Veteran broadcaster and former Australian politician Derryn Hinch has died aged 82.

Tributes are pouring in for veteran broadcaster and former Australian politician Derryn Hinch, who has died aged 82.

Hinch was a mainstay on the airwaves for 3AW from the 1980s, known for his provocative reporting approach, which earned him the nickname “the human headline”.

The media figure’s death was confirmed on-air by his former employer 3AW. He died in his sleep “at home in his own bed as he wanted”.

Hinch was battling with declining mobility in recent months after suffering multiple falls at his Melbourne apartment last year.

Hinch had a long and at times controversial career as a journalist across print, radio and television spanning six decades, before reinventing himself as a politician.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led a long line of tributes to the New-Zealand born journalist, who he said “lived a life rich in colour and free from fear”.

“As an interviewer, investigator and presenter he was much more than ‘the Human Headline’ he had a sense of the deeper story and the courage to cover it, come what may,” Albanese said in a post to X.

“He held to those same instincts as a senator and he fought illness with that same bravery.

“My sincere condolences to his family and his many friends.”

Communications Minister Anika Wells remembered the 82-year-old as “an icon of the media”.

Long-time friend and former colleague Darren James told 3AW Hinch would have wanted to be remembered for his honesty.

“He was straight down the line, what you saw was what you got and if he didn’t like something he’d tell you about it. There was no faking anything with Derryn, it was just the truth,” James said.

“[He was] just a lot of fun, work hard, play hard, great sense of humour, he was very good at Wordle as we did every day and well, a dear friend.

“He messages me every morning … and I didn’t get the message this morning,” James said choking back tears.

Fellow broadcaster and friend Neil Mitchell said Hinch was somebody who had “a huge impact on the industry and on the lives of a lot of people”.

“[He was] larger than life – a character. Somebody who had a go. And a pace setter,” Mitchell said.

In the height of his career, Hinch was the highest paid media personality in Australia and was driven around Melbourne in his distinctive blue Rolls Royce by a personal driver.

The larger-than-life personality also enjoyed marathon 12-hour lunches that would start at 1pm and stretch into the wee hours. He once boasted he wrote a newspaper column after consuming four bottles of wine – something that was the norm for the notoriously big drinker.

His alcohol consumption eventually caught up with him, with Hinch diagnosed with the liver condition cirrhosis and later liver cancer.

In 2011, he underwent a successful liver transplant and later revealed he would have been dead in two weeks had he not accepted the organ of a drug addict.

He gave up alcohol for eight years following the transplant honouring the organ donor but later revealed he had started drinking again, telling the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast in 2025 that at 81 he wanted to enjoy the time he had left.

“It’s partly because I’ve only got a few years left. I want to live well. But partly because my donor was a drug addict,” he said.

“I think I’ve made a deal with him.”

Early life

Hinch was born in New Zealand on February 9, 1944.

He was nine years old when he became the victim of a sexual predator inside his own home.

Hinch recounted the incident, which occurred during a party at his parents’ home in 1953, in a 2017 episode of Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery.

Hinch said he had just received a commemorative silver-coated crown to mark Queen Elizabeth’s coronation when one of his father’s friends offered to buy it off him.

Later, the man entered the bedroom he shared with his brother Des, who was asleep.

“I’m in my pyjamas standing there, and I just froze,” he told Zemiro. “I don’t recall how long it went for, but my brother started to move like he was waking up and the guy ran out of the room. I climbed back into bed, petrified.”

After crying for his mother, it was his brother who disclosed that the man had “done something to Derryn”.

“Then all hell broke loose,” he recalled, saying his parents chased the molester from their home but never took any legal action.

Media career

Hinch began his journalism career at the age of 15 at the Taranaki Herald

Three years later, he moved to Australia where he took up a position at The Sun newspaper in Sydney.

He later worked as a foreign correspondent for Fairfax and as a bureau chief in New York.

On his return to Sydney he became the editor of The Sun newspaper.

In 1978, Hinch started hosting a morning program on Melbourne radio station 3XY. The following year he moved to 3AW, where he hosted its morning program for eight years.

During that period, he also became the host of the popular TV show, Beauty and the Beast.

In 1987 he began a long-running role as the host of his own current affairs show, Hinch, which aired until 1994, after which he briefly hosted The Midday Show.

