bushie who discovered them in discarded filing cabinets.
29 May 2017
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Slack electoral regulations and the arrogance of power
Senator Pauline Hanson denies any impropriety. We are told there is nothing to see in the Liberal Party siphoning cash from their MPs taxpayer-funded electoral allowances purportedly to fund the partys voter analysis entity Parakeelia Pty. Ltd.ALP Senator Sam Dastyaris failure to disclose that a party donor had paid a personal invoice was nothing but a regrettable over-sight. Labor leader Bill Shorten, exposed by evidence at the unions royal commission that he had failed to disclose a $40,000 donation from labour hire company Unibilt is allowed to make a corrected disclosure years after the event.
17 May 2017
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Death and departure at the ABC
The death of ABC broadcaster Mark Colvin on Thursday, May 11th, came as we were preparing to farewell religious broadcaster John Cleary from the ABC after a 37 year career.
20 April 2017
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. With talk of war, what should Australia do?
As the United States Trump administration now confronts North Korea, there is talk of war.Also confronted, but more indirectly, is China itself with President Donald Trumps declaration that the US would go it alone to disarm North Korea if China and President Xi Jinping did not help in that objective.