Michael Warby

Michael Warby is a Melbourne-based writer. He was formerly a fellow of the right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, but was sacked in 1999 for repeated acts of plagiarism and falsities in the news columns he had written [1].

Warby has held a number of other positions in Australian right-wing groups, including as president of the Adam Smith Club,

Although he has been an ongoing critic of the existence of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as a public broadcaster [2], Warby continues to appear on ABC Radio's Counterpoint program, presented by his friend Michael Duffy.

Examples of Plagiasm & Falsifications in Warby's Writing

According to the ABC, "In November 1999 Warby wrote in a column in The Age newspaper about film star Jane Fonda, claiming she caused the deaths of three American POWs in Vietnam. Warby was forced to apologise to aged readers after the ABC's Media Watch programme exposed that Warby had not only plagiarised the article but got his facts wrong." [3]

In his book, Ellis Unplugged, Warby suggested, wrongly, that Bob Ellis encouraged a woman who was pregnant with his child to have an abortion. [4]

Warby has explained his plagiarism & falsification by saying that "'It is the things which naturally accord with your prejudices - in fact, things which engage your emotions which you are most inclined to get wrong." [5]