The death of John Laws - Statement by P J Keating - 10 November 2025
John Laws was king of the great analogue medium, radio, before the digital age blossomed.
Born with an attractive baritone voice that carried with it an air of authority, John Laws dominated the Sydney and New South Wales airwaves for half a century. This is a mighty record. And not just an Australian record, but in all important comparative respects, an international one.
At a turning point in his broadcast history, he made the move out of and from purely music to what we call today talkback radio. And even in this medium, he was able to outrate his morning competitors.
One of John’s strengths was that he knew what he didn’t know. But would know enough to kick off an interview, coming in where he thought, but letting the interviewee do most of the talking. Generally intervening moderately. This invariably is where interviewees produced and gave up news, saying more than they had intended to say – news then reported from his program, making the program even more noteworthy again.
I spent just on a decade and a half doing interviews with and for John. I did this both as Treasurer and Prime Minister. And in the doing of it, lifting John’s program to be one to be listened to in respect of wider and deeper national, social and economic issues.
In my terms, owing to John’s regard and general restraint, I was able to secure, without rude and perpetual interruption, which is the norm these days, thirty to forty minutes of radio time to expatiate on complex issues whenever the issues suited.
It was those long interviews; really long discussions, which let the public into the wider and deeper national issues then to hand. The Canberra Press Gallery was not enamoured with this popular avenue of news dissemination, but it suited me because of the relative freedom that came with it, mixing it in with my regular and long formal Canberra press conferences.
From memory, the last time I saw John was at his wife, Caroline’s funeral, though I did the odd interview with him after that.
John Laws led a public life he was entitled to be proud of. He certainly partnered with me, and over a long time, in educating a big and substantial chunk of the middle ground constituency. A it turned out, a large measure of the country’s economic literacy was to emerge from John’s program.
20251110deathofjohnlaws.pdf