Kerry O’Brien in Conversation with Madonna King
Kerry O’Brien has been speaking to Australia for over fifty years. His is the voice of every significant event in our recent history, of turmoils, upheavals, national and international crises and celebrations.
In a journey from the nuclear to the digital age and beyond, he has come face to face with the giants of his time – from Mandela to Thatcher, Obama, Bowie and Muhammad Ali. In Australia he has watched twelve prime ministers come and go and has called the powerful to account. Born days after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, O’Brien is the quintessential post-war baby.
In this very special evening to mark the launch of his new memoir, Kerry reflected on the social and political upheavals he has witnessed, of lessons learned and lessons ignored, and the personalities who have made history all the while sharing some of his own story.
Kerry O’Brien in conversation with Madonna King
Integrity 20’18 |
Length 0:43:30
Filmed 26 Nov 2018
Venue Conservatorium Theatre
Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University
South Bank, Brisbane
Kerry O’Brien is one of Australia’s most respected journalists, with six Walkley awards including the Gold Walkley and the Walkley for Outstanding Leadership in journalism.
In a career spanning over fifty years, Kerry has worked for newspapers, television and a wire service, and as a foreign correspondent. Thirty-three of those years were at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation where he cut his teeth on the trail-blazing current affairs programs This Day Tonight and Four Corners. He was the inaugural presenter of Lateline for six years, the editor and presenter of 7.30 for 15 years, and the presenter of Four Corners.
His acclaimed four-part interview series with Paul Keating was broadcast on the ABC in 2013, and resulted in his best-selling book, Keating, published in 2015.
Kerry has specialised in national politics for the ABC as well as the Seven and Ten television networks, and was a press secretary to Labor leader Gough Whitlam.
Madonna King is one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists, having worked at senior levels at News Limited and the ABC, where she presented the Mornings program in Brisbane for six years. She writes for Fairfax, including a highly successful weekly column, and contributes to its Good Weekend magazine. She has written seven books, all defined by her skillful reporting and her ability to get people to talk in depth. These include the recently-released Being 14, and biographies of Professor Ian Frazer, who was behind the cervical cancer vaccine, and Joe Hockey, now Australia’s Ambassador to Washington.