Editing Paul Kelly (journalist)

{{Short description|Australian political journalist and historian}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Paul Kelly (Australian musician)|the Australian musician]] or [[Paul Kelly (doctor)|the Australian Chief Medical Officer]]}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Paul Kelly
| image       =
| caption     =
| birth_name   = Paul John Kelly
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1947|10|11}}
| birth_place = [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], Australia
| death_date  =
| death_place =
| education   = [[University of Sydney]]
| occupation  = Journalist, historian, radio commentator
| spouse      = {{unbulleted list|[[Ros Kelly]]|Margaret ([[Name at birth|née]] Leckie)}}
| domestic_partner =
| children    = Joseph, Daniel
| years_active= 1971–present
}}

'''Paul John Kelly''' (born 11 October 1947) is an Australian political journalist, author and television and radio commentator from [[Sydney]]. He has worked in a variety of roles, principally for ''[[The Australian]]'' newspaper and is currently its [[editor-at-large]]. Kelly also appears as a commentator on [[Sky News Australia]] and has written seven books on political events in Australia since the 1970s including on the [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis]]. Recent works include ''The March of Patriots'', which chronicles the creation of a modern Australia during the 1991–2007 era of [[Prime Minister of Australia|prime ministers]], [[Paul Keating]] and [[John Howard]], and ''[[Triumph & Demise]]'' which focuses on the leadership tensions at the heart of the [[Kevin Rudd|Rudd]]-[[Julia Gillard|Gillard]] Labor governments of 2007 to 2011.<ref>[https://www.mup.com.au/items/149038#sthash.KB8ux0Ro.dpuf Melbourne University Publishing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914112013/https://www.mup.com.au/items/149038 |date=14 September 2014 }}; online 2014</ref> Kelly 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 as being "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".<ref name="Creswell">{{cite book | title = 1001 Australians you should know | last1 = Creswell | first1 = Toby | author-link = Toby Creswell | last2 = Trenoweth | first2 = Samantha | publisher = Pluto Press Australia | year = 2006 | location = [[North Melbourne]] | chapter = Media and Journalism | page = 397 | isbn = 978-1-86403-361-8 }}</ref>

==Life and career==
Paul John Kelly was born on 11 October 1947 in [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]].<ref name="WhosWho">{{cite book |title=[[Who's Who in Australia]] |publisher=Crown Content |year=2009 |last1=Sullivan |first1=Leanne |edition=45 |isbn=978-1-74095-166-1 }}</ref> He is the son of Joseph Kelly and Sybil (née Mackenzie). He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree and [[Diploma of Education]] at the [[University of Sydney]] in 1969.<ref name="Creswell"/> He worked in the [[Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia)|Prime Minister's Department]] in [[Canberra]] from 1969 to 1971 before changing to journalism.<ref name="UniSyd">{{cite web |url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/archives/our-people/honorary-award-holders.html |title=Honorary-award holders – Paul John Kelly |publisher=[[University of Sydney]] |date=14 May 2009 |access-date=10 August 2010}}</ref> He is a [[Doctor of Letters]] from the [[University of Melbourne]].<ref name="Lowy">{{cite web |url=http://www.lowyinstitute.org/StaffBio.asp?pid=468 |title=Paul Kelly – Lowy Institute Staff Member |publisher=[[Lowy Institute]] |access-date=12 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125003257/http://lowyinstitute.org/StaffBio.asp?pid=468 |archive-date=25 November 2010  }}</ref>

He joined the [[Canberra Press Gallery]] in 1971 and became chief political correspondent for ''[[The Australian]]'' from 1974 to 1975.<ref name="Creswell"/> From 1976 to 1978 he was chief political correspondent for ''[[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 from 1996 to the present.<ref name="UniSyd"/>

