http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/david-penberthy/ Dave grew up in Adelaide’s southern suburbs and attended a really nice public school, Marion High, which was subsequently bulldozed during the tyrannical reign of Liberal Premier Dean Brown. He fell into journalism while not studying law at the University of Adelaide. He joined The Adelaide Advertiser as a cadet journalist in 1992 and spent his first few years on the newspaper as education reporter, industrial reporter and state political reporter. In 1996, shortly after the election of the Howard Government, he was posted to Canberra to head the Advertiser’s parliamentary bureau. In 1999 he moved to Sydney to join The Daily Telegraph as state parliament bureau chief, a position he held for three years before his appointment as chief of staff and then as opinion editor and roving columnist for the paper. In April 2005 he became editor of The Daily Telegraph, a position he held until November last year. He is now the editor-in-chief of news.com.au and The Punch. When not writing about stuff or reading stuff other people have written, he can be found at home in the kitchen cooking traditional dishes from Mexico, where he lived for a year in 1986, and which after a few tequilas he will wrongly cite as his place of birth. en Copyright 2013 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-victory-of-spivs-guarentees-decades-of-defeat-eddie-obeid/ About 20 years ago Australia was captivated and appalled by the secret footage of a bunch of senior Sydney police openly talking about taking bribes and collaborating with drug dealers in the crooked Kings Cross command. Coppers such as Detective Graham “Chook” Fowler and his sidekick Inspector Trevor Haken became household names.  Secret cameras caught police receiving cash kickbacks worth thousands of dollars, often stuffed into boots. “Hooley f…ing dooley,” a crooked copper was heard saying on one of the tapes, “I didn’t know you could get so much into an RM Williams.” The revelations forced the NSW police royal commission and prompted other states to examine their police forces to make sure no such corruption existed there. In SA there was no such inquiry as the police had just undergone a thorough anti-corruption investigation, Operation Hygiene, in which one copper was busted for stealing a punnet of strawberries, another for pinching a bag of potting mix. To paraphrase the great journalist and author Cyril Pearl, one day someone will write the full story of Australian roguery, and every state will play a part, but undoubtedly NSW will steal the show. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-victory-of-spivs-guarentees-decades-of-defeat-eddie-obeid/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-victory-of-spivs-guarentees-decades-of-defeat-eddie-obeid/#item10566 Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:00:43 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-can-stick-your-apology-up-your-bum/ Tim Mathieson owes us all an apology. He should apologise for apologising for his remarks about prostate cancer this week. Instead of apologising, what Tim Mathieson should have done was make like a tiny-handed Asian lady bum doctor, and lift a defiant middle finger in the direction of the narcs, whingers, screwed-up ideologues and craven opportunists who felt or feigned such burning indignation at his completely innocent little gag. I am still trying to work out who was meant to be offended by his remark. Was it Asians? Was it women? Was it people with small hands? Was he making a slight against the big-handed – apologies in advance to any sufferers of gigantism who might be reading this – or was he poking fun, so to speak, at those many men who have had to suffer the ignominy of an Ansell-gloved digit up the date? penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-can-stick-your-apology-up-your-bum/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-can-stick-your-apology-up-your-bum/#item10533 Sat, 02 Feb 2013 20:00:31 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/downer-must-stop-playing-footsies-with-the-public1/ It is now crystal clear what Alexander Downer’s vision is for South Australia. Total uncertainty. The former Foreign Minister must end his hair-twirling antics and declare categorically whether he intends to lead the South Australian Liberal Party. As things stand, the continuing game of footsies he is playing with the public and his party is starting to look like an exercise in vanity and self-indulgence. The irony with all this is that Alexander Downer is the consummate party man and a deeply passionate South Australian. Yet his actions are damaging his party and not helping the state. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/downer-must-stop-playing-footsies-with-the-public1/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/downer-must-stop-playing-footsies-with-the-public1/#item10521 Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:49:59 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/censorious-laws-treat-us-all-like-children/ It was one of the most confronting Australian news images of 2012. A little boy holding a placard reading “Behead all those who insult the Prophet”, standing among the hysterical crowd at the Sydney protests against an obscure art-house film ridiculing Mohammed. The discussion inspired by that image was impassioned. The child and, particularly, his parents were held up as evidence that something was seriously wrong within sections of our multicultural society. The heated nature of the discussion was not surprising at all, even if some of it was unpleasantly over-the-top. But in a free society such as ours it was still a conversation worth having. