"Pederasty" is a program broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National network on 14 July 1975. Hosted by Richard Neville and produced by Allan Ashbolt as an episode of Lateline (unrelated to the later ABC TV series), the show was described by the Sydney Morning Herald as featuring a "frank" interview with "three men in their thirties who admitted sex relations with boys, and a teenage boy" - he was actually 20 at the time of recording - "who said he had been involved in such relationships since he was 12".[1][2][3] The ABC's official description of the program was: "Pederasty, as described by the Penguin English Dictionary, is the homosexual relationship of a man with a boy. The subject usually creates feelings of revulsion and disgust within most people. The issues raised by such relationships are discussed by three pederasts".[4]
In the opening segment, host Neville introduces the show by drawing a distinction between "pederasty", a term which he says refers to a "consenting" sexual relationship between an adult and a child, and "pedophilia", which involves "non-consensual" assault. (This distinction does not in fact exist in Australian law, which currently recognises that children under 16 cannot "consent" to sexual behaviour with adults under any circumstances.)
A number of adult men who openly admit to sexual relationships with boys are then interviewed by Neville. They each defend and attempt to justify their behaviour, while describing the boys and their encounters in explicit sexually-charged language. While Neville challenges them throughout as to whether or not their behaviour is exploitative, he also never explicitly condemns it. One man insists that he is "not a homosexual, but a pederast" and another that he is "a pederast, not a dirty old man." When the topic of parents is raised, one man insists that he "helps" young boys who do not have father figures in their lives. Another admits to finding boys at "the homes of other pederasts" as well as in high school playgrounds.
To the program's end, Neville repeatedly challenges the men that society considers "pederasty" exploitative because of the inherent power imbalance, but the interviewees remain unrepentant. One insists that "we become the victims" when boys grow older and compares the societal dislike of "pederasty" to that of communism. Another says that "pederasts" are "victimised in the courts." As the program concludes, one man insists that despite his behaviour he should not be considered a "child molester."
1975 reception and ABC response
One letter to the editor published in The Sydney Morning Herald complained that the program demonstrated "a complete disregard for the physical danger to children."[5] Another stated that while Neville "clearly let it be seen that he held that male adults who committed such acts on boys corrupted or exploited them, and he tried to get the men to admit this", he should have challenged them further when the topic of priests abusing children was raised in an offhand manner.[6]
A tape of the program was turned over to police by Fred Nile, who objected to the content.[2]Peter Nixon of the then-National Country Party also called for a public inquiry into the ABC in the program's aftermath.[7] Ashbolt told The National Times that "“we can discuss on Lateline ideas that three years ago would have been regarded not only as heretical but subversive."[8] Asked about the program, ABC chairman Richard Downing initially commented that he had not heard it himself but that the ABC's general intention is to "try to inform people about what (is) happening so that they might be forewarned and forearmed".[2] Later, he added: "In general, men will sleep with young boys and that's the sort of thing the community ought to know about".[9] The ABC's ultimate response was to introduce guidelines around the use of "four-letter words" and "crude expressions" while rejecting any new guidelines on program content, with Downing commenting that he wanted ABC staff to be "adventurous and imaginative (but not) titillating".[10]
Legacy
In 2016, Liberal senator Eric Abetz asked the ABC in Parliament if they were considering an apology for "Pederasty". Their response was: "No. The ABC considers child abuse is a legitimate news and current affairs subject and it will continue to cover it where relevant in accordance with its Editorial and Charter responsibilities."[11] Abetz asked again about the program in 2018 and was told that the ABC had "has no records of the interview (and) no record of whether it reported these men to the police." In September 2025, ABC managing director Hugh Marks stated that ABC Archives do in fact hold a recording of the episode and that the claim they do not was made in "error."[12]
In October 2025, John Adams released the full recording of "Pederasty" on his YouTube and X account, admitting he did not own the copyright but felt the show becoming available was in the public interest. The recording was removed from YouTube but remains on X.[13][14] To date, the ABC is yet to apologise for the program and has expressed no intention of doing so.
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