He’s no saint, but Phillip Adams gets nod of approval from King Charles

Phillip Adams has been made a Companion of the Order of Australia for his service to broadcast media, journalism, the arts, cultural leadership and the community.

Broadcaster and journalist Phillip Adams at his country estate in Gundy, in the NSW Hunter Valley. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

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Phillip Adams – broadcaster, auth­or, columnist, ad man, filmmaker, human rights campaigner, farmer, former communist – has crammed more into life than most.

So does he look back on his 85 years with a sense of achievement?

“Oddly enough, I often feel how much time I’ve wasted, you know. And I’ve been fairly busy by normal standards,” Adams recalled last week. “I could have done a lot more, should have done a lot more. Perhaps I will do a lot more.”

Adams’ humility is misplaced. His extraordinary contribution to Australia has been recognised with his appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia (in the General Division) for his “eminent service to broadcast media, to journalism, to the arts, to cultural leadership, and to the community”.

Adams is one of 830 Australians recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list this year for their distinguished and conspicuous service to the nation, with Governor-General Sam Mostyn saying the awards honoured the “selfless service, integrity, achievement, creativity and care that flourish across our country”.

Among the other 13 recipients of an AC gong was Hollywood export Baz Luhrmann and his partner and fellow creative master­mind Catherine Martin.

South Australian forensic pathologist Roger Byard also received an AC for his work on the Bali bombings, the Boxing Day tsunami and the Snowtown murders, while author JM Coetzee, business executive Jennifer Westacott, CSIRO chair Kathryn Fagg and businesswoman Wendy McCarthy were other recipients.

Olympic medallist to presenter and now senior sports administrator Nicole Livingstone was honoured with the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) gong, while former NSW Police Force commissioner Nick Kaldas was also awarded an AO and fashion icon Deborah Hutton was given the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).

Phillip Adams had a 33-year run as host of ABC Radio program Late Night Live. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Adams is perhaps best known for his extraordinary 33-year run as host of ABC Radio program Late Night Live, a role he held until last year.

“What a job it was. I could interview anybody, anywhere, on anything. It was a dream job,” he said.

“I interviewed presidents and prime ministers, and thousands of professors. It was a great honour and an education because I left school when I was 15. I had precious little formal education, so for me, the first job of Late Night Live was really to educate me.”

Adams no longer tunes into the ABC program, which is now presented by journalist David Marr.

“I don’t actually listen because I find that a bit problematic and painful. Yeah, I miss it.”

Adams continues to pen his Saturday column for The Weekend Australian, which has earned him a loyal following among the masthead’s readers. Last year, Adams told The Australian that his printed columns allowed him more scope to be opinionated “because there are constraints that are painfully obvious when you’re working at the ABC”.

“Not a single column of mine has been censored by Rupert Murdoch in half a century,” he said.

Phillip Adams at his country estate. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

An avowed republican, Adams said he saw no conflict in accepting an award from the monarch of Australia. Noting that he is a former Communist, an atheist and a republican, Adams said: “If it doesn’t worry the King, it doesn’t worry me. But a sainthood is probably off the list.

“Anyway, he (Charles) has probably got fond memories of me. I took him to the movies once.

“I was the chair of the Australian Film Commission, and he was on a royal tour with Princess Di. They came to Melbourne, where I lived at the time, and I took them off to the opening night of an Australian movie. I think it was probably The Man from Snowy River.”

Afterwards, Charles asked Adams to send him a “showbag of Australian movies”, which he dutifully did.

Adams says global warming – and the ineffective attempts to address the issue – is the pressing global issue of the day, and he continues to lament the failed voice referendum of October 2023. “I regarded the voice, the failure of the voice, as a national calamity and we haven’t done anything to fix that immense political train wreck,” he said.

These days, Adams is a devoted farmer, working the land on his Hunter Valley property with his wife Patrice Newell, a former TV presenter turned author.

As for the future, Adams reports that aside from failing eyesight, he’s in good health.

“I’m in reasonable working order. I’d like to kick on until I get a telegram from King Charles for 100,” he said.

Additional reporting: NewsWire