Derryn Nigel Hinch (born 9 February 1944) is a New Zealand-born media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author.
[6] He has been the host of 3AW's Drive radio show, and a National Public Affairs commentator for the Seven Network on Sunday Night, Today Tonight and Sunrise.
[16] He is the Melbourne correspondent for New Zealand radio network Newstalk ZB and often presents political commentaries on the station.
[20] In September 2008, Hinch had a four-week run as The Criminologist (narrator) in the Australian tour of The Rocky Horror Show.
Hinch also made cameo appearances on Fast Forward, which was the same sketch show where he was parodied as Hunch, played by Steve Vizard.
Other positions include equal rights for all citizens regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation, tougher laws against animal cruelty, and support for voluntary euthanasia.
[23] In August 2017, it was revealed that Hinch holds an American Social Security number, raising concerns during the dual citizenship crisis that he may be disqualified from office under Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia.
[5] As a result, Hinch's party is not represented in the Australian federal parliament but retains two seats in the Victorian Legislative Council.
[28] [29] Hinch most recently contested the 2022 Victorian state election for the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region but was unsuccessful.
[31] In 1985, Hinch reported that Michael Glennon, who had previously been convicted of indecent assault against a minor, was operating a youth camp while facing new charges.
Hinch, who says he was concerned that parents were unknowingly sending their children to Glennon's camp, first appealed privately to then Victorian Premier John Cain and the then-Attorney-General, as well as the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, but in Hinch's words, they "washed their hands" of the situation.
[32] Subsequently, Hinch publicly identified Glennon during his trial on the third set of charges, in spite of the strong sub judice rule under Australian jurisprudence.
[37] On 5 December 2007, Hinch was abused verbally with obscenities by John Laws while dining at lunch with 2CH personality Bob Rogers in a restaurant at the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo, Sydney.
Hinch served 12 days in prison and was fined A$15,000 in 1987 for contempt of court after he publicly revealed paedophile Roman Catholic priest Michael Charles Glennon's prior conviction while a trial was still pending.
[34][43] In June 2011, he was convicted of breaching suppression orders against the names of two sex offenders, and was subsequently sentenced to five months' home detention.
[44] In October 2013, Hinch was found guilty of contempt of court for breaching a suppression order by revealing details of the criminal history of Jill Meagher's killer, Adrian Ernest Bayley.
[1] His most recent publicised relationship was with Natasha Chadwick, a former detective sergeant with NSW Police and freelance journalist.
[47] In March 2017, Hinch told the New Zealand Herald that he had been molested by a brother of one of his father's friends as a nine-year-old boy in his childhood home in New Plymouth in 1953.