Chris Kenny (journalist)

Chris Kenny (born 1962) is a journalist, author and former political adviser from South Australia.

He won the National Tree Program Media Award in 1985 working for The Murray Pioneer in Renmark, before going on to work for the now defunct The News in Adelaide. He began his television career at the ABC's 7.30 Report before moving to Adelaide's Channel 10, in 1989 and Channel Nine in 1997. At various times a columnist for The Adelaide Review, The Sunday Mail and The Advertiser, he also published two books: State of Denial, about the downfall of the Bannon government, and Women's Business, on the Hindmarsh Island Bridge scandal. Kenny became a political adviser in 2000, as Director of Strategic Communications for Liberal Premier of SA, John Olsen. When Olsen was replaced by Premier Rob Kerin, Kenny became Chief of Staff. In 2002 he joined Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's office as media adviser and was prominent in the handling of issues such as the Iraq War, the Bali terrorism attacks and the AWB scandal. He eventually was appointed chief of staff to the Foreign Minister. Kenny also stood for Liberal Party preselection for the Adelaide seat of Unley, but was defeated by David Pisoni, who went on to win in the 2006 state election.

After the defeat of the Howard Government, Kenny worked as a columnist for The Advertiser in Adelaide and as a television reporter for the Adelaide edition of A Current Affair and as morning talkback radio host for 5AA. In January 2009 he was employed as chief of staff for then-Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull. When Turnbull lost the Liberal Leadership, Kenny resigned. He subsequently provided opinion pieces and analysis for The Australian, ABC The Drum and SkyNews. In 2010 Kenny was appointed General Manager, External Affairs, for transport giant Asciano before leaving at the end of the year to return to media work. ^[1]

On Monday 11th April 2011 Chris Kenny appeared on the ABC Television show "Q and A" alongside politicians and community figures.

Published works

• (1993) State of Denial - about the 1992 collapse of South Australia's State Bank
• (1996) Women's Business: The story behind the Hindmarsh Island affair - about the Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy

References

1. ^ ABC News (2009). Turnbull hires Downer's former top adviser. Retrieved 7 January 2009

• http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2771296.htm

Persondata
Name	Kenny, Chris
Alternative names
Short description	Journalist/political adviser/commentator
Date of birth	1962
Place of birth	Adelaide
Date of death
Place of death