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). His ''The March of Patriots: The Struggle for Modern Australia'' (2009) deals with economic and political developments under Keating and Howard as Australia entered the globalised age.<ref name="LawBook">{{cite web |url=http://www.lawbooks.com.au/book/the-keating-howard-years.do |title=The March of Patriots |publisher=LawBooks (Emporium Retail Group) |year=2009 |access-date=12 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121230173507/http://www.lawbooks.com.au/book/the-keating-howard-years.do |archive-date=30 December 2012  }}</ref> ''[[Triumph & Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation]]'' (2014) chronicles the rise and fall of the Australian Labor Party governments of [[Kevin Rudd]] and [[Julia Gillard]] (2007–2013).<ref>{{cite news |first=Rosie |last=Lewis |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/politics-news/governments-age-of-reform-isnt-over-just-interrupted-says-abbott/story-fn59nqld-1227037474039 |title=Government's age of reform isn't over, just interrupted, says Abbott |work=[[The Australian]] |date=26 August 2014 }}</ref>

His book ''The Dismissal'' was used as the basis of the television miniseries ''[[The Dismissal (miniseries)|The Dismissal]]'' shown on [[Network Ten]] from 6 March 1983. Kelly is a political commentator on radio and television (including ''[[Insiders (Australian TV program)|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.<ref name="Dismissal">{{cite web |url=http://www.australian-politics-books.com/ccp0-prodshow/the-dismissal-paul-kelly-1975-tv.html |title=The Dismissal – Paul Kelly 1983 Paperback Used – TV tie-in |publisher=Australian Politics Books |access-date=12 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707191017/http://www.australian-politics-books.com/ccp0-prodshow/the-dismissal-paul-kelly-1975-tv.html |archive-date=7 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On 19 March 1990, Kelly wrote on [[The Australian]]'' newspaper ran a headline titled ''Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge'.''' when [[Andrew Peacock]] Liberal opposition leader opposed the [[Multifunction Polis]] (MFP), a proposal to build a Japanese funded technology city in Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/05/23/opinion-less-matters/|title = The more opinion, the less it matters|date = 23 May 2016}}</ref>

In November 1991, after the massacres at [[Santa Cruz massacre|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.<ref name="Loewenstein">{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/Books/In-praise-of-Soeharto-the-despot/2005/02/17/1108500195349.html |title=In Praise of Soeharto the Despot |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=13 February 2005 |access-date=12 August 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Pilger">{{cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?222768 |title=Chomskyist-Pilgerism |work=Outlook |publisher=Maheshwer Peri (The Outlook Group) |date=28 January 2004 |access-date=12 August 2010 }}</ref>

In November 2012, Kelly criticised the decision of the Gillard government to create the [[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]], calling it "profoundly ignorant" and "a depressing example of populist politics".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kelly|first1=Paul|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/commission-on-child-sex-abuse-a-depressing-example-of-populist-politics/news-story/e2b4585db900873efa381bb5f8a94f39?sv=abef404ba04b8e07ae01254aebf54414 |title=Commission on child abuse a depressing example of populist politics |work=[[The Australian]]|date=17 November 2012}}</ref>

==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).

Kelly opposed Australia's [[same-sex marriage in Australia|same-sex marriage legislation]], questioning the "real ideology" of the same-sex marriage campaign and its impact on "religious freedom".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=Paul |title=The same-sex marriage debate and the right to religious belief |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/paul-kelly/the-samesex-marriage-debate-and-the-right-to-religious-belief/news-story/afa691ddc161f0e4fb9385513c1be2b2 |work=Weekend Australian |date=11 July 2015 |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20180426145140/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/paul-kelly/the-samesex-marriage-debate-and-the-right-to-religious-belief/news-story/afa691ddc161f0e4fb9385513c1be2b2 |archive-date=26 April 2018 |page=16}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
{{Expand list|date=August 2016}}

