Padraic McGuinness | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1938-10-27)27 October 1938 |
| Died | 26 January 2008(2008-01-26) (aged 69) Sydney,New South Wales, Australia |
| Other names | Paddy McGuinness, P. P. McGuinness |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, newspaper editor |
| Known for | Views as a political commentator |
Padraic Pearse "Paddy"McGuinnessAO (27 October 1938 – 26 January 2008) was an Australian journalist, activist, and commentator. He began his career on thefar left, then worked as a policy assistant to the more moderateLabor parliamentarianBill Hayden. Later he found fame as aright-wingcontrarian and finished his career as the editor of theconservativejournal,Quadrant. He had also worked as a columnist forThe Australian andThe Sydney Morning Herald and as the editor ofThe Australian Financial Review.[1]
McGuinness, named after Irish nationalistPatrick Pearse, was the youngest child ofFrank McGuinness (1900–1949), who was the inaugural editor ofEzra Norton's Sydney newspaperThe Daily Mirror in 1941. Padraic attended, first,Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview (from his time there he dated the atheist attitudes which remained constant in his adult life, whatever his changes of ideological allegiance) and then obtained a scholarship to attendSydney Boys High School. He studied economics at theUniversity of Sydney (B.Ec., Hons, 1960), where he became a prominent member of theSydney Push in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At that time, he identified as ananarchist but also joined the Labor Party.[2]
After a short career as an economics lecturer at the NSW University of Technology (now theUniversity of New South Wales), McGuinness moved toLondon where he worked with theMoscow Narodny [People's] Bank, an arm of the Soviet Government, from 1966 to 1967.[3] Continuing his studies at theLondon School of Economics, he acquired a master's degree.[4] He later worked for theOECD in Paris, and there he observed theParis demonstrations of 1968. Having returned to Sydney in 1971, he began what would be a long tenure atThe Australian Financial Review, by writing economics articles.[2]
In 1973–74, he served theWhitlam Labor government as an economic advisor to the Minister for Social Security,Bill Hayden, who was engaged in establishingMedibank and reforming policy for private hospitals and nursing homes.[5] During this time McGuinness advocated the introduction of Medibank, against the opinions of doctors who mostly wanted health care to remain private.[2][6]
After working for Hayden, McGuinness's career was chiefly in journalism, including senior editorial positions atThe Australian Financial Review (1974–87), where he becameeditor-in-chief in 1982. He also wrote occasional film reviews and columns forThe Sydney Morning Herald,The Age andThe Australian. In 1997 he was appointed editor ofQuadrant, a position he held for ten years.
McGuinness reportedly became a member of theAustralian Labor Party and unsuccessfully sought preselection for the seat ofSydney (which he later persistently denied).[7] In 2002–2004, he served as an independent councillor onLeichhardt Council.[8]
McGuinness died from cancer onAustralia Day, 26 January 2008, aged 69, having recently stood down as editor ofQuadrant.[1] He was survived by his daughter Parnell Palme McGuinness, named afterCharles Stewart Parnell, and two siblings: his older brother Michael and his older sister Judy. Parnell McGuinness is a columnist with theSydney Morning Herald.[9] His wife, Brigitte, predeceased him in 1999.[10]
According to journalist colleagueFrank Devine, "Paddy was the quintessential independent thinker, scorning humbug and stupidity. He was a bloodthirsty predator among those he identified as members of the chattering classes".[11] However, he was himself frequently criticised for pomposity and hypocrisy when, for instance, he accepted anOrder of AustraliaAO award in 2003[12] despite a long-held, vocal contempt for such honours.[13]
The day before his funeral, former prime ministerPaul Keating, denigrated him as "a fraud and a liar".[14] Keating had previously paid public tribute to McGuinness for contributing to his economic education[15] but, after McGuinness became a frequent critic of Keating'sgovernment and persona, Keating described him as "a bloatedcane toad",[16] and predicted that "the quality of the Australian press will rise simply because his vituperation and contumely will have been excised from it."[17]
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