Piers Akerman

Last updated

Piers Akerman
Born (1950-06-12) 12 June 1950 (age 73)
Wewak, Territory of Papua and New Guinea
Education Year 10 Certificate
Guildford Grammar School
Occupation Columnist / political commentator
SpouseSuzanne

Piers Akerman (born 12 June 1950) is an Australian columnist and conservative commentator for the Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

Contents

Biography

Akerman was born in Wewak, Papua New Guinea, the third son in a family of four children [1] of John, an Australian Government doctor, and Eve Akerman (d. 2003), a newspaper columnist and reviewer. [1] The family left PNG for India in 1951, before returning to Perth, Western Australia. [1]

He attended Guildford Grammar School, where he remained until his expulsion, when he was "asked to leave" following a dispute with the headmaster. He spent the last few months of his schooling at Christ Church Grammar School but did not complete his final exams. [2]

Career

Akerman worked for a time at British national newspaper, The Times , and spent ten years as a foreign correspondent in the United States. On returning to Australia, he was editor of The Advertiser , Adelaide (1988) and The Sunday Herald Sun , Melbourne (1990). During 1990-92 he was editor-in-chief of the Herald & Weekly Times group in Melbourne before becoming a vice-president of Fox News, USA in 1993. [3]

Mark Latham was known to weave complaints about Akerman's writing into his speeches. [4]

Periodically, Akerman was a regular panelist on ABC Television's political commentary program Insiders , until his 16 June 2013 participation. This incident involved unfounded allegations about the then Prime Minister's de facto partner. [5] Akerman had also appeared on the ABC's political program Q&A . [6]

Controversies

Climate change denial

Akerman is a climate change denier with a history of public opposition to a carbon price. He approvingly quotes the work of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), run by Fred Singer. [7]

In a November 2006 article in The Daily Telegraph, Akerman mis-quoted senior IPCC scientist John T. Houghton saying "Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen", attributing the quotation to his 1994 book Global Warming, The Complete Briefing. The mis-quote became widely used among climate change deniers to argue that climate change scientists showed a propensity to exaggerate their case. However, the mis-quote does not appear in any edition of the book. Houghton denied saying any such thing and believes the opposite to be true, commenting "I would never say we should hype up the risk of climate disasters in order to get noticed." In February 2010, Akerman responded by citing a September 1995 article in which Houghton was correctly quoted as saying "If we want a good environmental policy in the future, we'll have to have a disaster", adding that this passage was not much different to the misquotation Houghton had distanced himself from. [8] A subsequent report by Media Watch noted that Houghton's full remark did not carry the same meaning: "If we want a good environmental policy in the future we'll have to have a disaster. It's like safety on public transport. The only way humans will act is if there's been an accident." [9]

Sexual harassment

Five former employees, three of whom agreed to be named, have said they witnessed Akerman "sexually harass" female members of his staff, according to a 1991 story in The Sunday Age . [2]

Assault threat

One of the most controversial episodes in Akerman's life was his alleged threat to assault the literary editor of The Advertiser , Shirley Stott Despoja. [2] The dispute ended before a full bench of the Supreme Court where the newspaper appealed against Stott Despoja's successful worker's compensation claim for stress-related sick leave pay. Stott Despoja alleged: "I was physically threatened by the editor while alone with him in an office in a dispute over my work". The appeal by The Advertiser was dismissed and Stott Despoja won her $4,000 claim. [2]

Defamation

In 2006, former director of NRMA Richard James Talbot was awarded a $200,000 defamation payout plus costs. In regards to one point the judgment read "The inaccuracies of fact by the defendant [Akerman] on this topic are gross". [10]

LGBT rights

In March 2018 Akerman suggested that gay people need to apologise for child sex abuse. [11]

Same-sex marriage

In 2017, Akerman wrote that there were more pressing issues worrying Australians than voting on the issue of same-sex marriage. [12]

In 2018 he called the victory of the YES in Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey "a victory for left's hate". [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Stott Despoja</span> Australian politician

Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja AO is an Australian politician, diplomat, advocate and author. She is the founding Chair of the Board of Our Watch, the national foundation to prevent violence against women and their children, and was previously the Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2013 to 2016. She was also a Member of the World Bank Gender Advisory Council from 2015 to 2017 and a Member of the United Nations High Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents in 2017. She is a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

<i>The Daily Telegraph</i> (Sydney) Australian daily tabloid newspaper

The Daily Telegraph, also nicknamed The Tele, is an Australian tabloid newspaper published by Nationwide News Pty Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is published Monday through Saturday and is available throughout Sydney, across most of regional and remote New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Houghton (physicist)</span> Welsh physicist (1931–2020)

Sir John Theodore Houghton was a Welsh atmospheric physicist who was the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore. He was the lead editor of first three IPCC reports. He was professor in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford, former Director General at the Met Office and founder of the Hadley Centre.

Philip Stott is a professor emeritus of biogeography at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a former editor (1987–2004) of the Journal of Biogeography.

<i>The Great Global Warming Swindle</i> British TV series or programme

The Great Global Warming Swindle is a 2007 British polemical documentary film directed by Martin Durkin. The film denies the scientific consensus about the reality and causes of climate change, justifying this by suggesting that climatology is influenced by funding and political factors. The program was formally criticised by Ofcom, the UK broadcasting regulatory agency, which ruled the film failed to uphold due impartiality and upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King, who appeared in the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell Pearce</span> Australian rugby league footballer

Mitchell Pearce is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a stand-off for the Catalans Dragons in the Super League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Goers</span> Australian radio personality (born 1956)

Peter Goers is a South Australian amateur actor, director, critic, columnist and current host of the radio program The Evening Show on ABC Radio Adelaide, which broadcasts throughout South Australia and to the "Silver" city of Broken Hill. His career has spanned over 40 years in the entertainment industry across a range of different mediums and formats including television, print, radio and theatre, and he is frequently engaged as a guest speaker. In the Australia Day Honours, 2013, Goers was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his "service to the community as a radio broadcaster".

