Derryn Hinch, an outspoken – and sometimes controversial – media figure and former senator, has died aged 82.
The boisterous journalist was known for his distinctive broadcasting style, honed by decades of work in the media, as well as his law-breaking crusades to expose sex offenders, for which he was jailed several times.
The death of the TV presenter was confirmed on the air of his former radio station 3AW.
ABC has confirmed that the former senator died in his sleep this morning.
Derryn Hinch was known for his highly opinionated approach to broadcasting. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Former colleague Peter Ford told 3AW Hinch was an important figure in the station’s history.
“It’s one of those moments when you think this has been an extraordinary life and career,” he said.
“This is the amazing story of a man who, as a young lad in rural New Zealand, dreamed of going into journalism and slowly but surely, boy, did it.
“Besides having a really good journalistic mind, he knew how to write a story, how to present it… he knew a good story when he heard one.
“Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t provocative; he stirred the pot a lot, he upset people a lot, and he saw it almost as confirmation that he was doing a good job.”
Derryn Hinch with his official Senate portrait. (Facebook: Derryn Hinch)
Denis O’Kane had a long working relationship with Hinch from the late 1970s and remained close friends with him for decades.
He told 3AW he had recently seen Hinch.
“Derrin hasn’t changed, he’s a very funny and serious guy to a lot of people, but when you meet him he’s a lot of fun to be around,” he said.
“A great man… and we love him very much.”
Loud and opinionated from the start
In early 2025, Hinch was sitting in a cafe in Melbourne when a woman approached him.
She wanted to read his 2010 autobiography about his then 50-year work in media, Human Headlines, but there was a line at her local library wanting to borrow it.
The conversation made Hinch realize how many more chapters he needed to add to his life story.
“I had something happen – I was in prison, I was a senator, so something happened,” Hinch told ABC at the time.
Hinch was born in New Zealand and began his long career with The Taranaki Herald in 1960, aged 15.
Just a few years later he moved to Australia, taking part in a police round for The Sun newspaper in Sydney.
Over the next six decades, he landed roles in almost every form of media… and often told people that he had been fired from “16 or 17” of them.
His time at Fairfax in New York in the late 1960s and 70s was commemorated in a speech given by his contemporary Ray Martin at Hinch’s 2018 induction into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.
Martin said Hinch’s signature style – loud and opinionated – began early in his career.
“He flaunted more company credit cards and made more front-page headlines than any other countryman,” Martin said at the ceremony.
Martin recalled being chastised by his own ABC editors for not having as many contacts within the UN as Hinch, or for not having the same headline-grabbing quotes in his corridors.
“Whenever I questioned the veracity of some of these diplomatic sources – and I sometimes did – Hinch would respond, somewhat rhetorically, by asking, ‘Listen, did your story get on the ballot? Did it make it to the first page of the first edition? No? Well, end of section, Sunshine.”
From glory to shame
While in the US, Hinch commentated on the Apollo 11 launch live for Sydney radio station 2GB in 1969.
A clip of the show was played during an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne breakfast presenters Sharnelle Vella and Bob Murphy.
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“I still get goosebumps when I hear that,” he told the couple.
“I was a real newbie in radio. I was a print journalist. But it was a good way to start my radio career.”
Over the decades, Hinch has floated in and out of talk radio in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, including ratings-winning spots on 3AW.
He has appeared on television talk show Beauty and the Beast, hosted The Afternoon Show on the Nine Network and, in recent years, has been a commentator on various news programs on Channel Seven and Sky News.
But it was his eponymous current affairs programs on Channel Seven and Ten that made Hinch one of the most recognizable faces on television in the late 1980s and 90s.
He was equally known for his unabashed opinions and catchphrases – “That’s life” and “Shame, shame, shame”, which were most famously parodied by Steve Wizard on the comedy show Fast Forward.
Derryn Hinch’s presentation style and catchphrases led to fame and comedy parodies. (Delivered)
He also became famous for flouting contempt laws against sex offenders, for which he was convicted three times.
In 1987, he was fined and jailed for 12 days for identifying Catholic pedophile priest Michael Glannon during a criminal trial.
He spent five months under house arrest in 2011 for breaching a suppression order against two other offenders.
A few years later, he decided to spend 50 days in jail rather than pay a $100,000 fine for revealing details of the criminal history of Adrian Ernest Bailey, the killer of ABC employee Jill Meagher.
Derryn Hinch was fined $100,000 in the Victorian Supreme Court for contempt of court after he breached a suppression order but chose jail over pay. (AAP: Julian Smith)
Hinch said the public’s right to know about sex offenders is more important than contempt and conviction laws.
Recalling his time in prison, he told Triple j Hack: “People are too comfortable in prison. I had more quality meat in a week than most retirees would get in a month.
“Judges and magistrates are not aware of society’s expectations regarding sentencing.”
Following his release, Hinch addressed the media behind prison walls, saying the public’s right to information about sex offenders trumped the law. (ABC News)
Social justice issues were so important to Hinch that he decided to enter politics at the age of 72.
A public sex offender registry was one of his key campaign platforms when running for Senate.
He achieved success competing from 2016 to 2019.
He is credited with introducing a new law restricting convicted pedophiles from traveling abroad.
The parents of murdered Queensland boy Daniel Morcombe, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, joined Derryn Hinch at a press conference calling for a public sex offender registry. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty)
He was also instrumental in relaxing the rules regarding the types of photographs the media could take in the Senate, although he himself was photographed sleeping in Parliament.
Derryn Hinch announces political party time
He formed his own political party, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, and his candidates won three seats in the 2018 Victorian election.
The party advocated tougher penalties for sexual and violent crimes.
Neither candidate was successful in the 2022 Victorian state election, leading to the party’s dissolution in what he described as “one of the saddest moments of my life”.
Through sickness and in health
Hinch has written more than a dozen books and revealed in 2025 that he was indeed working on these additions to his autobiography.
Among the memoirs and revelations were guides to everything from winning the board game Scrabble to dealing with grief, heartbreak and illness.
He was good at the last two subjects.
The marriage equality supporter was married five times, including to stage, television and film actress Jacki Weaver, with whom he starred in the video for John Farnham’s hit You’re the Voice.
In an interview with ABC, he recalled a funny meeting with a young actress who played the couple’s daughter in the video.
“When I was campaigning for the Senate, a woman came up to me and said, ‘Oh, Derryn, hi. I am your daughter! that’s something you don’t need to hear when you’re on the campaign trail,” he laughed.
Hinch hospitalized after fall
While he was a senator, Hinch suffered one of several health problems: he suffered a traumatic brain injury after falling from an Uber in Melbourne.
The report that he drank two glasses of wine before the incident drew some criticism as Hinch underwent a liver transplant in 2011 after being diagnosed with cirrhosis and inoperable liver cancer.
“I drink sometimes and I’m not stupid,” he told Sky News at the time.
“You have to live your life.”
His contemporary Ray Martin left what could be considered the final word on Hinch’s six decades in the media with his induction into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2018.
“Senator Derryn Hinch was a vibrant, innovative journalist who campaigned with a megaphone. He always wrote the story with the same ambition and urgency as the title. He has long ranked among the very best tabloid reporters in Australia and that is a special skill that should be recognized and rewarded. He has also consistently taken the “decent” side of most public debates.
“Derin Nigel Hinch really deserves praise. He is a legend of Australian journalism.”