Quentin Dempster AM
Quentin Dempster AM, is a broadcaster, journalist and author with 30 years’ extensive experience in television and print. He is the current presenter of the ABC’s 7.30 NSW. He started work as a cadet journalist on The Maryborough Chronicle, a Queensland regional daily, and moved to The Telegraph, a Brisbane afternoon daily where after police, courts and industrial rounds he became chief political reporter and columnist.
He was Queensland president of the Australian Journalists’ Association from 1975 to 1984 and in 1982 he was awarded the AJA’s Gold Honour Badge for meritorious service. He joined the ABC in 1984.
Dempster is the author of several books: Honest Cops (1992 ABC Books), Whistleblowers (1997 ABC Books) and Death Struggle (2000 Allen and Unwin). In 1992, Dempster was awarded the Order of Australia for services to the media in the fields of journalism and current affairs. In November 2002 he was honoured with a Walkley Award for outstanding contribution to journalism. Dempster was a member of the Walkley Advisory Board from 2004 to 2010 and served as chairman from 2009-2010. He has also chaired the documentary judging panel for the Walkley Awards since its inception in 2011. In 2014 he returned as Chairman of the Board.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.