A love-hate affair

By Frances Grant


HATE Australian broadcaster Stan Zemanek and he'll love you for it. The Sydney radio shock-jock and television show host has a record and he's proud of it.

"It's official here in Australia," says Zemanek on the phone from across the Tasman. "I'm the most complained-about broadcaster in Australia and I have been for the past five years."

New Zealanders, should they care to, now have the chance to further his reputation. Zemanek's telly talkfest Beauty and the Beast starts here on Monday on Prime.

The format hasn't changed since Selwyn Toogood hosted the New Zealand version of the show in which he and an all-female panel discussed issues generated by viewers' letters. But those genteel days are long gone.

Zemanek takes the "beast" part of his job description seriously, winding up the ladies with all the political incorrectness he can muster and a barrage of insults. War is good for the ratings.

To kick off Beauty and the Beast in New Zealand, the 52-year-old Sydney-sider has invited five feisty Kiwi women to join the panel. Each will appear on a separate night over the show's first week.

"They're all fairly forthright, which is good," he says of guests Cath Saunders, Ginette McDonald, Liane Clarke, Cal Wilson and Wendyl Nissen. "This is a very opinionated programme and everyone gets very passionate about their viewpoints."

Just what will our intrepid women be up against? Zemanek was more than happy to provide a fair sample of his style and opinions.

What makes you a good beast?

I like a good argument and I've always liked a good argument. Some people believe I'm a dinosaur, but I just believe we're losing a lot of the values that we had in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

What are those values?

I'm a great believer of bringing the cane back into schools, I'm a great believer in capital punishment and the death sentence, I'm a great believer in stopping immigration until we can solve our unemployment problem. I don't want to say sorry to the Aborigines, because it wasn't my fault.

What's your 435-page book, The Thoughts Of Chairman Stan, about?

It's my thoughts on various subjects. I'll just run through some of them: the state of the nation, the arts, media, entertainment, business matters, crime and justice, drugs, environment, health care, unemployment, immigration, politics, Aboriginal issues, sport, society. Even my wife has a chapter all to herself called Life with Stan.

Do you do much research before you form an opinion or is the knee-jerk opinion more your style?

I do a lot of research. I've been broadcasting my radio programme for 10 years. It's the most listened-to programme in the whole of Australia and I have researched the backside out of every subject that we talk about.

One critic has called you a "hater" who brings out the worst in people. Is that fair?

I don't hate people, I don't incite hatred. I just give my viewpoints.

So, what sort of hate-mail do you get?

I'll give you an example: "Dear Stan, hello you disgraceful, grumpy, corrupt, homophobic, crippled, ill-informed, alcoholic, bludging poofter. I'm sick of the **** you say to people. It's just a disgrace that a homosexual guineapig codger like you can be on air, you are a hypocritical Nazi bleeder [etc].

What's your opinion about Kiwis in Australia?

I think we've got some terrific, hard-working Kiwis that come to this country and have made Australia the great country it is. I think we also have some of the greatest bludgers known to mankind that have come from New Zealand as well.

Do you get called a chauvinist?

Yes, and I am a chauvinist. I'm happy to get called a chauvinist, I'm happy to be called a sexist.

Does your wife call you any of these things?

Every now and again, yeah.

Which Australian women do you most admire?

My wife and my two daughters.

But who else apart from family?

Can I think on that one for a minute or two?

What do you like most about women?

I think women are fantastic. I think most women are harder workers than men are. I think they are able to suffer pain more than what men can ... I think women are smarter, they're more diligent ...

What do you dislike about them?

Yeah, I can never understand women's logic. Some of them come up with ideas which are just indefensible, stupid and dumb, and I suppose it's all part of women's logic. No one can understand it, no one can explain it. It's just all part and parcel of the female make-up, I suppose.

What do you think about our woman Prime Minister Jenny Shipley?

I'd love to have her on the programme. I'd love to interview her some day because I think she's very forthright, she's a very astute politician. I'm also a great admirer of whatsisname - the Maori leader, Peters? Whatsisname? I've interviewed him a couple of times.

Zemanek did manage to come up with some Australian women he admired: a model, Gabrielle Richens, also known as "the pleasure machine;" former first lady Hazel Hawke; and press baron Kerry Packer's wife Roslyn: "a phenomenal woman, to live alongside one of the most dynamic men in the world, I think she's a great role model."

As for the five New Zealand women panelists, is he daunted by the thought of taking them on? "Absolutely not." Does he think they might be scarier than their Australian counterparts? "They probably will be, I suppose."

Who: Stan Zemanek

What: Beauty and the Beast

Where: Prime

When: Weeknights, 6 pm