Chris Kenny | |
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| Born | (1962-09-28)28 September 1962 (age 62) |
| Nationality | Australian |
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Chris Kevin Kenny (born 28 September 1962) is an Australianconservative political commentator, author and former political adviser. He is acolumnist forThe Australian newspaper as well as the host of a weeknight current affairs program,The Kenny Report onSky News Australia.
Chris Kenny was born on 28 September 1962.[1]
He initially studied wildlife and park management inSouth Australia and worked for theNational Parks and Wildlife Service as a fire-spotter and park assistant, before switching his studies to a BA in journalism in 1984.[citation needed]
His first journalism job was at theMurray Pioneer in Renmark. He later worked for the Adelaide newspaperThe News, ABC'sThe 7.30 Report,Channel 10 andChannel 9 in Adelaide.[2] He also wrote columns forThe Advertiser,Sunday Mail andThe Adelaide Review.[when?][citation needed]
In 2000 he was appointed Director of Strategic Communications for South Australian Liberal PremierJohn Olsen, before serving as chief of staff to Olsen's successor as premier,Rob Kerin.[3] Kenny was appointed media advisor to foreign ministerAlexander Downer in 2002 and became his chief of staff in 2006.[3]
After the defeat of theHoward government in 2007, Kenny worked as a columnist forThe Advertiser, as a television reporter for the Adelaide edition ofA Current Affair, and as a talkback radio host for5AA.[citation needed]
In January 2009, Kenny was recruited as chief of staff to then-opposition leader,Malcolm Turnbull. Kenny was Turnbull's chief of staff during theUtegate scandal but has written that he had no contact with Turnbull's moleGodwin Grech,[4] resigning when Turnbull subsequently lost the Liberal leadership toTony Abbott in 2009. After leaving Turnbull's office, Kenny wrote opinion pieces and analysis forThe Australian and ABC'sThe Drum, and appeared as a commentator on Sky News. In 2010 Kenny was appointed General Manager, External Affairs, for transport giantAsciano, but left at the end of the year to return to media work.[5]
From 2013, Kenny has hostedViewpoint andFriday Live onSky News Australia, which are both opinion programs.Friday Live finished on 12 December 2014, replaced by a second weekly edition ofViewpoint.[6] Prior to these formats, Kenny hostedSaturday Agenda.[7]
Kenny has two weekly columns inThe Australian. He relinquished his weekly column for Adelaide'sSunday Mail.[when?] He has hosted afternoon and evening talkback radio onMacquarie Radio filling in for hosts such asBen Fordham,Steve Price andRoss Greenwood, as well as hosting his own weeklyFriday Feedback show until March 2019.[citation needed]
Kenny has appeared onABC TV programs such asInsiders andQ&A alongside politicians and community figures.[8]
He is currently a columnist forThe Australian newspaper as well as the host of a weeknight current affairs program,The Kenny Report, and formerly, weekly media program,Kenny on Media, onSky News Australia.[9][10][11]
Kenny has been a vocal critic of theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for alleged expansionism and bias.[8] In 2020, he referred to the Australian public broadcasters ABC andSBS as "enemies of the people".[12]
He argued in July 2011 thatJulia Gillard could not recover as prime minister, that Labor would lose the next general election and thatKevin Rudd could limit the extent of those losses.[13]
Following the2014 Sydney hostage crisis, Kenny criticised[14] the#illridewithyou campaign and the refusal of many to accept theIslamist motivation of the siege. Kenny had been at the Lindt Chocolate Café, the scene of the hostage crisis, only minutes before it unfolded.[15]
In November 2019, it was announced that Kenny would be one of 20 members of the Senior Advisory Group (SAG) to help co-design theIndigenous voice to government set up byKen Wyatt, theMinister for Indigenous Australians under theMorrison government. SAG was co-chaired by Wyatt,Marcia Langton, andTom Calma.[16] Kenny has previously criticised Langton as being "aggressive" towards "perceived ideological enemies".[17]
Kenny is a harsh critic of global warming alarmism, and climate change and energy policies but has never denied the science of climate change. In 2021, after Prime MinisterScott Morrison started aiming fornet zero carbon emissions by 2050, and his employerNews Corp changed its position onclimate change (having previously denied its existence), Kenny wrote that the founder of theLiberal Party, SirRobert Menzies, would be "turning in his grave", claiming that "expansion of government power" was responsible for News Corp's change in direction.[18]
In the lead-up to the2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, Kenny supports the Yes campaign, saying that the No campaign is "overwhelmingly based on fear". He has been criticised by his fan base for his stance, although not by his colleagues at News Corp.[19]
In September 2013, the ABC programThe Hamster Decides broadcast a photoshopped image of Kenny having sex with a dog. At the end of 2013, Kenny launcheddefamation action against the ABC program involved and one of its hosts,Andrew Hansen. In April 2014, the managing director of the ABC apologised to Kenny for the incident, and expressed regret for "the delay in making this apology".[20] In June 2014, a ruling by theAustralian Communications and Media Authority found that the skit was a potential source of "deep offence" to Kenny and others, and was "disturbingly bullying" in character.[21] As part of its settlement of Kenny's defamation suit, the ABC agreed to pay Kenny $35,000 and apologise to him on-air.[22] Kenny defended his conduct during the case, tellingThe Guardian that "I'll be remembered as the journalist called a dog f**ker who stood up for his rights".[23] Nonetheless, sections of the Australian media expressed concern about the ruling, withThe Conversation's Mark Rolfe arguing that Kenny "took the skit out of its context"[24] andThe Guardian'sDavid Marr saying that the case "raise[d] serious questions about free speech in Australia".[23]
Kenny is a keenAustralian rules football follower, having played at reserve grade level forSANFL clubsNorwood andWest Adelaide.[3] In 2014 he was appointed an official ambassador for AFL clubAdelaide.[25]
Kenny is the cousin of political journalistMark Kenny.[26] His sister Therese Kenny ran unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate forTorrens in the2018 South Australian state election.[26]
Look, no one should mock the elderly, least of all me having turned 60 yesterday...
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