Nicholas Charles Cater is a British-born Australian journalist and author who writes on culture and politics. He is known for his 2013 work of non-fiction, The Lucky Culture and the Rise of an Australian Ruling Class. He is a columnist for The Australian newspaper.
Early life and education Nicholas Charles Cater was born in Billericay, Essex, and grew up in Hythe near Southampton. His parents were teachers. He graduated from the University of Exeter with an honours degree in sociology in 1980 and drove laundry vans for a year before joining the BBC as a trainee studio manager.
Career He worked as a producer in the London bureau of Australia's Channel Seven from 1983 to 1986 before rejoining the BBC as a journalist. He produced and directed for the BBC the documentary Bridge Builders comparing the construction of the Tyne and Sydney Harbour Bridges.
Cater emigrated to Australia in July 1989, where he joined News Limited. He worked on The Advertiser in Adelaide and became group Asia correspondent in 1993, where he was best known for tracking down the paedophile Robert 'Dolly' Dunn, reported on the front page of The Daily Telegraph under the headline "Hello Dolly" on 17 April 1996."Diplomatic impunity", The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 January 2004
Cater worked in senior editorial roles at The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday TelegraphNick Cater – The Wheeler Centre in Sydney before joining The Australian in 2004."Welcome to Oz, where no one rules", Spiked, 22 April 2013 He was appointed editor of The Weekend Australian in 2007.
Cater left The Australian in September 2013, but continued to write a weekly column for it.
In 2014, Cater was appointed executive director of the Menzies Research Centre."New Executive Director" , Menzies Research Centre news release where he was instrumental in founding the Robert Menzies Institute, a library, exhibition, and research institute dedicated to the legacy of former prime minister Sir Robert Menzies, housed in the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus. He co-curated of the institute's permanent exhibition with David Kemp.
Cater is a regular commentator on Sky News Australia. He hosts the weekly show Battleground on ADH TV and co-hosts the weekly podcast Six O'Clock Swill with Tim Blair.
Defamation case In 2015, the Wagner family, of Toowoomba, Queensland, sued him for defamation over comments he made in broadcasts and in print about the cause of the floods in that town in 2011, in which 12 people died. Justice Peter Flanagan dismissed the complaints against Cater relating to comments he made on radio,"Alan Jones considers appeal over $3.75m payout to Wagner brothers" by Mark Schliebs, The Australian, 12 September 2018 however The Spectator (Australia) settled out of court over comments Cater made in an article. In September 2019, a jury found that Cater had defamed the Wagners with comments he made in a television broadcast.
Publications The Lucky Culture The Lucky Culture and the Rise of an Australian Ruling Class (2013) was described as a manifesto for a counter-revolution against the age of political correctness by Peter Coleman.Peter Coleman, "Australian Notes", The Spectator, 4 May 2013.
Two Australian prime ministers launched the book at separate events. John Howard endorsed the book in Sydney"John Howard Launches The Lucky Culture", 8 May 2013 and it was given a qualified endorsement by Kevin Rudd in Brisbane two months later. The former Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, praised the book.Tony Abbott, "Progress and its critics", The Spectator, 27 April 2013 Among others who greeted the book favourably were former British prime minister Boris Johnson,Boris Johnson interviewed by Jon Faine, 774 ABC Melbourne, 23 August 2013 Geoffrey Blainey,"Launch of The Lucky Culture and the Rise of an Australian Ruling Class by Nick Cater", Geoffrey Blainey, speech, 13 May 2013 columnist Miranda Devine,Miranda Devine, "Timely warning of danger within" , The Daily Telegraph, 23 April 2013 historian Keith Windschuttle,Keith Windschuttle, "Left Stranded By An Ebbing Tide", Quadrant, June 2013, pp. 5–6. Janet Albrechtsen,Janet Albrechtsen, "Why John won't vote Labor this time", The Australian, 8 May 2013 former Liberal Party politician Julie Bishop, and South Australian former Labor politician Jack Snelling. Chris BowenChris Bowen, "Launch of The Lucky Culture, Revesby Workers Club" , 8 May 2013 and Peter Craven gave qualified endorsements.Peter Craven, "Nick Cater shows he's a working-class fan in The Lucky Culture", The Australian, 11 May 2013
The former Labor leader Mark Latham was among the book's leading critics,Mark Latham, "The Culture Wars: Legitimate Battlefield or Just Another Sneaky Right-Wing Attack", Chifley Research Centre, 2 May 2013 and former Labor speechwriter Bob Ellis called for the book to be pulped, calling it "loathsome". Other critics include the journalist Guy Rundle of CrikeyGuy Rundle, "The trolling, parody genius of 'Nick Cater, Crikey, 8 August 2013 and the historian Frank Bongiorno.
Other works Cater was editor of the 2006 book, The Howard Factor,The Howard Factor, Nick Cater (ed.), Melbourne University Publishing, 2006. a review of the first decade of the John Howard government.
He co-edited with Helen Baxendale a selection of the writings of Christopher Pearson under the title A Better Class of Sunset (2014), with introductions by Tony Abbott and Jack Snelling.
Cater contributed the chapter "Barons versus bureaucrats: the history of the grain trade in North America and Australia" to Only in Australia. The History, Politics and Economics of Australian Exceptionalism (2016).
Cater co-authored The Road to Freedom: The Origins of Australia's Greatest Political Party (2019) with John Nethercote, and wrote the lead chapter in Australia Tomorrow (2022).
References
External links Nick Cater at The Australian