David Flint

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David Flint AM is an Australian legal academic, known for his leadership of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and for his tenure as head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority.

Early life and education

Flint is of Dutch-Indonesian descent on his mother's side.[1] He studied at Sydney Boys High School before studying law, economics and international relations at the Universities of London, Paris, and Sydney, leading to a career in the law and academia. Flint states that was "a socialist in his student days".[2]

Career

He was Dean of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney from 1987 until 1997. He is currently Second Vice-President and National President for Australia of the World Jurist Association. He is also president of the Federation of Australian Branches of the English Speaking Union and was for long a board member and former editor of the Australian Branch of the International Law Association.

Regulator

Flint was head of the Australian Press Council from 1987 until 1997.

In 1998, he was appointed to the Australian Broadcasting Authority. He resigned from the ABA in 2004, after a controversy over a letter which he had sent to broadcaster Alan Jones in the leadup to Flint's heading the ABA's cash for comment inquiry into commercial broadcasting. As chairman of the ABA, Flint was chairman of the inquiry. In an appearance on the ABC's Enough Rope television program, John Laws accused Jones of placing pressure on the Prime Minister, John Howard, to keep Flint as head of the ABA and also made comments which many viewers took to imply a sexual relationship between Jones and Flint and broadly hinted that Jones was homosexual like Flint, who is openly gay. Later, the 2006 Jonestown biography publicly outed Jones, revealing a detailed history of his sexuality.[3][4] The well-known broadcaster John Laws, also involved in the inquiry, stated he had heard Jones say that he had "instructed" the Prime Minister to reappoint Flint in 2001.

Flint insists that his resignation was "not an admission of guilt".[5] and asserts that he had forgotten the letter.[6] Flint claimed that, despite a thorough Freedom of Information investigation, the one letter proliferated into a "series of fan letters" in the media.[7] The television program Media Watch, whose pursuit of the story was recognised by a Walkley Award for investigative journalism, provided opportunity for Flint to unambiguously deny the existence of more than one letter. According to Media Watch, Flint's reply "did not deny the existence of the correspondence".[8] Further, Flint asserted that Laws mistakenly thought Flint was behind more recent ABA action against him. On the contrary, Flint claimed in his book, Malice in Media Land, that he had dissented from the decision to proceed against Laws on the grounds that it was both unjustified and unlawful.

Honours

He was awarded World Outstanding Legal Scholar, World Jurists Association, Barcelona, in October 1991. On 12 June 1995 was made a Member of the Order of Australia "In recognition of service to the print media, particularly as Chairman of the Australian Press Council and to international relations".[9]

Personal life

Monarchist views

Flint is one of Australia's most prominent constitutional monarchists, in opposition to Australian republicanism. His book, The Cane Toad Republic, was used in the 1999 referendum campaign. This was followed in 2003 by Twilight of The Elites, which was critical of what Flint saw as the elites. In support of Australia's constitutional arrangements and the role of the Australian Crown. Flint has been National Convenor of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy since 1998, and a board member of the Samuel Griffith Society. He is a patron of the International Monarchist League in Australia which supports and advances constitutional monarchy.

Books

  • The Cane Toad Republic (Wakefield Press, 1999; ISBN 1-86254-496-4)
  • The Twilight of the Elites (Freedom Publishing, 2003; ISBN 0-9578682-5-1)
  • Malice in Media Land (Freedom Publishing, 2005; ISBN 0-9578682-8-6)
    Also known as Malice in Medialand
  • Her Majesty at 80; Impeccable Service in an Indispensable Office (Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, 2006; ISBN 1-876387-08-4)
  • Give Us Our Country Back (Connor Court Publishing, 2013)

References

  1. ↑ Miranda Devine (13 May 2004). "Laws versus Jones". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2007-06-18. 
  2. ↑ "Tony Abbott". Quadrant Online. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
  3. ↑ Denton, Andrew (3 May 2004). "Enough Rope with Andrew Denton: Episode 40: John Laws". Enough Rope with Andrew Denton. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 
  4. ↑ Media Watch (26 April 2004). "The professor and the presenter". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-11-04. 
  5. ↑ "Stranger on the Shore", an article about Flint by Jane Cadzow, Good Weekend, 3 July 2004
  6. ↑ Flint,loc.cit.
  7. ↑ Flint, loc.cit
  8. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1110148.htm
  9. ↑ It's an Honour. "David Flint - AM". Australian Government. Retrieved 2009-05-07. 

External links

Media offices
Preceded by
John Halden "Hal" Wootten		 Chairman of the Australian Press Council
1987 – 1997 		Succeeded by
Dennis Pearce
Preceded by
Peter Webb		 Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority
1998 – 2004 		Merged into the ACMA
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by
Lloyd Waddy		 Convenor for Australians for Constitutional Monarchy
1998 – present 		Incumbent
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