Broadcaster and former senator Derryn Hinch is being remembered as a provocative but courageous journalist and mentor to fellow Canberra parliamentarians.
Hinch died in his sleep at his Melbourne home overnight after a long period of ill-health.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed his condolences to Hinch’s family and friends.
“Derryn Hinch lived a life rich in colour and free from fear,” he said.
“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.
“He held to those same instincts as a senator and he fought illness with that same bravery.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said Hinch never shied away from a fight and cared deeply for people who had been let down.
“Derryn Hinch lived a life made for the front page,” she said.
“The thing about Derryn was that you never had to wonder what he thought. He told you straight.”
Ms Allan expressed her condolences to Hinch’s family and partner Lynda Stoner.
Derryn Hinch’s career in newspapers, radio and television spanned more than five decades. (ABC News)
After more than five decades in the media, former radio colleague Peter Ford described Hinch as a stalwart of the Australian media industry.
“He knew how to write a story, to present a story,” Ford told Hinch’s former radio station, 3AW.
“Whether that was in newspapers or whether it was radio or television, he succeeded in all those fields.
“That wasn’t to say, of course, that he wasn’t provocative.
“He stirred the pot a lot, he upset people a lot, and he saw that almost as being validation of doing his job well.”
Ford spoke of Hinch being jailed several times for contempt of court.
That included naming paedophile Catholic priest Michael Glennon during an impending trial and airing details about the criminal history of Adrian Ernest Bailey, who killed ABC employee Jill Meagher.
“That will probably be the chapter that most people will remember him for,” Ford said.
Derryn Hinch is released from jail after being charged with contempt of court. (AAP: David Crosling)
“At the time, sex abuse within the church and the cover ups was a highly unpopular thing to talk about but he took that at his own risk and paid a huge price for it.
His long-term lawyer, Nick Pullen, said Hinch was not the reckless and unethical journalist the media made him out to be.
“He had a genuine reason for everything he did, whether it be in relation to the law or breaking embargoes or going ahead with stories that no other journalist would touch,” Mr Pullen told 774 ABC Melbourne.
“I developed a respect for that.”
He described Hinch as a highly intelligent person with “a memory like a bear trap” who was a champion of the voiceless and the underdog.
Former Labor MP Emma Husar was in federal parliament at the same time as Hinch, and described him a mentor and good friend.
She praised Hinch’s pursuit of perpetrators.
“A crusader for justice and things which were never spoken about but needed to be,” she wrote in a tribute on social media.
“He was ahead of the metoo movement and the Royal Commission into institutional abuse.
“He spoke even though it made his voice shake (and he was sent to prison).”
Tania Maxwell was a member of Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.
She praised Hinch for his campaign to establish a national sex offenders registry after the death of Queensland boy Daniel Morcombe.
“I’m just so thankful that Derryn was alive and knew that Daniel’s Law was coming to fruition,” she told ABC News Channel.
“He was contentious. He was sometimes a bit of a thorn in your side. He loved the limelight, but he had a very genuine heart and that was particularly to change our justice system and support victims of crime.”
Ray Martin worked in New York at the same time as Derryn Hinch early in their careers in 1970s. (ABC Afternoon Briefing)
Veteran Australian journalist Ray Martin worked in New York in the 1970s at the same time as Hinch.
He described Hinch as a fierce competitor.
“He was probably the best tabloid journalist I’ve ever come across, and I mean that in a complimentary way,” he told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.
“He had this ability to pick a story and be first on the story and get it up, no matter who was in his way.
“He knew what was boring and what people wanted to read.”
Veteran 3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell knew Hinch for more than four decades.
“I will remember him as irritating, frustrating, fascinating, incorrigible but a man who believed in himself, perhaps to his own detriment.”
Derryn Hinch during his days as a police reporter with the Sydney Sun in the 1960s. (Facebook: Derryn Hinch)
He said they had many disagreements during their careers, but both agreed on the principles of working for their audience and challenging “the top end of town”.
Mitchell said Hinch loved being the centre of media and political attention, but had no airs and graces.
“He’d be approached in the street often and it was usually, ‘We love you, Derryn’ … although, mind you, he and Jacki Weaver, when they were married, had matching Rolls Royces for a while so there’s a few airs and graces there.”
Mitchell noted Hinch’s successful political campaign to stop registered child sex offenders from getting passports, which meant they could not engage in overseas child sex tourism.
“He was very, very, very proud of that, as he should have been.”
Simon Birmingham (left) and Nick Xenophon surround Derryn Hinch in the Senate in 2017. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Nicky Elliot was Hinch’s producer at Sydney radio station 2GB in 1996 and edited three of his books.
She said she had rekindled her friendship with him in the past 10 years and played Wordle with him daily.
She said she spoke to Hinch only yesterday.
“Jacki Weaver once described Derryn as an innocent, and I think that was actually a really good description because he met every new day with a sense of wonder and excitement,” she said.
“There was information to be had and there was things to learn and there was things to get stuck into, and he would just go charging out into the world with each new day.”
Entertainer Rhonda Burchmore was friends with Derryn Hinch and Jacki Weaver for decades.
She said news of his death was a shock.
“I’ve been to three of his marriages, I’ve been to his 80th birthday party,” she said.
“I knew he was unwell, but to switch on your telly to have a cup of tea and see that news is very, very sad.”
Derryn Hinch became an enthusiastic poster of food pictures to his social media channels. (Facebook: Derryn Hinch)
Just two days ago, Hinch posted a photo on his Facebook account about soup he had made from a can of pea and ham soup, a can of corn, chicken stock and pepper.
“I would never have wanted to eat his food,” Ms Burchmore laughed.
“He loved great dining but he used to have this thing … I don’t know if it was just because he was a battler or whatever he was, but it was some of the most disgusting things … but he had a great following of people on his budget meals.
“He was a tough old bugger, I loved him.”
Derryn Hinch was a former chair and ambassador of the children’s charity, Variety. (Facebook: Variety)
Hinch was a former chair and ambassador for the children’s charity, Variety, and created its heart-and-hat logo.
“Derryn’s impact on Variety is woven into our history,” it said in a statement.
“Inspired by his own childhood memories of receiving a bicycle during difficult times, he founded the Variety Bikes for Kids program in 2002.
“Over the past 24 years, that vision has helped deliver thousands of bikes to children who may otherwise have missed out on the joy, freedom, independence and inclusion that comes with having a bike of their own.”
Derryn Hinch launched a bicycle program for the Variety children’s charity. (Facebook: Variety)
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece described Hinch as a proud Melburnian who once stood as a mayor candidate.
“You only get one Derryn Hinch in your lifetime. He was unique,” he said.
“He was passionate about his city and his CBD community that he called home.”
Hinch’s long-term executive assistant, Annette Philpott, announced his death to his Facebook followers early in the afternoon.
“He got his wish and passed away in his own bed,” she wrote.
“As he would say, “That’s Life”.”