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/censorious-laws-treat-us-all-like-children/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/censorious-laws-treat-us-all-like-children/#item10484 Sat, 26 Jan 2013 20:00:53 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-really-honest-liar/ Over the years there have been plenty of “tell-all” interviews by disgraced public figures which haven’t actually told us anything, other than confirm the desperation of the subject to clear their names or at least salvage their battered reputations by blaming everybody else. Think Alan Bond, after setting a record for his dissembling “can’t recall” efforts in court, trying to exculpate himself for leaving thousands of shareholders destitute. Tiger Woods trying to apologise for having sex with almost half the planet in a bid to win back his sponsors and get back on the clubs. Even last year’s stage-managed nonsense by the gold-medallist and piano-tosser Grant Hackett, conveniently hosted by Channel Nine ahead of his appearance as a special commentator on that network at the London Games. I had little enthusiasm ahead of Lance Armstrong’s interview on Friday, for a couple of reasons. The first was that so much of it had been leaked in advance that it became a weird story where you felt like you were over it before it had even began. The second was that given he had spent almost two decades lying through his teeth, I doubted there was anything he could say which would be illuminating or even interesting. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-really-honest-liar/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-really-honest-liar/#item10433 Sat, 19 Jan 2013 19:59:31 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-truer-history-of-the-kelly-gang/ Around 200 people are expected to gather for a church ceremony in Wangaratta, Victoria, today at which bushranger Ned Kelly will finally be laid to rest. It’s the kind of ceremony which we are duty-bound to describe as “solemn” and “moving”, an event which for the descendants of Kelly represents a form of “closure”, to use one of the more excruciating clichés of the age. It is, apparently, particularly touching that Kelly will be buried alongside his mum Ellen, although exact details of the location of the grave will be kept a secret so as to avoid the whole thing turning into a circus. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-truer-history-of-the-kelly-gang/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-truer-history-of-the-kelly-gang/#item10422 Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:00:06 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/five-bucks-says-youve-loved-this-summer-of-cricket/ If your household is anything like mine, I’ve got five bucks that says your kids now know a hell of a lot more than they did about gambling before this summer of cricket on Channel Nine. This year’s cricket coverage became one of the most effective vehicles for obsessive gambling the nation has seen. I am a long way from being a wowser, I enjoy the odd punt and am a frequent and enthusiastic visitor to the greyhounds, always with the kids in tow. But the nature of the outlays being offered on Nine through its new commercial betting partner has not only been incessant, but a bit of an insult to everyone’s intelligence, as so much of it was framed around the kind of moronic chance-based exotic betting which is about as sophisticated as punting on the time-honoured two flies up a wall. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/five-bucks-says-youve-loved-this-summer-of-cricket/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/five-bucks-says-youve-loved-this-summer-of-cricket/#item10382 Sat, 12 Jan 2013 20:00:37 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-time-to-rest-the-australian-selectors/ The cricket calendar is so jam-packed these days that there is little point talking of a “summer” of cricket as it is pretty much a non-stop year-long spectacle. Much is made of the impact this has on players. I would argue that it is starting to take its toll on the selectors who appear to have parted company with their senses in selecting the squad for first games of the one-day series against Sri Lanka. As a format one day cricket is already in all sorts of strife, caught in a no man’s land between the strategic elegance of Test Cricket and the rock and roll of 20-20. Its days have been numbered for a long time, and can probably be traced back to the many innings where blokes like Michael Bevan batted like accountants, working out that with ten overs to go at a rate of 3.9 runs per over they could get Australia over the line by taking three dozen singles and a four. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-time-to-rest-the-australian-selectors/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-time-to-rest-the-australian-selectors/#item10340 Mon, 07 Jan 2013 03:19:59 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-policy-based-on-emotion/ There is a view among those who argue in favour of the status quo that governments should never adopt policy positions based on emotion. I would argue that in a case such as the school shootings in Connecticut that now it is absolutely the right time to respond - when people are sickened, sobbing, furious, completely emotional. Our collective sense of repulsion dissipates with time as we get on with life and somehow forget the unforgettable. You want someone to harness that sense of disgust and turn it into action. Frankly, if anyone is not emotional about this issue, there is something seriously wrong with them. President Obama was fuelled by a sense of disgust at his press conference on Saturday. He also promised to turn it into action. More power to his arm. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-policy-based-on-emotion/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-policy-based-on-emotion/#item10243 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:59:59 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ill-defend-our-rights-to-be-rude-and-stupid/ Research is everything in journalism so I am happy to be able to report that for this piece I spent a good half hour watching Rodney Rude videos on YouTube. It was probably around 1983 when I last devoted this level of attention to the work of this Australian comedian. At our cutting-edge public school there was a tiny room you could hire called “the audio visual centre” which contained a single cassette player, and many lunch hours in Year 10 were spent with mates listening to our tape of the ground-breaking comedy LP Rodney Rude Live. From memory the album went No.1 in the charts. It was regarded as massively offensive by many people. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ill-defend-our-rights-to-be-rude-and-stupid/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ill-defend-our-rights-to-be-rude-and-stupid/#item10239 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:49:59 +0000 David Penberthy | Author bios | The Punch