Negus takes a stand for marriage

During his recent appearance on Channel Ten’s The 7pm Project, respected Australian news journalist George Negus came out in support of marriage equality.

For the self-confessed free thinker it perhaps comes as no surprise the intellectual hippy — spurting wisdoms from the end of The 7pm Project desk — would be a supporter.

“I think the gay community has as much right to stuff up their lives with marriage as the rest of us,” he told the Star Observer with a laugh.

“Put it this way — if I was handing out gratuitous advice to the gay community, I’d tell them not to use the heterosexual community as their benchmark.

“We’re not good role models when it comes to relationships.”

This month, the doyen of Australian news and current affairs calls Ten a permanent home with the start of 6pm with George Negus, a show he promises will swim against the tide of commercial current affairs.

And although he’s clocked up an enviable catalogue of interviews over four decades in the industry, he admits — apart from some recent Queensland flood coverage — he is yet to sit down with Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Opposition leader Tony Abbott.

“I’m looking forward to speaking to Julia Gillard as Julia Gillard and I’m interested in talking to Tony Abbott about Tony Abbott, so that tells you something about the difference in the program,” he said.

“I know there’s a whole lot of issues flying around them, but I want to know what they’re on about.”

On Gillard’s opposition to same-sex marriage, Negus said he’s not quite convinced we’re seeing the ‘real Julia’.

“I think if she stops and thinks about it, I think she’s a closet supporter, she hasn’t come out yet on same-sex marriage.

“I think she’ll get around to it. I hope she does.”

It’s perhaps Negus’ liberal views on issues such as gay marriage that have reinforced his appeal to the younger audiences Ten hopes to capture with their new prime-time news line-up.

“I used to get myself into terrible trouble always describing myself as a male feminist,” Negus said.

“That was probably the beginning of my coming out, as it were, as a free thinker, and people said does that mean you wear frocks on the weekend?

“I said no, feminine values are ones we ought to take a closer look at, probably better than masculine ones.”

It seems joining the young and edgier news program The 7pm Project was something of a homecoming for Negus.

“It’s my perfect program, I mean to be able to crack Dad jokes and throw political hand grenades on the one program that is a program I would have invented if it didn’t exist.

“I think it’s a breath of fresh air and we need to see more of it. We haven’t had enough tongue-in-cheek comment and political coverage, and they cover issues really, really well.

“I think it’s breakthrough television really and I’d like to think the 6pm program will follow suit because it’s out of the mould as well.”

info: 6PM with George Negus starts this month on Ten.