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David Greason
1961-2011

AIJAC mourns the passing of our esteemed former colleague David Greason – a brilliant writer and contributor to AIR, especially in the field of far-right politics in Australia and the UK.

David came to us with a colourful background. Born in northern England in 1961, he came to Australia with his family at the age of eight. The sacking of the Whitlam government in 1975 sparked an interest in politics that eventually led the teenage Greason to active involvement in the neo-fascist National Front and National Action, both in Australia and the UK. In this period, he played a pivotal role in these groups and gained an insiders view of the beliefs, the personalities and the often banal realities behind fringe, extremist politics.

Emerging into maturity, Greason left far-right politics behind and later worked as a journalist with the Age, Sydney Morning Herald and the South China Morning Post.

David’s brilliant account of his years in the far-right, I Was A Teenage Fascist, was published in 1994. It showcased the wit, the gift for story-telling and the piercing insight familiar to all who knew and worked with him.

As a regular contributor to AIR during the 1990s, he produced many notable and memorable articles chronicling the activities of Australia’s racist far-right and the rise and fall of Pauline Hanson in particular.

David was always a lively and engaging presence in the office, as well as an encyclopaedic font of knowledge for politics in general. He later returned to live in the UK.

Our deepest sympathies go to his wife Jane and his two daughters.