<i>The Deniers</i> 2008 book by Lawrence Solomon

The Deniers is a 2008 book by Lawrence Solomon, a Canadian environmentalist and writer. Subtitled "The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud," the book draws attention to a number of scientists and others who, according to Solomon, have advanced arguments against what he calls the "alarmist" view of global warming, as presented by Al Gore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the mainstream media, and others. The book is based on a series of columns Solomon wrote for Canada's National Post. It has been criticized for misquoting the scientists it featured.

<i>An Appeal to Reason</i> 2008 book by Nigel Lawson

An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming is a 2008 book by Nigel Lawson. In it, Lawson claims that, although global warming is happening, the science is far from settled. He opposes the scientific consensus as summarized by the IPCC. He also argues that warming will bring both benefits and negative consequences, and that the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic. The book has been rejected by climatologists, including IPCC authors Jean Palutikof and Robert Watson as unscientific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Conference on Climate Change</span> The Heartland Institute annual conference

The International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) is a conference series organized and sponsored by The Heartland Institute which aims to bring together those who "dispute that the science is settled on the causes, consequences, and policy implications of climate change." The first conference took place in 2008.

<i>Heaven and Earth</i> (book) 2009 book by Ian Plimer

Heaven and Earth: Global Warming – The Missing Science is a popular science book published in 2009 and written by Australian geologist, professor of mining geology at Adelaide University, and mining company director Ian Plimer. It disputes the scientific consensus on climate change, including the view that global warming is "very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas concentrations" and asserts that the debate is being driven by what the author regards as irrational and unscientific elements.

<i>The Real Global Warming Disaster</i> 2009 book by Christopher Booker

The Real Global Warming Disaster is a 2009 book by English journalist and author Christopher Booker in which he asserts that global warming cannot be attributed to humans, and then alleges how the scientific opinion on climate change was formulated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Fifita</span> Australian & Tongan international rugby league footballer (born 1989)

Andrew Fifita is a retired professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop. He has played for Tonga and Australia at international level.

Transport Energy Futures: Long-Term Oil Supply Trends and Projections is a report published by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, and prepared by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) of Australia in 2009, which calculate peak oil to occur in 2017, after which oil supply is projected to decline rapidly. It is report number 117.

Campaigns & Communications Group is an Australian company founded by Bruce Hawker as a specialized election campaign and communications advisory firm in 2011. Hawker was formerly Chairman and co-founder of the government relations and lobbying firm Hawker Britton, established with David Britton in 1997. He is aligned with the Australian Labor Party, and he has worked as a campaign strategist and adviser on more than 30 State, Federal and Australian territory election campaigns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junior Paulo (rugby league, born 1993)</span> Samoa international rugby league footballer

Junior Paulo is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL.

Ian Richard Smith is an Australian businessman, corporate advisor and former journalist. He is a founder of the firm Bespoke Approach, and is considered by The Power Index to be one of Australia's most influential political lobbyists.

Shirley Margaret Stott Despoja is an Australian journalist. She was the first female journalist in the general newsroom of The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide, and was the paper's first arts editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corey Waddell</span> Australian rugby league footballer

Corey Waddell is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row forward for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL.

Sarrah Le Marquand is an Australian journalist and media commentator. She is currently the editor-in-chief of Stellar, a weekly magazine available in The Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun. Le Marquand is also a regular guest and panellist on television shows The Project on Network 10 and Today on Nine Network, as well as a regular commentator on Sky News Australia, Q&A, The Drum, A Current Affair, The Morning Show, Sunrise and ABC Local Radio.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Papua New Guinea Association of Australia - Vale List". 2003. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "The power of a Murdoch man". The Sunday Age. 12 August 1991. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  3. ↑ "Conference Contributors, 14th Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society". samuelgriffith.org.au. 2002. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  4. ↑ "Iron Mike Latham Goes Ballistic". crikey.com.au. 2002. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "Media Watch: The art of deflecting blame (17/06/2013)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Panelist: Piers Akerman Q&A ABC TV". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Akerman, Piers (31 July 2008). "Icy reality cools the climate cultists". News Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 August 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2013. Unlike the hysterical IPCC report, which was riddled with errors and mis-statements, ignored available scientific data, and has already been contradicted in several major areas by more recent research, the [NIPCC] authors don't say that anthropogenic greenhouse gases cannot produce some warming, but they do say that the evidence shows that they are not playing a major role.
  8. ↑ Piers Akerman (18 February 2010). "Malicious bullets fired by the global warmists' guns". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Archived from the original on 9 September 2010.
  9. ↑ Jonathan Holmes. Malice, misquotes and Media Watch abc.net.au, 24 February 2010.
  10. ↑ "NRMA director awarded $200,000". The Courier-Mail. news.com.au. Retrieved 16 February 2010.[ dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Gay people in Australia should apologise for child sex abuse, says conservative journalist". PinkNews. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "Dailytelegraph.com.au | Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph for exclusive stories". myaccount.news.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Dailytelegraph.com.au | Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph for exclusive stories". myaccount.news.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.