John Tingle

{{Short description|Australian politician (1931–2022)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = John Tingle | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | order = | office = Chairman of the Shooters Party | term_start = 2 May 1992 | term_end = 27 March 1999 | predecessor = ''Party established'' | successor = Robert Borsak | office1 = Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council | term_start1 = 25 March 1995 | term_end1 = 2 May 2006 | successor1 = Robert Brown | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1931|11|2}} | birth_place = Edgecliff, New South Wales, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2022|08|05|1931|11|2}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | education = Sydney Boys High School | birth_name = John Saxon Tingle | party = Shooters, Fishers and Farmers | other_party =  | spouse = {{Plainlist| * {{Marriage|Pamela Chivers|1956|1976|reason=div}} * {{Marriage|Gail Tingle|1980|2012|reason=div}} }} | children = {{Hlist|Peter|Sally|Laura}} | profession = Journalist, politician and broadcaster }}

'''John Saxon Tingle''' (2 November 1931 – 5 August 2022)<ref>[https://www.watoday.com.au/national/shooters-party-founder-john-tingle-dies-aged-90-20220806-p5b7ri.html Shooters Party founder John Tingle dies aged 90] ''WAtoday''</ref> was an Australian politician, journalist and broadcaster. He was the founder of the Shooters Party in New South Wales, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1995 until 2006.<ref name=background>{{cite news |last=Price|first=Jenna|date=6 May 1995|title=Tingle, with feeling |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130548537|work=Canberra Times|location= |access-date=21 April 2022|quote=The radio commentator for 2CH says he is not a one-person issue...}}</ref><ref name=shooters>{{cite news |author= |date=3 May 2006|title=Shooters Party MP resigns|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/shooters-party-mp-resigns-20060503-gdngux.html|url-access=limited|work=Sydney Morning Herald|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

==Early life== Born in Edgecliff, Sydney, Tingle attended Sydney Boys High School from 1944 to 1949.<ref name="SHSOBU">{{cite web |title=Members of parliament and legislatures |url=https://www.shsobu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/mps.pdf |publisher=Sydney High School Old Boys Union |access-date=3 September 2019 |archive-date=23 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323090439/http://www.shsobu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/mps.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Radio and TV career== He was a broadcaster and news editor in Deniliquin from 1949 to 1951 before becoming a journalist for the ABC from 1951 to 1968. During that time, he was supervisor of ABC TV News and chief of staff of the ABC News service, among other positions.<ref name=laura>{{cite news |last=Johnson|first=Natasha|date=11 April 2019|title=Laura Tingle on three decades of political reporting and being a woman in the press gallery|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/redirects/backstory/news-coverage/2019-04-11/laura-tingle-on-political-reporting-and-women-in-press-gallery/10987336|work=ABC News|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

He switched to commercial radio in 1969. Tingle said his decision to leave the ABC and venture into talkback on commercial radio was influenced by Ormsby Wilkins.<ref name=showbiz>{{cite book|last=Atterton|first=Margaret|author-link= |date=1984|title=The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Australian Showbiz|url= |location=Brookvale, New South Wales|publisher=Sunshine Books|page=218 |isbn=0867770570}}</ref> Wilkins was notable for taking the very first legal talkback calls on radio in Australia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/50-years-talkback-radio-australia|title=50 years of talkback radio|website=National Film & Sound Archive|publisher=Australian Government|access-date=21 April 2022|quote=}}</ref>

Tingle presented current affairs programs on stations including 2UE, 2UW, Radio Australia, 2SM (1978–1982), 3AW in Melbourne (1996), and 4BK in Brisbane (1997), before returning to 2SM.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=15 October 1969|title=Big guns open up on uni paper|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/237504639|work=Tribune|location= |access-date=21 April 2022|quote=Leading the pack in the assault on ''Arena'' was 2UE radio talkback program compere John Tingle...}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= |date=14 July 1980|title=2CA wins awards at radio convention |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/125610125|work=The Canberra Times|location= |access-date=21 April 2022|quote=Sydney station 2SM won three awards – for news commentator John Tingle, news presenter Steve Liebmann and rugby league caller Frank Hyde}}</ref>

He then worked at 2GB (1982–1992) and 2CH (1992–1995).<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=1 December 1984|title=Election 84 Media Coverage|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122531668|work=The Canberra Times|location= |access-date=21 April 2022|quote=Full coverage from 6:30pm by Macquarie News Network with special reports throughout Australia. Panel includes Tony Bartlett (2CA), Mark Day (3AW), John Tingle (2GB) and chief of the network's bureau at Parliament House, Ian McMinn.}}</ref><ref name=background/> Originally presenting the 2GB morning program between 9am and 12pm, Tingle was forced to move to an afternoon timeslot in 1985 when the station managed to sign John Laws to a three-year contract to host the morning show.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=18 January 1985|title=Multi-million contract for Laws|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122478908|work=The Canberra Times|location= |access-date=21 April 2022|quote=...Laws would take over the 9am – noon weekday talkback slot from John Tingle, who would move to the 1pm to 4pm weekday slot.}}</ref>

In 1977, Tingle established the Australian Telephone Users' Defence Union to advocate against the seemingly questionable accuracy of the accounting and billing system used by Telecom Australia.<ref name=showbiz/> In the early 1980s, Tingle used his radio show to protest against backdated electricity charges, forwarding 3,000 complaints to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman later found that the charging was illegal and the retrospective charging was discontinued.<ref name=showbiz/>