===Books===
* {{cite book |author=Kelly, Paul |title=The unmaking of Gough |year=1976  |location=Sydney |publisher=[[Angus & Robertson]]<!--isbn=0-207-13400-6-->}}
* {{cite book |author=Kelly, Paul |author-mask=1 |title=The Dismissal : Australia's most sensational power struggle : the dramatic fall of Gough Whitlam |url=https://archive.org/details/dismissalaustral00angu |url-access=registration |year=1983 | orig-year=1976 |location=Sydney |publisher=Angus & Robertson <!--|isbn=0-207-14860-0-->|isbn=978-0-207-14860-6 }}<ref>Previously published as ''The unmaking of Gough''.</ref>
* {{cite book |title=The Hawke Ascendancy – A Definitive Account of Its Origins and Climax, 1975–1983 |year=1984 |publisher=Angus & Robertson | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=0-207-14727-2 |location=Sydney}}
* {{cite book |title=The Political Outlook |year=1986 |publisher=Syntec Economic Services | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=0-7316-2270-7  |location=Melbourne}}
* {{cite book |title=The End of Certainty: The Story of the 1980s |year=1992 |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]]| last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=1-86373-227-6 |location=[[St Leonards, New South Wales|St Leonards]]}}
* {{cite book |title=The End of Certainty: Power, Politics and Business in Australia | orig-year = 1992 |year=1994 |publisher=Allen & Unwin | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=1-86373-757-X |location=St Leonards | edition = Rev.}}
* {{cite book |title=The Unmaking of Gough | orig-year = 1976 |year=1994 |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]] | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=1-86373-788-X |location=[[St Leonards, New South Wales|St Leonards]] | edition = Rev.}}
* {{cite book |author=Kelly, Paul |title=November 1975 : the inside story of Australia's greatest political crisis |location=St Leonards |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=1995 <!--isbn=1863739874-->}}
* {{cite book |title=Ethics, politics and democracy : held in the Banco Court of New South Wales Queen's Square, Sydney, Tuesday 10 December 1996 |year=1996 |publisher=[[St James Ethics Centre]] | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |location=Sydney}}<ref name="NLAEthics">{{cite web | url = http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1580131 |title=Ethics, politics and democracy : held in the Banco Court of New South Wales Queen's Square, Sydney, Tuesday 10 December 1996 / delivered by Paul Kelly | work = catalogue |publisher=[[National Library of Australia]] | access-date = 11 August 2010}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=Future Tense : Australia Beyond Election 1998 |year=1999 |publisher=Allen & Unwin | last1 = The Australian | author-link = The Australian | last2 = Kelly | first2 = Paul | last3 = The national affairs team | editor = Murray Waldren |isbn=1-86508-034-9 |location=St Leonards}}
* {{cite book |title=Paradise Divided: The Changes, the Challenges, the Choices for Australia |year=2000 |publisher=Allen & Unwin | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=1-86508-291-0 |location=St Leonards}}
* {{cite book |title=100 Years : The Australian Story |year=2001 |publisher=Allen & Unwin | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |  isbn = 1-86508-531-6 |location=[[Crows Nest, New South Wales|Crows Nest]]}}
* {{cite book |title=Hard Heads, Soft Hearts : A New Reform Agenda for Australia |year=2003 |publisher=Allen & Unwin | editor = Peter Dawkins, Paul Kelly |isbn=1-74114-021-8 |location=St Leonards}}
* {{cite book |title=Howard's Decade : An Australian Foreign Policy Reappraisal |year=2006 |publisher=Longueville Media ([[Lowy Institute]]) | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=978-1-921004-24-7 |location=[[Double Bay]]}}
* {{cite book |title=Religion and Politics : Contemporary Tensions |year=2007 |publisher=[[Centre for Independent Studies]] | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=978-1-86432-120-3 |location=St Leonards}}
* {{cite book |title=The March of Patriots: The Struggle for Modern Australia  |year= 2009  |location=Carlton, Vic. |publisher=Melbourne University Press | last1 = Kelly | first1 = Paul |isbn=978-0-522-85619-4}}
* Kelly, Paul (2014). [https://web.archive.org/web/20140914112013/https://www.mup.com.au/items/149038 ''Triumph and Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation''], Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press. {{ISBN|9780522862102}} 
* {{cite book |author1=Kelly, Paul |author2=Troy Bramston |title=The Dismissal : in the Queen's name |publisher=Penguin |year=2015 <!--isbn=-->}}
* {{cite book |author1=Kelly, Paul |author2=Troy Bramston |name-list-style=amp |title=The truth of the Palace Letters : deceit, ambush and dismissal in 1975 |location=Carlton, Vic. |publisher=Melbourne University Press |year=2020 <!--|isbn=9780522877557-->}}

