Remembering Tony Staley: The Great Liberal Powerbroker Who Championed Community Radio and the Voice of the People.

Vale Tony Staley.

I got to know Tony well over many years and introduced him regularly at community broadcasting awards nights and events. He once compared me to Bert Newton with the follow-on line, "Although Bert has charm and grace." On another occasion, he called me "the enfant terrible of community radio". I mean, who wouldn't want that title?

Yes, Tony was a former Liberal Party president. Yes, he was a former Minister for Post and Telecommunications during the Malcolm Fraser government. Yes, Mark Latham once described him as a deformed character. Of course, he was many more things than the first few lines of his bio (and yes, his bio was beyond impressive.)

Community radio changed my life in ways I never imagined. It sparked something inside me and opened up a whole new world. I truly believe it saved me. And if Tony thinks of me as the "enfant terrible" of community radio, he only has himself to blame for being the Minister who gave us "regular folks" the chance to take to the airwaves. The legislation and continued support for community radio in Australia meant that a neurodivergent, queer, eccentric regional kid had a place to be, to broadcast from, and to connect with my community. As a nation, Australia has built the most exceptional community radio sector in the world. This was all made possible by the influence of a "great Liberal Party powerbroker" who played a significant role in championing the "radical" community radio sector and being unafraid to give a voice to the community.

Tony Staley championed "the voice of the people" during his time as Minister and also after he left public office. He oversaw remarkable growth as the long-term President of the Public Broadcasting Foundation, now known as the Community Broadcasting Foundation.

I'll always remember the thrill of accepting the Tony Staley Award for Excellence in Community Broadcasting in 2002. I was just a kid from Ballarat at the time, regularly on the train to Melbourne to work with a team of incredible young people, and we poured our hearts into a youth TV program called Dawns Crack. We worked tirelessly week after week, always striving to create something unique on a shoestring budget. At the awards night, Tony himself even shook my hand and complimented our program's name, jokingly asking who Dawn was. But the remarkable thing about Tony was that he was always there as a champion and cheerleader, year in and year out, particularly in his support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. He was there the following year in 2003 as well, congratulating our SYN FM crew for winning the Tony Staley Award - a momentous moment in the history of SYN being on air full-time. After one CBAA Awards event, he even joined us "youth" for pizza afterwards, and we were all like kids in a candy store, so excited to hang out with him.

I had the privilege of having private conversations with Tony. His willingness to challenge the norm and think outside the box impressed me - even within his beloved political party. We laughed about the old days of parliament, where Ministers worked effectively with the opposition in the Old Parliament House building (he believed the smaller building produced better collaboration and collegiality.) You might not know that Tony fought passionately for freedom of speech, even going so far as to defend 3CR (the radical leftwing ratbags) when its licence was in jeopardy. Tony Staley recognised the value of diverse perspectives, even those that differed from his political beliefs. We need more of this thinking in public life today.

I didn't agree with all (most) of Tony's politics. Yet, I share a worldview with Tony about building space for differences of opinion, not just demonising or silencing the "other side", and being willing to shake up the status quo and build inclusive and innovative platforms.

Community radio saved my life and gave me the space to grow and build a life. Tony, you're a gem, and my story is one of tens of thousands who are so grateful for the community radio sector that you pioneered and helped prosper. What a legacy.