Stan Grant (journalist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stan Grant
FASSA
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Grant in 2025
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| Born | 30 September 1963 Griffith, New South Wales, Australia
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| Years active | 1986–present |
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Notable credit(s)
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Real Life host (1992–1994) CNN anchor (2000–2007, 2009–2013) Reporting Live (2013–2016) Matter of Fact (2018) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 3 with Grant 1 with Holmes |
| Parent(s) | Stan Grant Sr Elizabeth Cameron |
Stan Grant, born on September 30, 1963, is a well-known Australian journalist, writer, and TV and radio presenter. He is a proud Wiradjuri man, and his family also has Kamilaroi and Dharawal heritage. Since the 1990s, he has used his voice to share important stories about Indigenous people and their experiences. He often speaks about his own Aboriginal identity and the history of his people.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Stan Grant was born in Griffith, New South Wales. His father, Stan Grant Sr, was an elder of the Wiradjuri people. His mother, Elizabeth Grant, was born near Coonabarabran. Her mother was white, and her father was a Kamilaroi Aboriginal man.
The Wiradjuri people are an Aboriginal Australian group from the south-west inland region of New South Wales. Stan Grant spent much of his childhood in inner Victoria, where the Wiradjuri people also have historical connections. He attended high school in Canberra at Ginninderra High.
Stan Grant's Career
Stan Grant has worked in broadcast news and current affairs for over 30 years. He has been a news presenter for several Australian networks, including Macquarie Radio Network, Seven, and SBS. He also spent many years as a Senior International Correspondent for CNN International. He worked for CNN in places like Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Later, he joined the ABC.
Early Journalism Work
In 1994, Stan Grant hosted the Seven Network current affairs show Real Life. For this show, he won a Logie Award for Most Popular Current Affairs Programme.
In 2007, he became a co-presenter for the SBS World News Australia bulletin. He also hosted Speaking Out, an Indigenous program on ABC Local Radio. In 2009, Grant became CNN's correspondent in the UAE. He reported on stories from the UAE and nearby regions and hosted a program called Prism.
Returning to Australia
In 2012, Stan Grant came back to Australia. He helped launch National Indigenous Television (NITV), a new channel from SBS. In 2013, he hosted NewsNight, a late-night news program for Sky News Australia.
From 2014, he hosted Reporting Live with Stan Grant on Sky News Australia. This was a nightly news program that covered important news stories. In April of that year, he also hosted Crimes that Shook Australia, a TV series on Foxtel.
Important Speech on Racism
In 2015, Stan Grant took part in a public discussion called IQ2 at The Ethics Centre. The topic was "Racism is destroying the Australian dream." Grant spoke about how colonisation affected Indigenous Australians in the past and present. He explained that the "Australian Dream" was built on racism. He mentioned his ancestors who were forced into institutions and unpaid work. This debate was recognized for helping people understand more about these issues.
Work at the ABC
In 2017, Grant joined the ABC as the editor of Indigenous Affairs. He also sometimes filled in as host for the nightly current affairs program 7.30. He hosted The Link on Friday nights as well.
In 2018, Grant started hosting Matter of Fact, a national current affairs program on the ABC News TV Channel and ABC News Radio. He also became the chief Asia correspondent for the ABC News Network. After 10 months, the program ended. He then took on a new role as Indigenous and International Affairs Analyst with the ABC. At the same time, he became a professor at Griffith University.
In 2019, Grant moved to Doha, the capital of Qatar, to work for Al Jazeera English. In September 2020, it was announced that he would become the ABC's International Affairs Analyst. This was important because other ABC reporters had left China due to advice from Australia's spy agency.
In December 2020, Grant hosted a series of episodes about identity for the ABC's interview program One Plus One. In 2021, he launched the ABC's China Tonight program, which explored Chinese culture and politics for an Australian audience.
In July 2022, it was announced that Stan Grant would become the permanent host of Q+A starting August 1. In May 2023, Grant decided to leave the show. This happened after he received a lot of racial abuse. The abuse followed his comments during the ABC's coverage of King Charles III's coronation.
Media and Social Media
During the coronation coverage on May 6, 2023, Stan Grant commented that the Crown "represented the invasion, the theft of land - and in our case - the exterminating war." He explained that under the Crown, his people were separated and children were taken from their families. These comments led to criticism and a lot of negative comments on social media.
Grant described the social media comments as a "sordid spectacle." On May 15, 2023, he announced on Q&A that he would be leaving the show. He said he was leaving not directly because of the racial abuse, but because he felt the media itself was "the poison in the bloodstream of our society." He also said the ABC had not publicly defended him enough.
Hundreds of ABC staff supported Grant by walking out of their offices. They carried signs saying, "I stand with Stan." Justin Stevens, the ABC news director, said that "enough is enough" and that staff would not tolerate racial abuse. In 2024, Grant joined The Saturday Paper as a columnist.
Academia and Teaching
In October 2018, Stan Grant was appointed Professor of Global Affairs at Griffith University. In April 2020, he became the Vice-Chancellor's Chair of Australian-Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University. He still holds this position. In 2023, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2024, he finished his PhD at Charles Sturt University. His research was about "Yindyamarra as theology," which explores identity, history, and reconciliation.
Other Activities
Film Work
Stan Grant wrote and appeared in the documentary film The Australian Dream, released in 2019. The film explores how racism affected Australian Rules football player Adam Goodes. It won several awards, including the AACTA Award for best feature documentary.
In 2021, he became one of three Indigenous ambassadors for the SmartFone Flick Fest.
Other Roles
Since 2017, Grant has been an ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. He was also a Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2019-2020.
On June 3, 2022, Stan Grant gave the Eddie Koiki Mabo Lecture at James Cook University. This was on Mabo Day, which marked 30 years since the Mabo case. This case recognized native title for Indigenous Australians. In October 2023, he gave the JG Crawford Oration at the Australian National University.
Books by Stan Grant
Stan Grant is a talented writer and has published several books:
- The Tears of Strangers (2004): This book is a memoir that talks about the changes for Indigenous Australians over 40 years. It focuses on generations of the Wiradjuri people.
- Talking to My Country (2016): This book was inspired by the abuse of Adam Goodes in 2015. It offers a unique view of Australia.
- The Australian Dream: Blood, History and Becoming (2016): This was published as a Quarterly Essay.
- Australia Day (2018): This book is a follow-up to Talking to My Country and explores what it means to be Australian.
- On Identity (2020): This book was published in both English and Wiradjuri. In it, Grant asks why he is often asked to choose between being "black" or "white."
- Tell it to the World: An Indigenous Memoir (2019): This book was published in the US.
- Indigenous Australia for Dummies (2021): Co-written with Larissa Behrendt.
- With the Falling of the Dusk (2021): This book is about the world in crisis.
- On Thomas Keneally: Writers on Writers (2021)
- A Collection of Interviews from One Plus One; ABC Audio
- The Queen is Dead: The Time has Come for a Reckoning (2023)
- Murriyang: Song of Time; Simon and Schuster (2024)
Awards and Recognition
Stan Grant has received many awards for his work:
- Peabody Award (US)
- DuPont Award (US)
- Asian TV Awards (four times)
- Walkley Award (three times), including the 2016 Walkley Book Award
- His film The Australian Dream won the AACTA Award for best feature documentary film in 2019 and the 2019 Walkley Documentary Award.
Personal Life
Stan Grant has three children with his first wife, Karla Grant. He also has a son with his current wife, Tracey Holmes, who is also a TV journalist. Stan Grant and Tracey Holmes lived in Asia for 14 years, working for CNN in Hong Kong and Beijing.
