Peter van Onselen Biography

Peter van Onselen (born 19 February 1976) in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian political academic, author and political journalist. He is currently the contributing editor at The Australian newspaper as well as host of several television programs on Sky News Australia.

Early life

Van Onselen grew up in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. He went to The Scots College in Bellevue Hill, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Western Australia.

He was awarded a PhD in political science from the University of Western Australia, converting his dissertation into a book. Van Onselen also holds a Bachelor of Arts with first-class honours in political science, majoring in philosophy, and a Masters in Policy Studies (with Distinction). Both degrees were obtained from the University of New South Wales. He has also completed a Master of Commerce (with Distinction) and was included in the Dean's honours list.

van Onselen debated at university World and Australasian championships with members of the Chaser during their studying days. He was a member of the combined Australian University Test Team at the 1998 Australasian Championships in Sydney, where he reached the semi-finals. He also reached the semi-finals of the 1999 World Debating Championships in Manila.

Career

Academic career

van Onselen began an academic career at UNSW in 2002, and became an associate professor at Edith Cowan University in 2004, organising the politics and government program. From 2007 to 2008, van Onselen presented stories on the Nine Network's Sunday and wrote a column for The Bulletin. In early 2011, van Onselen left Edith Cowan University to became a Winthrop Professor and Foundation Chair of Journalism at the University of Western Australia.

Prior to completing his PhD and commencing his academic career Professor van Onselen worked for Tony Abbott as an adviser when Mr Abbott was the Minister for Workplace Relations in the Howard government in 2001. van Onselen also previously worked as an intelligence analyst at the New South Wales Crime Commission.

van Onselen has written several politically themed books, including the best selling John Winston Howard (co-written with Wayne Errington), which was rated by the Wall Street Journal Asia as the best biography of 2007. van Onselen has also written numerous refereed journal articles and conference papers, including articles for the Australian Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Legislative Studies. He has also written columns and opinion pieces for a range of newspapers, including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, the Canberra Times and The Courier-Mail.

Media career

van Onselen has featured as a television commentator across numerous broadcasters, including as a panelist for state, federal and United States election coverages for both the Seven Network and Nine Network. In 2008, van Onselen was a special investigator for the Perth edition of A Current Affair. He also presented cover stories for the Sunday program on the Nine Network in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, van Onselen joined The Australian as contributing editor.

For the 2010 federal election he was the host of the National Tally Room panel for Sky News Business. The coverage was plagued by technical errors, and was satirized by the ABC1 comedy group The Chaser during their election parody program Yes We Canberra!.

Following the 2010 election, van Onselen became a regular presenter at Sky News, co-hosting Australian Agenda from 2010 as well as his own programs The Contrarians and The Showdown. In 2014, van Onselen stepped down from hosting The Contrarians (which would later become Keneally and Cameron) and The Showdown was axed, when he was given his own four-times-weekly primetime program PVO Newshour, which premiered on 20 January 2014.

On 1 June 2015, van Onselen voluntarily moved his program from primetime to daytime, with the program being retitled PVO NewsDay. Additionally, he co-hosts To The Point with Kristina Keneally, which airs in between his self-titled daytime show. In November 2015, Foxtel confirmed that PVO NewsDay would return for a second season in 2016.

Personal life

Van Onselen is married to Ainslie and they have two daughters, Sasha and Chloe.

Published works

• John Winston Howard: The Biography (with Wayne Errington, 2007) (Melbourne University Press)
• Howard's End: The Unravelling of a Government (with Philip Senior, 2008) (Melbourne University Press)
• Liberals and Power: The Road Ahead (Editor, 2008) (Melbourne University Press)
• Professionals or Part-timers? Major Party Senators in Australia (2015) (Melbourne University Press) ISBN 978-0-52286-899-9
• Battleground: Why the Liberal Party Shirtfronted Tony Abbott (with Wayne Errington, 2015) (Melbourne University Press) ISBN 978-0-52286-971-2