===Essays and reporting===
* {{cite journal |author=Kelly, Paul |date=Jan–Feb 1996 |title=The Dismissal, twenty years on |department=Politics |journal=Quadrant |volume=40 |issue=1–2 |pages=40–47 <!--accessdate=-->}}

===Critical studies and reviews of Kelly's work===
;''The Dismissal : in the Queen's name''
*{{cite journal |author=Flint, David |author-link=David Flint |date=Jan–Feb 2016 |title=Blame Whitlam and Fraser, not Kerr |journal=Quadrant |volume=60 |issue=1–2 |pages=76–80 <!--accessdate=-->}}.<ref>An edited version of the Neville Bonner Oration, 2015.</ref>
;''November 1975''
*{{cite journal |author=Manne, Robert |author-link=Robert Manne |date=December 1995 |title=November 1975 : character and crisis |department=Books |journal=Quadrant |volume=39 |issue=12 |pages=83–86 <!--accessdate=-->}}
;''The truth of the Palace Letters''
* {{cite journal |author=Piccini, Joe |date=January–February 2021 |title='An endless tussle with the past' : two different readings of the Palace Letters |department= |journal=Australian Book Review |volume=428 |pages=9–10}}

== Awards ==
* 1990 [[Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/award-recognises-journalistic-excellence-20100506-ud67.html|title=Award recognises journalistic excellence|date=6 May 2010|website=[[The Age]]|access-date=30 March 2019}}</ref>
* 2001 [[Walkley Awards]] for both [[Walkley Award for Journalism Leadership|Journalism Leadership]] and Commentary, Analysis, Opinion & Critique<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.walkleys.com/awards/walkley-winners-archive/|title=Walkley Winners Archive|publisher=The Walkley Foundation|access-date=30 March 2019}}</ref>
* 2005 [[Weary Dunlop|Dunlop]] Asialink Medalist<ref name="Asialink">{{cite web | title = Citation – Paul Kelly | url = http://www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/26292/citation_paul_kelly.pdf | publisher = University of Melbourne | year = 2005 | access-date = 12 August 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110220230825/http://www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/26292/citation_paul_kelly.pdf | archive-date = 20 February 2011}}</ref>
*2014 [[Walkley Book Award]] for ''Triumph and Demise<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-12-04|title=DT Editor Paul Whittaker picks up third Walkley|url=https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/nsw/daily-telegraph-wins-walkley-award-editor-paul-whittaker-takes-top-gong-in-headline-journalism-ng-ee8fbfcf87fc59b2394f0cca993462b6|access-date=2020-10-25|website=PerthNow|language=en}}</ref>''

==See also==
*[[Australian settlement]], term coined by Kelly and widely adopted

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060619132537/http://www.ejournalism.au.com/ejournalist/kelly.pdf December 2001 Speech] ([[PDF]]) about Australian journalism and anti-intellectualism
* [http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/kelly/default.htm Profile] for ''[[Insiders (Australian TV program)|Insiders]]'' at the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]
*{{IMDb name|1094516|Paul Kelly}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Paul}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australian political journalists]]
[[Category:Walkley Award winners]]
[[Category:University of Sydney alumni]]
[[Category:Journalists from Sydney]]
[[Category:1975 Australian constitutional crisis]]
[[Category:The Australian journalists]]
[[Category:Quadrant (magazine) people]]
[[Category:The Sydney Morning Herald people]]