Laurie Oakes calls out boycott of Walkley awards, saying it will further undermine journalism

The call by a group of cartoonists to boycott the Walkley Awards because of the event’s links to Ampol has been branded as ‘dangerous’ by the legendary federal political correspondent.

Legendary political correspondent Laurie Oakes. Picture: AAP

The call to boycott the Walkley Awards because of the event’s links to petroleum company Ampol has been branded as “dangerous” by legendary political correspondent Laurie Oakes.

“Journalism in Australia is ­already in trouble in terms of losing public trust and this is likely to make that worse,” Oakes said.

“We shouldn’t undermine something as important as the Walkley Awards. They have done a lot to encourage good journalism, important journalism, and they shouldn’t just be pulled down.

“There may be bad companies that shouldn’t be given a leg-up by a journalistic organisation, but there’s got to be a process, a proper argument, and it should be done without white-anting the premier journalism awards in the country.”

Oakes said he was “very, very proud” of the Walkleys he had won.

The controversy began after a group of cartoonists called for a boycott because Ampol is a platinum sponsor of the awards, to be held on November 23.

Sydney Morning Herald and Age cartoonist Cathy Wilcox and Canberra Times cartoonist David Pope wrote to the Walkley Foundation last week, raising their concerns about Ampol’s sponsorship.

“The fossil fuel industry uses its sponsorship of our sporting teams and cultural events to build a ­social license and distract attention from its role in heating the planet and delaying the transition to renewable energy,” the letter said.

Among those to withdraw their Walkley entries were Fiona Katauskas, David Blumenstein and Glen Le Lievre, with Matt Golding, David Rowe and First Dog on The Moon also declaring they would not enter.

The Walkley Foundation also issued an apology at the weekend for “racist views” held by the event’s founder, New Zealand-born oil baron, Sir William Gaston Walkley, that were published in a column he wrote in the Herald 62 years ago and did not align with its “ethical organisation”.

Walkley claimed in the 1961 ­article that Australia could “cease to become a white man’s country”.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, journalist and editor Nick Feik, previously of The Monthly, declared the boycott movement had become “an avalanche!”

However, Oakes, for decades the doyen of the Canberra press gallery and the winner of multiple Walkleys, questioned what other awards would have to be handed back on the same basis, pointing to the Archibald art prize.

“That was founded by and named after a bloke who ran a magazine (The Bulletin) with the words under the masthead: ‘Australia for the white man’. So do all the Archibald winners troop into the Art Gallery of NSW and hand back their prize? It just gets silly.”

Mr Oakes also pointed to the Pulitzer Prize, founded by Joseph Pulitzer, one of the New York publishers who built empires based on sensationalist journalism.

“He and William Randolph Hearst invented yellow journalism, something that people are now appalled by, but we don’t say Pulitzer’s name should be taken off the award,” he said.

Oakes said there were no “greenwashing” advantages to a company like Ampol using sponsorship to brush up their reputation. “Who knows who the sponsors are? There’s nothing in it for them. And I can tell you that the judges are certainly not influenced by the sponsor,” he said.

“There have been Walkleys awarded for climate change articles and no indication at all that the results have been affected.”

Broadcaster Neil Mitchell also weighed into the controversy on Monday, slamming the cartoonists and supporting cartoonist Mark Knight, from the Herald Sun, who has described the move as “virtue signalling”.

“I’ve got a Walkley Award for radio journalism. I’m very proud of it, and I’m annoyed by any suggestion I should give it back because Ampol is a sponsor and because the man who founded the Walkleys is being cancelled,” Mitchell said.

“Journalists are confusing their roles too often with being activists rather than observers and commentators.”