David Marr, Michael Bachelard, Robert Wainwright and Paola Totaro discuss their eye-opening research into current controversy and prominent issues.
Their wide-ranging books delve deep into such topics as the Henson controversy, the Exclusive Brethren, and the Port Arthur massacre.
Bio
Michael Bachelard
Michael Bachelard is an Australian journalist and author. Formerly part of The Age's investigative team, he now writes for The Sunday Age. In 2008 he won a Quill award for best news report in print.
His most recent book is Behind The Exclusive Brethren.
Peter FitzSimons
Peter FitzSimons is a bestselling biographer and has been a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and London Daily Telegraph for over a decade. He is also a television presenter on Fox Sports and broadcaster on Radio 2UE.
He has played rugby for Australia and written 12 books, including biographies of World Cup winning Wallaby captain, Nick Farr-Jones, and former Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley. In 2001 he released biographies of both John Eales and Australia's most decorated war heroine, Nancy Wake, which stayed on the bestseller lists for 29 weeks between them, and have sold 220,000 copies to date.
In 2003 he released his book on the Kokoda Track, which was Australia's #1 selling non fiction book of the year, and he followed that up with Tobruk in 2006. In 2007 he was the Books Alive author with his biography of Les Darcy.
He is a Director of the Board of Sydney Writers Festival.
David Marr
David Marr is a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald, he is also trained as a lawyer and previously presented ABC TV's Media Watch.
He is the co-author, with Marian Wilkinson, of Dark Victory, about the Tampa affair, and The Henson Case, about the Bill Henson controversy of 2008. He is also Vice President of Watch on Censorship.
Paola Totaro
Paola Totaro is the European correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Before her posting to London, she was editor of the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald.
Totaro has held some of the paper's most senior positions in her 26-year career, including editing News Review, heading the Herald's state political bureau and leading the Education and Urban Affairs teams. In 1992, she co-edited the first Herald Guide to Schools book.
She has just been elected to the management committee of the 140-year-old Foreign Press Association of London. Totaro is the co-author of Born or Bred: The Martin Bryant Story with Robert Wainwright.
Robert Wainwright
Robert Wainwright has been a journalist for 30 years, rising from the grassroots of country journalism in Western Australia to become a senior writer with The Sydney Morning Herald.
His career has ranged from politics to crime, always focusing on the people behind the major news of the day. He was a Walkley Awards finalist in 2004. Wainwright is the author of Rose: The Unauthorised Biography of Rose Hancock Porteous, The Lost Boy and The Killing of Caroline Byrne.
Wainwright is the co-author, with Paolo Totaro, of Born or Bred: The Martin Bryant Story.
In addition, Bill Henson had approached the parents of the subjects he was planning on photographing. If he were an actual pedophile, he would have just done it behind the parents' back but Bill seems to act like a photographer who legitimately wants to just photograph art.
There is a huge difference between photographic art and erotic/sexual art. When you see a photograph of a person that is doing an ad for breast cancer and is nude, that's considered photographic art whereas if the person is nude yet being photographed at a porn shoot, that is considered erotic/sexual art. If a person is being photographed in an artistic way whether it be someone of age or someone underage, it is their decision. Sure, if the underage child is being taken photos that are extremely explicit and are highly suggestive, then there is something to worry about. But I agree with Marr. People are allowed to have their opinions on things and if they don't like it, they are allowed to voice it but unless it is detrimental to one's health or intentionally breaking the law, then go on your way.
The photos are so offensive that the issue shouldn't even be looked at subjectively. In fact, it's not even an "issue." Just stop these kinds of pictures from being taken, by any means necessary. The end.
member. 
