Gerard Henderson

Gerard Henderson, Ph.D. is a Australian newspaper columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald. He is also executive director of the Sydney Institute, a privately funded current affairs forum and think-tank. From 1984 to 1986 he was chief of staff to John Howard (leader of the Liberal Party and eventual Prime Minister of Australia from 1996). He attended the Jesuit Xavier College in Melbourne.

Dr. Henderson studied Arts and Law at Melbourne University prior to completing his Ph.D.; and taught at Tasmania and La Trobe universities before working for four years on the staff of a Minister (Kevin Newman) in Malcolm Fraser's Coalition government. From 1980 to 1983 he was employed in the Commonwealth Department of Industrial Relations and was Chief-of-Staff to John Howard between 1984 and 1986 (during which time Mr Howard was Deputy Leader, and later, Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia). Gerard Henderson was appointed by the Keating government to the board of the Australia Foundation for Culture and the Humanities and by the Howard government to the editorial board of the Documents on Australian Foreign Policy series.

The Sydney Institute is a high profile privately funded policy forum for debate and discussion. It publishes two journals (The Sydney Papers and The Sydney Institute Quarterly incorporating Media Watch), holds around 60 policy forums per year and occasional conferences and conducts a major annual lecture. The Institute enjoys good relations with both sides of mainstream Australian politics.

As a commentator Henderson is considered to be sympathetic to the conservative side of politics on issues such as the federal government's WorkChoices legislation, "national security" and the Iraq War, while holding progressive political views on the Australian republic, asylum seekers and euthanasia. However, most of Henderson's commentaries in the Sydney Morning Herald concentrate on defending Howard Government policy.

Gerard Henderson is the author of Mr Santamaria and the Bishops (1982), Australian Answers (1990), Gerard Henderson Scribbles On (1993), Menzies' Child: The Liberal Party of Australia (1994, second edition 1998) and A Howard Government? Inside the Coalition (Harper Collins, 1995) - as well as numerous articles and essays. In August 1994 he profiled former prime minister Bob Hawke for the ABC TV Four Corners program.

Media appearances and bibliography

Henderson regularly appears as a commentator on political TV programs such as Insiders (ABC) and Agenda (Sky News), and has written a number of books about Australian politics, including Menzies Child: The Liberal Party of Australia 1944-94, and A Howard Government? Inside The Coalition.