Paul Kennedy (born 13 August 1975) is an Australian journalist, television presenter, author and former Australian rules footballer.McMahon, Neil (27 June 2013) A healthy and balanced breakfast, The Sydney Morning Herald, Nine Entertainment Co. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
Media career Kennedy's journalism career began in 1994 when he worked as a copy boy for The Herald and Weekly Times, before moving on to become a news reporter for Network Ten and the Nine Network.
Paul is best known for being a sports presenter on ABC Television's long-running breakfast program News Breakfast, having been with the program since its inception in 2008 until 2021.Knox, David (3 October 2008) Meet the new team for Breakfast, TV Tonight. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Knox, David (29 October 2013) ABC News Breakfast marks 5 years, TV Tonight. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Knox, David (2 November 2018) No fakin' it, News Breakfast hosts celebrate 10 years on air, TV Tonight. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
Australian rules football Kennedy has been actively involved in Australian rules football having played with the Dandenong Stingrays in the TAC Cup, Frankston Dolphins in Victoria's VFL and with Fitzroy Lions reserve grade in the AFL.Snow, Troy (10 November 2011) Meet Paul Kennedy, Sandringham Football Club. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
Kennedy has also played with the Morningside and Mount Gravatt Football Clubs in the QAFL and was as a player-coach at Seaford Football Club.
His time at Seaford inspired Kennedy to write and direct a short film called Drug Game, which explored drug-related issues that players and club officials had been faced with.Hawker, Phillipa (6 August 2008) Footy Shorts, The Age, Nine Entertainment Co.. Retrieved 17 April 2019. The film was a finalist at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and Kennedy has since been credited with helping rebuild Seaford as a formidable club by creating a family friendly atmosphere at the club when he took over as senior coach in 2003.McNicol, Adam (19 September 2010) Seaford rebuilt on mateship, The Age. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Zion, Lawrie; Harding, Evan (26 May 2010) Working Journalist profile: Paul Kennedy, Upstart. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
Kennedy has also been a coach at Sandringham Football Club and with the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League. He now coaches Carrum Lions and his son Gus Kennedy
At the Frankston Football Club's’ 2020 season launch, President Peter Geddes announced that Kennedy and Sharni Layton had been appointed as the club’s No. 1 ticket holders.Frankston Season Launch; VFL Footy Forum . Retrieved 14 May 2020.
Books In 2010, Kennedy co-authored Hell on the Way to Heaven with Chrissie Foster which investigated cover-ups by the Catholic Church of child sexual abuse, following the abuse of Anthony and Chrissie Foster's two daughters by a Catholic priest.Campbell, James (29 August 2010) Evil priest shielded by Catholic Church, Sunday Herald Sun, News Corp Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Savage, Jay (29 May 2017) Anthony Foster: Tireless fighter against Catholic sex abuse, BBC News, BBC. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Kennedy, Paul (30 May 2017) 'Goodbye, brave man': Anthony Foster was a fierce advocate, and a friend, ABC News. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Foster, Chrissie; Kennedy, Paul (2010), Hell on the Way to Heaven: An Australian Mother's Love – The Power of the Catholic Church, and a Fight for Justice Over Child Sexual Abuse, Read How You Want Publishing, . Retrieved 17 April 2019. In 2017, Kennedy said co-writing Hell on the Way to Heaven was his career highlight, as he considers the book to be the most important piece of journalism that he has undertaken in his career and was not expecting to do anything of more importance.(1 October 2017) Fairest and Best, DNA, DNA Publications Pty Ltd. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
Kennedy wrote High Stakes: The Rise of the Waterhouse Dynasty in 2014, which explored the story of the Waterhouse family, who are widely regarded as Australia's best known horse racing family.Doogue, Geraldine (4 October 2014) Behind the headlines of the Waterhouse clan, Saturday Extra, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Kennedy, Paul (2014), High Stakes: The Rise of the Waterhouse Dynasty, Read How You Want Publishing, . Retrieved 17 April 2019.
In 2016, Kennedy wrote Fifteen Young Men: Australia's Untold Football Tragedy, which detailed the deaths of 15 men, including 14 local footballers, who were killed during a storm in 1892 when their boat capsized off Mornington Peninsula while returning from Mordialloc.(26 May 1892) Mornington Boating Disaster: The Lives of 15 Members of the Mornington Football Team Lost, Mornington Standard. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Amy, Paul (9 September 2016) Read it and weep for Fifteen Young Men from Mornington, Mornington Peninsula Leader. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Webb, Carolyn (30 August 2016) Forgotten story of the day 14 footballers drowned off Mornington, The Age. Retrieved 17 April 2019.Kennedy, Paul (2016), Fifteen Young Men: Australia's Untold Football Tragedy, Random House Australia, . Retrieved 17 April 2019.
In 2021, he released Funkytown an autobiography covering his teenage years, and detailing his Australian Rules football ambitions.
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