During his radio career, Tingle also presented TV programs on Seven and Nine in Sydney, ABC TV Queensland and Northern Territory, WIN4 Wollongong and SBS. Two of Tingle's Channel Nine programs included the Sunday morning current affairs program ''Probe'' and a Sunday evening program called ''Police Five''.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=14 August 1974|title=Tingle's shows are so very different|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46454317|work=Australian Women's Weekly|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

His 1982 radio documentary on the Polish background of Pope John Paul II won a United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Prize.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

==Political career== Tingle founded the Shooters Party in 1992.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=17 May 1992|title=Gun lobby threaten NSW government |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132380019|work=The Canberra Times|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref> Tingle had said he was compelled to establish the Shooters Party after increasing regulation of gun ownership in Australia which included the 1992 Firearms Act introduced into New South Wales parliament by police minister Ted Pickering. Pickering's description of shooters as lazy, inert and apathetic prompted Tingle to register the Shooters Party on Friday 15 May 1992, with 10,000 members.<ref name=background/><ref>{{cite news |author= |date=18 May 1992|title=Shooters' aim high |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132380230|work=The Canberra Times|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

In his maiden speech, Tingle said he represented the thousands of outdoor enthusiasts who did not pose a threat to anyone and were frustrated that their activities were becoming limited by a confusing array of laws and regulations that made little sense and seemed to have no benefit.<ref name=train>{{cite news|last=Glasgow|first=Will|date=7 December 2014|title=Shooters and Fishers train their sights on political disruption|url=https://www.afr.com/politics/shooters-and-fishers-train-their-sights-on-political-disruption-20141206-121i8x|url-access=subscription|work=Australian Financial Review|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref> He was the party's vice-chairman until August 2013, when he resigned from the party due to a disagreement regarding the party's direction.<ref name=train/>

He rejoined in 2019, and was reinstated as patron and founder.<ref name=nsw>{{cite NSW Parliament |title=The Hon. John Saxon Tingle (1931– ) |id=1907 |former=Yes |access-date=13 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Visentin|first=Lisa|date=26 March 2019|title=The wunderkind behind the rise of Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party|url=https://www.smh.com.au/nsw-election-2019/the-wunderkind-behind-the-rise-of-shooters-fishers-and-farmers-party-20190326-p517k6.html|url-access=limited|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

Despite being the founder of the Shooters Party, Tingle at one time denied a claim made by a journalist he was leader of the party.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

In 1995, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council as a Shooters Party (later Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party) member, serving for eleven years until his resignation in 2006.<ref name=shooters/> His decision to resign came after he was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in late 2005, a disease from which his father died in 1994.<ref name=resign>{{cite news |author= |date=2 May 2006|title=Tingle quits parliament: to get his life back|url=https://www.portnews.com.au/story/1001408/tingle-quits-parliament-to-get-his-life-back|url-access=limited|work=Port Macquarie News|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref>

During his time in parliament, he initiated seven successful bills, served on the Staysafe Committee for 11 years, and on the Ministerial Advisory Council on Shooting Clubs for 10 years.

Tingle was vocal in his opposition to the Howard government's proposal to reform Australia's gun laws following the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, although he agreed there was no need for average Australians to have access to semi-automatic or pump-action shotguns.<ref>{{cite news |author= |date=28 April 2016|title=A look back: Thousands protest firearm restrictions in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre|url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/throwbackthursday-1996-gun-lobbyists-descend-on-sydney/0a26cf04-fc79-4dfa-b5af-fa9eae4da60d|work=9 News|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Brazil|first1=Jeff|last2=Berry|first2=Steve|date=27 August 1997|title=Australia's Answer to Carnage: a strict law|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-aug-27-mn-48536-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|location= |access-date=21 April 2022|quote=Even leaders of Australia’s pro-gun political party, the Shooter’s Party, have given their blessing to the ban on assault weapons, though not the restrictions against other banned weapons. “There’s no need for these semiautomatics and pump-action shotguns,” says gun lobbyist John Tingle. “They’re weapons of war. They shouldn’t be allowed for the average people.”}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Chapman|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Chapman (academic)|date=27 April 2016|title=The arguments that carried Australia's 1996 gun law reforms|url=https://theconversation.com/the-arguments-that-carried-australias-1996-gun-law-reforms-58431|work=The Conversation|location= |access-date=21 April 2022}}</ref> He later described the period following the massacre as his "most unpleasant memory" due to the death threats he and his family received for several months, and the need to be protected by a Special Branch bodyguard.<ref name=resign/>

In 2007, he was appointed to the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal.

==Personal life== Tingle had three children.<ref name=nsw/> His daughter, Laura Tingle, is a political journalist in Canberra, and chief political correspondent of the ABC current affairs program, ''7.30''.<ref name=laura/><ref>{{cite web |title=ABC News – Laura Tingle |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/laura-tingle/9711054 |website=ABC News – Laura Tingle |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=25 April 2019}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tingle, John}} Category:1931 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Politicians from Sydney Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Category:Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party politicians Category:Australian nationalists Category:21st-century Australian politicians Category:People educated at Sydney Boys High School