TRAGIC LOSS: Sky News star d!es after string of health battles as tributes pour in
Derryn Hinch, the legendary broadcaster and former senator, has died at the age of 82. Confirming the news on Friday, Hinch’s former radio station, 3AW, announced that he had passed overnight at his home.
Prior to his death, the New Zealand-born Sky News Australia journalist had spoken openly about a number of ongoing health issues after receiving treatment for a facial melanoma, a blood infection and a cardiac arrhythmia. In 2011, he received a lifesaving liver transplant after being diagnosed with liver cancer, and more recently, Hinch revealed in October that he’d been admitted to hospital for an infection caused by a fall.
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The journalist’s death was confirmed by his former radio station, 3AW (Image: Getty)
Born in Taranaki, New Zealand in 1944, Hinch moved to Australia in 1963, where he launched a prolific, decade-spanning career across TV and radio. After starting out as a journalist at The Sun and Fairfax Media, Hinch reached a major milestone after providing live commentary of the Apollo 11 launch for Sydney radio station, 2GB, in 1969. By 1979, Hinch had moved to 3AW, where he led his very own morning program for eight years.
A regular fixture on Australian television, Hinch achieved further notoriety after hosting Beauty and the Beast on the Seven Network in the early ’80s, and from 1988 to 1991, Hinch helmed his own current affairs show, Hinch at Seven, for the network. In 2010, he was inducted into the Australian Commercial Radio Hall of Fame and by 2015, he’d taken the lead with his twice-weekly news opinion program, Hinch Live, for Sky News Australia.
Hinch had spoken openly about his health struggles over the years (Image: Getty)
Aside from his broadcasting career, Hinch was a well-known politician. In 2015, he launched the Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, and was subsequently elected to the Australian Senate as senator for Victoria, a role he held from 2016 to 2019.
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Following Hinch’s death, tributes have poured in for the legendary broadcaster. Releasing a statement on social media, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tweeted: “Derryn Hinch lived a life rich in colour and free from fear. As an interviewer, investigator and presenter he was much more than ‘the Human Headline,’ he had a sense of the deeper story and the courage to cover it, come what may.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute (Image: Getty)
“He held to those same instincts as a senator and he fought illness with that same bravery. My sincere condolences to his family and his many friends.”
Speaking with 3AW, Hinch’s good friend and long-time colleague, Peter Ford, said: “He knew how to write a story, to present a story. Whether that was in newspapers or whether it was radio or television, he succeeded in all those fields.” Ford added that Hinch was “provocative” in his work, noting: “He stirred the pot a lot, he upset people a lot, and he saw that almost as being validation of doing his job well.”
