Mungo Wentworth MacCallum (born 21 December 1941),
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n journalist, is a political journalist and commentator.
He is the son of Mungo Ballardie MacCallum (1913 - 1999) (a journalist and pioneer of television in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
), and Diana Wentworth a great granddaughter of the Australian explorer and politician
William Charles WentworthWilliam Charles Wentworth was an Australian poet, explorer, journalist and politician, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales...
(1790-1872). He is a nephew of William Charles Wentworth IV (1907-2003),
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
member of the
Australian House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house, the upper house being the Senate.-Origins and role:The House is presided over by the Speaker....
(1949-77) and a virulent
anti-communistAnti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism, especially Marxism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the growing popularity of the communist movement, and took on many forms during the 20th century....
.
Mungo Wentworth MacCallum (born 21 December 1941),
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n journalist, is a political journalist and commentator.
He is the son of Mungo Ballardie MacCallum (1913 - 1999) (a journalist and pioneer of television in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
), and Diana Wentworth a great granddaughter of the Australian explorer and politician
William Charles WentworthWilliam Charles Wentworth was an Australian poet, explorer, journalist and politician, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales...
(1790-1872). He is a nephew of William Charles Wentworth IV (1907-2003),
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
member of the
Australian House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house, the upper house being the Senate.-Origins and role:The House is presided over by the Speaker....
(1949-77) and a virulent
anti-communistAnti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism, especially Marxism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the growing popularity of the communist movement, and took on many forms during the 20th century....
. He and his uncle, while agreeing on certain questions, were fundamentally of different political inclinations. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great great-grandfather were also called Mungo MacCallum.
Mungo MacCallum was educated at the elite
Cranbrook SchoolCranbrook School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in Bellevue Hill and Rose Bay, both eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, a short walk from where he lived with his mother and father in his grandmother's house in Wentworth Street,
Point Piper Point Piper is a small harbourside, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Point Piper is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra.-Location:...
.
After leaving school, Mungo MacCallum went to the
University of SydneyThe University of Sydney is the oldest university in Australia. It was established in Sydney in 1850. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" universities that are highly ranked in terms of their research performance...
where he obtained a
BABachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
with third class honours.
Mungo MacCallum covered Australian federal politics from the
Canberra Press GalleryThe Canberra Press Gallery, officially called the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery, is the name given to the approximately 180 journalists and their support staff, including producers, editors and camera crews, who report the workings of the Australian Parliament...
for
The AustralianThe Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia on Monday to Saturday each week since 1964. The editor is Chris Mitchell and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
,
The National Times,
The Sydney Morning HeraldThe Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. The newspaper's Sunday edition, The Sun-Herald, is published in tabloid format...
,
Nation ReviewNation Reviewwas an Australian Sunday newspaper, which ceased publication in 1981. It was launched in 1970 after independent publisher Gordon Barton bought out Tom Fitzgerald's Nation publication and merged it with his own Sunday Review journal...
and radio station
2JJ / Triple Jtriple J is a nationally-networked, government-funded Australian radio station , mainly aimed at youth...
in the 1970s and 1980s. MacCallum currently writes a column for
The Byron Shire Echo,
The Northern StarThe Northern Star is a daily newspaper serving Lismore in New South Wales, Australia. The newspaper is owned by APN News & Media.The Northern Star is circulated to Lismore and surrounding communities from Billinudgel to the north, to Kyogle and Casino to the west and Evans Head to the south and...
, frequently writes for the magazine
The MonthlyThe Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis excepting the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Morry Schwartz, a successful Melbourne property developer...
, and contributes political commentary to Australia's national
Community Radio NetworkThe Community Radio Network was a network of radio stations based in provincial centres across New Zealand. The network was operated by The Radio Network ....
. Mungo MacCallum is also known for his centre-left, strongly pro-
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
views, being critical both of the conservative Liberal and
National PartiesThe National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing rural voters, it was originally called the Country Party, but adopted the name National Country Party in 1975 and changed to its present name in 1982...
, and of the far left (e.g.,
communistsCommunism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human...
) who attack Labor for its cautious
reformismReformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
.
He has also authored several books, including
Run, Johnny, Run written after the Australian federal election, 2004.
Mungo MacCallum is a resident of
Ocean ShoresOcean Shores is a coastal town in Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Since being established in the early 70s it has grown to a reasonable size town. It is the largest town north Byron Bay in the Byron Shire and second largest in the shire. It is located in the Brunswick Valley - a valley...
, on the north coast of New South Wales.
His autobiographical narrative of the Australian political scene,
Mungo: the man who laughs - is currently in its fourth reprint.
How To Be A Megalomaniac or, Advice to a Young Politician was published in 2002 and
Political Anecdotes was published in 2003. In December 2004, Duffy & Snellgrove published
War and Pieces: John HowardJohn Winston Howard, AC was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
's last election.
External links
- The Monthly. Articles by Mungo MacCallum for The Monthly
The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis excepting the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Morry Schwartz, a successful Melbourne property developer...
- In Conversation: Mungo MacCallum and Shane Maloney discuss the fall of John Howard
John Winston Howard, AC was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
and Mungo's account of the campaign, Poll Dancing published by Black Inc.