Stan Grant

Stan Grant

Australia, New South Wales

Stan Grant is an Australian journalist, writer, radio, television presenter and theologian. He is a proud Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal man who has written and spoken extensively on Indigenous issues and his Aboriginal identity. Grant is one of Australia’s most respected and awarded journalists and best selling author.

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Stan Grant Bio

Stan Grant was born in 1963 in Griffith, New South Wales. His father, Stan Grant Sr was an elder of the Wiradjuri people and his mother, Elizabeth Cameron, was the daughter of a white woman and a Kamilaroi man. Much of his childhood was spent in inner Victoria, where the Wiradjuri have roots. 

Stan Grant career 

Stand Grant has spent more than 30 years in the broadcast radio and television industry. He spent several years as a news presenter on the Australian Macquarie Radio Network, Seven, SBS, CNN International as a Senior International Correspondent in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Beijing. On arrival back in Australia, he worked with the ABC and spent many years broadcasting within ABC’s global affairs. 

In 2007 he co-presented the SBS World News bulletin and presented Indigenous programme Speaking Out on ABC Local Radio. He left SBS World News in 2007 and in 2009 was appointed the UAE correspondent for CNN in Abu Dhabi, gathering stories from the UAE and surrounding Middle East regions and hosting the  Prism programme. 

In 2012 he returned to Australia to help launch NITV and in 2013 hosted NewsNight for Sky News Australia. He then went on to host Reporting Live with Stan Grant on Sky News, and hosted six-part television drama Crimes that Shook Australia. 

In 2017, he again joined the ABC, this time as editor of Indigenous Affairs fill-in host for 7.30. He also hosted The Link. In 2018 Grant hosted Matter of Fact on the ABC News channel, and was appointed chief Asia correspondent for the ABC. When that program was cancelled, he took on the role of International and Indigenous Affairs Analyst with the ABC, while holding a professorship at Griffith University. 

In 2020, Grant was back with the ABC after a stint in Doha and Al Jazeera English, this time as the ABC’s International Affairs Analyst. He also hosted a series of episodes for the ABC’s One Plus One programme. 

By 2021 he had launched the ABC’s China Tonight programme covering Chinese culture and politics for an Australian audience, before moving on to host Q + A in 2022. By mid-2023 he had resigned following an escalation of racial abuse. This was following his appearance on the coverage of the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla, and his comments during the programme. 

Most recently, Grant took up a new role at The Saturday Paper as a columnist. 

Major events coverage

As part of his journalism career, Stan Grant has covered some major events for television news including:

  • The British handover of Hong Kong  

  • The conflict between the Catholics and Irish in Belfast 

  • Compile a series of stories in South Africa for the Real Life current affairs program

  • Broadcast the lighting of the Olympic flame for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games

Major interviews

Stan Grant has interviewed world leaders and every Australian prime minister of the last 40 years including Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Condoleezza Rice, Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, Shimon Peres, Bill Clinton, and Australian Prime Ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, and Malcolm Turnbull.

2015 Racism speech

In 2015, Stan Grant joined immigration lawyer Pallavi Shina, Rita Panahi from the Herald Sun and actor Jack Thompson on the IQ2 stage of The Ethics Centre. This event was a debate to argue for or against the topic of “Racism is destroying the Australian dream”. Grant spoke of the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Australians, both past and present, and argued that the “Australian Dream” was based upon racism. He used examples of his ancestors and others who were forced into institutions and unpaid work. 

The debate was a finalist in the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Awards. 

Other activities and roles

Stan Grant has held several other roles outside of the media. In 2018 he was appointed Professor of Global Affairs at Griffith University, and then in 2020 was appointed Vice-Chancellor’s Chair of Australian-Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University. In 2023 he was elected as a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and 2024 completed his PhD at Charles Sturt University. 

In 2016, Grant was spoken about as running in the 2016 Australian Federal Election but ruled out running for the National Party. He also turned down an offer from Scott Morrison in 2019 to run for the Liberal Party. 

As well as writing, Grant wrote and featured in the full length documentary film The Australian Dream which was released in 2019. It looks at the role racism played in the demonisation of Adam Goodes, an Australian rule football player. The documentary won an AACTA Award and a Walkley Award. 

Stan Grant is also an ambassador for the SmartFone Flick Fest and the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. 

Awards and honours

Stan Grant has received several awards including:

  • Peabody Award – two times winner. This prestigious award celebrates excellence in radio broadcasting (US Award)

  • DuPont Award – winner. This award celebrates excellence in broadcast and digital journalism and is the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize (US Award)

  • Asian TV Awards – four times winner. These prestigious Asia TV awards recognise programming and production excellence in the Asian Television industry

  • Walkley Award – three times winner. Stan Grant won these awards in 2015 for the Stan Grant Columns, in 2016 for Talking to My Country and in 2019 for The Australian Dream documentary.

  • Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award in 2019 – best feature documentary for The Australian Dream

  • Logie Award in 2014 – most popular current affairs program for Real Life

Stan Grant books

Stan Grant has written several books on the issues, politics, history and culture of first nations people.

  • The Tears of Strangers (2002) 

  • Talking to My Country (2016)  

  • The Australian Dream: Blood, History and Becoming (2016)  

  • Australia Day (2019)  

  • Tell It to the World: An Indigenous Memoir (2019)  

  • On Identity (2019) 

  • With the Falling of the Dusk (2021)  

  • On Thomas Keneally: Writers on Writers (2021)  

  • The Queen Is Dead (2023)  

  • Murriyang: Song of Time (2024)  

  • When Words Fail Us: Truth Beyond Time (2026) 

Stan Grant FAQs

Where does Stan Grant live?

Stan Grant lives in the Snowy Valley town of Adelong but still has a home in Sydney. 

Who is Stan Grant married to?

Stan Grant is married to Tracey Lee Holmes, a sports broadcaster and journalist. He was previously married to Karla Grant, a presenter, producer and journalist at SBS. 

Where did Stan Grant go to school? 

Due to his father’s work as a sawmiller, Stan Grant’s family moved frequently. He has said in interviews he changed schools 14 times before he was in high school. He completed his secondary education at Ginninderra High School in Canberra, and then went on to study at the Australian National University (Bachelor’s degree in Journalism), the University of New South Water (enrolled for further studies and received an honorary Doctor of Letters), and Charles Sturt University (PhD in Theology).