John Saxon Tingle was an Australian politician, journalist and broadcaster.
13 Facts About John Tingle
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John Tingle was the founder of the Shooters Party in New South Wales, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1995 until 2006.
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John Tingle was a broadcaster and news editor in Deniliquin from 1949 to 1951 before becoming a journalist for the ABC from 1951 to 1968.
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John Tingle said his decision to leave the ABC and venture into talkback on commercial radio was influenced by Ormsby Wilkins.
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John Tingle presented current affairs programs on stations including 2UE, 2UW, Radio Australia, 2SM, 3AW in Melbourne, and 4BK in Brisbane, before returning to 2SM.
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In 1977, John Tingle established the Australian Telephone Users' Defence Union to advocate against the seemingly questionable accuracy of the accounting and billing system used by Telecom Australia.
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John Tingle has said he was compelled to establish the Shooters Party after increasing regulation of gun ownership in Australia which included the 1992 Firearms Act introduced into New South Wales parliament by police minister Ted Pickering.
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Pickering's description of shooters as lazy, inert and apathetic prompted John Tingle to register the Shooters Party on Friday 15 May 1992, with 10,000 members.
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John Tingle was the party's vice-chairman until August 2013, when he resigned from the party due to a disagreement regarding the party's direction.
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John Tingle rejoined in 2019, and was reinstated as patron and founder.
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John Tingle was vocal in his opposition to the Howard government's proposal to reform Australia's gun laws following the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, although he agreed there was no need for average Australians to have access to semi-automatic or pump-action shotguns.
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John Tingle later described the period following the massacre as his "most unpleasant memory" due to the death threats he and his family received for several months, and the need to be protected by a Special Branch bodyguard.
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John Tingle's daughter, Laura Tingle, is a political journalist in Canberra, and chief political correspondent of the ABC current affairs program, 7.30.