Mungo Wentworth MacCallum

Who is Mungo Wentworth MacCallum?

Mungo Wentworth MacCallum is an Australian political journalist and commentator.

He is the son of Mungo Ballardie MacCallum, and Diana Wentworth. He is a nephew of William Charles Wentworth IV, Liberal member of the House of Representatives and a virulent anti-communist. He and his uncle, while agreeing on certain questions, were fundamentally of different political inclinations. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were also called Mungo MacCallum. He was once described by Gough Whitlam as a "tall, bearded descendant of lunatic aristocrats".

Mungo MacCallum was born in Sydney and educated at the elite Cranbrook School, a short walk from where he lived with his mother and father in his grandmother's house in Wentworth Street, Point Piper. After leaving school, he went to the University of Sydney, where he obtained a BA with third-class honours.

MacCallum covered Australian federal politics from the Canberra Press Gallery for The Australian, The National Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Nation Review and radio station 2JJ / Triple J in the 1970s and 1980s. He currently writes columns for The Byron Shire Echo and The Northern Star, frequently writes for the magazine The Monthly, and contributes political commentary to Australia's national Community Radio Network. He is also known for his centre-left, strongly pro-Australian Labor Party views, being critical both of the conservative Liberal and National Parties, and of the far left who attack Labor for its cautious reformism.