Jan Murray (public relations consultant)

Janice "Jan" Beatrice Murray (born 1942) is an Australian public relations consultant, writer and media personality.[1][2][3]

Career

Politics

Murray contested the seat of Eastwood at the 1978 New South Wales state election for the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party.[1] Although gaining a swing of over 7% in her favour and contributing to a swing away from the Liberal Party of over 13%, Murray was unsuccessful, beaten by incumbent Member for Eastwood, Jim Clough, who secured 51.44% of the vote compared to Murray's 42.52%.[4]

Public relations

From 1981, Murray was principal of Jan Murray & Associates - a public relations firm that handled a variety of advertising campaigns, such as the Australian Tourism Commission's Shrimp on the barbie advertisements featuring Australian actor Paul Hogan, which was overseen by her then-husband, Minister for Tourism, John Brown.[1]

Murray's firm raised millions of dollars for a re-enactment of the First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage during the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in 1988.[1]

Television

On television, Murray was a regular guest on The Mike Walsh Show and was a panellist on daytime discussion program Beauty and the Beast from 1996 to 2005, where she became known for her frequent volatile arguments with the show's host, Stan Zemanek.[1][5]

Writing

Murray published her memoir Sheer Madness: Sex, Lies and Politics in 2010.[6][7][8] In 2012, Murray published a novel called Goodbye Lullaby.[9][10] Murray published juvenile mystery book, NO BRIDGE, NO WAY!: A Glencairn Island Mystery in 2019.[11] Also in 2019, Murray published the autobiographical Pilgrim Souls: A Memoir.[12]

Personal life

Murray was born mostly deaf and subsequently learned to lip read.[2] In 1963, Murray married John Brown, who became Member for Parramatta at the 1977 Australian federal election and became a Federal Government Minister in 1983 in the First Hawke Ministry before he entered Cabinet in 1987.[1]

Murray graduated from Macquarie University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), majoring in political science, English and media.[2]

Scalding incident

While making a cup of tea in her husband's parliamentary office in 1985, Murray had her hands scalded when boiling hot water was sprayed onto them when a hose connected to the urn came loose.[13] Murray rejected a settlement offer of $18,000 in 1988.[13] In 1993, it was reported Murray had been awarded $100,000 in compensation.[13] Murray criticised some media outlets who she says portrayed her as a villain and implied she was undeserving of the compensation amount.[14] Administration Services Minister Bob McMullan also disputed the reported figure of $100,000 stating that the final costs were still being negotiated but said the amount would not exceed $60,000.[14]

Sex on the desk scandal

Following initial reports in The Sun, Murray admitted during a 60 Minutes interview in 1987 to having sexual intercourse with Brown on his desk in his office at Parliament House in Canberra in 1983, and leaving a pair of underwear in an ashtray.[15][16] A spokesperson for Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke said while Murray's comments were in "poor taste" they had nothing to do with Brown's ministerial duties.[15] The Canberra Times reported that Murray said she had never meant for her comments to be made public after being assured by a 60 Minutes producer that they would be edited out of the program.[15] Murray's on-screen revelation continues to be referred to occasionally in the Australian media.[17][18][19]

Defamation case against the ABC

In 1989, Murray and Brown lost a defamation case against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[20] They had attempted to sue the national broadcaster after ABC Television had aired a Quantum program on 9 September 1986 which Murray and Brown believed contained defamatory implications.[21][20] The pair believed the program had implied that Brown had accepted bribes from tobacco companies and that Murray had been party to an arrangement where Brown had accepted bribes.[20] A Supreme Court jury found the program did not convey such imputations and the pair were ordered to pay the court costs of the eight-day trial.[20]

gollark: I, personally, am happy with a mostly functional society with stuff like "computers" and "generally not dying (prematurely)" and "medicine".
gollark: Hmm, yes, interesting idea.
gollark: It's not really "useful" or "sane" or "in any way beneficial", but quite cool.
gollark: Anyway, the IRC bridge picks up messages from the IRC "network" I run with two other people for arbitrary reasons, and posts them to a channel. "Epicbot" posts the messages from that bridge channel into the channel which can do outgoing "phone" calls, and those are then relayed to another test server.
gollark: Some CSS applied via tampermonkey.

Jan Murray website

References
  1. Alafaci, Annette (1 February 2006) Murray, Janice Beatrice, Australian Women's Register. Accessed 3 October 2019.
  2. Fidler, Richard (24 September 2010) Jan Murray's rich life beyond being that of a Cabinet Minister's wife, Conversations, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  3. Jan Murray, IMDb. Accessed 3 October 2019.
  4. Eastwood - 1978, Election Results, New South Wales Parliament. Accessed 3 October 2019.
  5. (2001) Stan Zemanek fights with and throws book at Jan Murray, Beauty and the Beast, Foxtel. Accessed 3 October 2019.
  6. Murray, Jan (2010) Sheer Madness: Sex Lies and Politics, Mira Books. ISBN 1921685638
  7. Saville, Margot (31 March 2010) Jan Murray on sex, lies and politics, Crikey. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  8. Harper, Hilary; Mackenzie, Michael (13 April 2010) Sheer madness: Jan Murray, Life Matters, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  9. Murray, Jan (2012) Goodbye Lullaby, HarperCollins Australia. ISBN 1460885112
  10. Selinger-Morris, Samantha (14 October 2012) More wilful than wayward, The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  11. Murray, Jan (2019) NO BRIDGE, NO WAY!: A Glencairn Island Mystery, Tablo Pty Limited. ISBN 1922309044
  12. Murray, Jan (2019) Pilgrim Souls: A Memoir, Tablo Pty Limited. ISBN 1925993981
  13. Brough, Jodie (25 November 1993) $100,000 for Brown's wife, The Canberra Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  14. (26 November 1993) Scald damages row: Murray hurt, The Canberra Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  15. (25 April 1987) Of Sport, Recreation and Tourism, The Canberra Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  16. (27 April 1987) A frank talk on sex, life, The Canberra Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  17. (22 October 2012) Sex pair's romp in MP's office, The Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  18. Lee, Alex (20 October 2015) 8 Australian political scandals that will make you blush, BuzzFeed. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  19. Koziol, Michael (23 February 2018) Sex in Parliament: it ain't what it used to be, The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  20. (16 February 1989) Former minister and wife lose case, The Canberra Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  21. (5 May 1987) MP sues ABC over tobacco program, The Canberra Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
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