Crowe toasts talkback titan for platforming ‘voiceless’
Russell Crowe has celebrated the life of influential broadcaster John Laws, saying he “lifted the voiceless to the platform and made sure they were heard”.
Laws, one of Australia’s most influential and controversial broadcasters whose career spanned seven decades, was given a state funeral after dying peacefully on November 9, aged 90.
Prominent leaders including former prime minister John Howard, renegade MP Barnaby Joyce and NSW Premier Chris Minns gathered at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney, along with fellow broadcasters Richard Wilkins and Ben Fordham.
Hollywood actor Crowe, who was Laws’ neighbor and gave a eulogy at the funeral, said the broadcaster’s famous end-of-program slogan – “be kind to each other” – summed up its real priorities.
“We couldn’t agree on almost anything,” he told fellow mourners.
“We were often on opposing sides on everything from bike lanes to politics.
“But we agreed that we enjoyed each other’s company, and our different perspectives never stopped us from making each other laugh.”
Our neighbor Paul Warren noted that Laws has interviewed 16 prime ministers on the radio.
“They all knew they were about to face one of Australia’s sharpest minds,” he said.
Laws’ famous golden microphone, given to him by 2UE management in order to impress the ratings monster, stood proudly next to his coffin in the cathedral.
Since his death, tributes have poured in from many politicians past and present; Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the broadcaster “an iconic Australian”.
As well as Mr Albanese, former prime ministers Paul Keating and John Howard also spoke highly of Laws and his legendary career; the former prime minister once called him “the broadcaster of the century”.
Prime Minister Chris Minns said after his death: “John Laws was a towering figure in Australian radio whose voice echoed across the country for more than seventy years.”
“His legacy lies not just in the thousands of hours he spent on air, but in the connection he made with millions of Australians.”
Laws began his radio career in Bendigo in 1953, then joined 2UE and worked in four separate roles at the Sydney station.
He also worked at 2GB, 2UW and 2SM, and had short spells at Network Ten and Foxtel.
Laws’ career was not without scandal.
It was revealed that he and fellow radio star Alan Jones were paid to receive positive airplay from certain brands.
The Australian Broadcasting Authority found Laws, Jones and 2UE breached industry rules 90 times and their stations’ license conditions five times.
Nearly 40,000 people also demanded that he receive training in 2013 as he defended a 2013 interview in which he asked the 44-year-old child sex abuse victim “whether this was in any way your fault.”
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