Paul Kelly (journalist)

Paul Kelly
Born	Paul John Kelly 11 October 1947 (1947-10-11) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Education	University of Sydney
Occupation	journalist, historian
Spouse(s)	Ros Kelly Margaret
Children	Joseph, Daniel
Years active	1971–present

Paul John Kelly (born 11 October 1947) is an Australian political journalist and historian from Sydney. He has worked in a variety of roles, principally for The Australian newspaper, and is currently its Editor-at-large. He has written several books on political events since the 1970s including on the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975. His latest book, The March of Patriots, chronicles the creation of a modern Australia during the 1991–2007 era of Prime Ministers, Paul Keating and John Howard. Kelly is a political commentator on radio and television and presented the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV documentary series, 100 Years – The Australian Story (2001) and wrote a book of the same title.

In 2006, Kelly's work was described by fellow Australian journalists, Toby Creswell and Samantha Trenoweth, "[It] is distinguished for his broad and deep grasp of the inter-relationship of economics and political shifts, and his ability to place Australian domestic developments into an international and historical context".

Biography

Paul John Kelly was born on 11 October 1947 in Sydney, New South Wales. He is the son of Joseph Kelly and Sybil (née Mackenzie). He completed a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Education at the University of Sydney in 1969. He worked in the Prime Minister's Department in Canberra from 1969 to 1971 before changing to journalism. He is a Doctor of Letters from the University of Melbourne.

He joined the Canberra press gallery in 1971 and became chief political correspondent for The Australian from 1974 to 1975. From 1976 to 1978 he was chief political correspondent for the now-defunct Fairfax newspaper The National Times, then its deputy editor from 1978 to 1979. He became chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald from 1981 to 1984. He returned to The Australian and was its national affairs editor from 1985 to 1991, editor-in-chief from 1991 to 1996 and editor-at-large since 1996 to present.

Aside from journalism, Kelly has written books describing political developments starting with The Unmaking of Gough (1976) on the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 and Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (later titled The Dismissal : Australia's Most Sensational Power Struggle : The Dramatic Fall of Gough Whitlam). He has written books on subsequent Prime Ministers, Bob Hawke (The Hawke Ascendency, 1984), Paul Keating (The End of Certainty, 1992) and John Howard (Howard's Decade, 2006). As from August 2010, his most recent book is The March of Patriots: The Struggle for Modern Australia (2009) which deals with economic and political developments under Keating and Howard as Australia entered the globalised age.

His book, The Dismissal was used as the basis of the television miniseries The Dismissal shown on Network Ten from 6 March 1983. Kelly is a political commentator on radio and television (including Insiders) and presented the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV documentary series, 100 Years – The Australian Story (2001) and wrote a book of the same title.

In November 1991, after the massacres at Santa Cruz (near Dili, East Timor), Kelly had supported Indonesian President Suharto and declared him to be a moderate with no alternative to his rule. Kelly's support for Suharto continued to 1998 and earned criticism from fellow journalist John Pilger who compared it to the appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s.

Personal life

He is married to Margaret (née Leckie). They have two sons. Joseph and Daniel. Kelly was previously married to Australian Labor Party Federal Member of Parliament and Minister Ros Kelly (née Raw).

Bibliography

• Kelly, Paul (1976). The Unmaking of Gough. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0207134006. 
  • Kelly, Paul (1983) [1976]. The Dismissal : Australia's Most Sensational Power Struggle : The Dramatic Fall of Gough Whitlam. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0207148600.  Previously titled The Unmaking of Gough.
  • Kelly, Paul (1994) [1976]. The Unmaking of Gough (Rev. ed.). St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 186373788X. 
• Kelly, Paul (1984). The Hawke Ascendancy – A Definitive Account of Its Origins and Climax, 1975–1983. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0207147272. 
• Kelly, Paul (1986). The Political Outlook. Melbourne: Syntec Economic Services. ISBN 0731622707. 
• Kelly, Paul (1992). The End of Certainty: The Story of the 1980s. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1863732276. 
  • Kelly, Paul (1994) [1992]. The End of Certainty: Power, Politics and Business in Australia (Rev. ed.). St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 186373757X. 
• Kelly, Paul (1995). November 1975: The Inside Story of Australia's Greatest Political Crisis. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1863739874. 
• Kelly, Paul (1996). Ethics, politics and democracy : held in the Banco Court of New South Wales Queen's Square, Sydney, Tuesday 10 December 1996. Sydney: St James Ethics Centre. 
• The Australian; Kelly, Paul; The national affairs team (1999). Murray Waldren. ed. Future Tense : Australia Beyond Election 1998. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865080349. 
• Kelly, Paul (2000). Paradise Divided: The Changes, the Challenges, the Choices for Australia. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865082910. 
• Kelly, Paul (2001). 100 Years : The Australian Story. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865085316. 
• Peter Dawkins, Paul Kelly, ed (2003). Hard Heads, Soft Hearts : A New Reform Agenda for Australia. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1741140218. 
• Kelly, Paul (2006). Howard's Decade : An Australian Foreign Policy Reappraisal. Double Bay, NSW: Longueville Media (Lowy Institute for International Policy). ISBN 9781921004247. 
• Kelly, Paul (2007). Religion and Politics : Contemporary Tensions. St Leonards, NSW: Centre for Independent Studies. ISBN 9781864321203. 
• Kelly, Paul (2009). The March of Patriots: The Struggle for Modern Australia. Carlton, Vic: University of Melbourne Press. ISBN 9780522856194. 

Awards

• 1990 Graham Perkin Journalist of the Year
• 2001 Walkley Award for Journalism Leadership
• 2005 Dunlop Asialink Medalist

External links

• December 2001 Speech (PDF) about Australian journalism and anti-intellectualism
• Profile for Insiders at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Paul Kelly at the Internet Movie Database