During the height of his career, he was reportedly the highest paid media personality in Australia, with annual earnings of $1 million a year.

He flaunted his wealth by splashing out on a blue Rolls Royce and was driven around Melbourne by his personal driver.

At one point, he and his third wife, Australian actress Jacki Weaver, owned matching Rolls Royces.

Hinch returned to radio in 2000 and later became the host of 3AW’s drive-time program.

In 2010 he was inducted into the Australian Commercial Radio Hall of Fame.

In 2012, Hinch returned to TV as a national public affairs commentator. Three years later, he moved to Sky News to host Hinch Live.

At times, his career was interrupted by both his legal stoushes and ill health.

Legal stoushes

Hinch was found guilty of contempt of court in 1986 after comments he made on radio about Catholic priest, Father Michael Glennon, who had been charged with sex offences.

Hinch detailed Father Glennon’s association with a youth foundation, as well as his prior convictions in a move the judge described as “audacious, flagrant and reckless”.

He was subsequently fined $10,000 and jailed for 12 days.

In 2011, he was convicted of breaching suppression orders after naming two sex offenders, and was sentenced to five months’ home detention.

Then in 2013, Hinch was found guilty of contempt of court for breaching a suppression order revealing the previous criminal history of Jill Meagher’s killer, Adrian Ernest Bayley.

After refusing to pay a fine, Hinch was jailed for 50 days.

During his appearance on Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery, he denied his childhood experience was behind his crusade against sexual predators, instead saying he was influenced by his experience as a journalist encountering people whose lives were ruined by childhood sexual assault.

Political career

In 2015, Hinch established Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party and ran on his party’s ticket during the 2016 federal election. He won a seat in the Senate at 73, becoming the Australian Parliament’s oldest first-time senator.

The party’s main focus was criminal justice reform, tougher sentences for violent and sexual offenders, no bail for those accused of serious violent offences, parole reform and the establishment of a public register of sex offenders.

He lost his bid for re-election in 2019 and was unsuccessful in the 2022 Victorian state election.

He told the NeilMitchell Asks Why podcast he was deeply upset at losing his Senate seat after only three years, but was proud of driving legislation to stop international travel by sex offenders.

During a 2025 interview with Nine’s A Current Affair, he said being a senator “one of the great moments of my life”.

“Being voted out was one of the most terrible days of my life.”

Personal life

Hinch was married and divorced four times, including to Australian actress Jackie Weaver.

The couple wed in 1983 and even renewed their wedding vows before divorcing in 1996.

That year, Hinch married his fourth wife, Chanel Hayton. They separated six years later.

Following their divorce, he rekindled a relationship with another former love, actress Lynda Stoner, to whom he was engaged in the early 80s.

Health battles

Hinch battled a number of health problems, including skin cancer and an irregular heart beat, before a nasty fall over Christmas 2024 left him with two black eyes and in need of a mobility walker he nicknamed ‘Johnny’ to get around his Melbourne apartment.

While speaking with the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast in September 2025, Hinch revealed he whiled away his days sleeping, doing puzzles and cloud watching.

He said he only had “a few years left” and was contemplating moving into a nursing home to live out his final years.

“I’m very lucky that my brain still seems to be going. Some people will dispute that, but it seems to be,” he said, adding he had instructed his medical attorney “not to revive me” if his mind ever went.

During a November 2025 interview with Nine’s A Current Affair, a frail-looking Hinch at times struggled to enunciate his words, but told reporter Martin King he had suffered about 30 falls in the past year; including one that saw him lie stranded in his apartment for 12 hours followed by three weeks in hospital.

He claimed he didn’t try to be controversial during his career, and as for the many people he upset, he replied, “If I upset people it was usually for a reason”.

The author of more than 20 books, he said he continued to write, and told King his Melbourne apartment balcony was “a great place to cark it”.

“Sitting in that chair, staring at the clouds. Goodnight nurse, goodbye world,” he said.

“I’ve had a hell of a life. I’ve had a good life. I’ve had such an incredible life – I never dreamed it.”

A committed atheist, he did not believe in life after death.

“When you’re dead, you’re dead. I don’t believe in heaven,” he once said.

When asked in 2025 by 10 News what he wanted to be engraved on his headstone he replied, “He tried”.