Australian Skeptics
Australian Skeptics is a loose confederation of like-minded organisations across Australia that began in 1980. Australian Skeptics investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methodologies. This page covers all Australian skeptical groups which are of this mindset. The name "Australian Skeptics" can be confused with one of the more prominent groups, "Australian Skeptics Inc", which is based in Sydney and is one of the central organising groups within Australian Skeptics.
Origins
In 1979, Mark Plummer sent a letter to the American skeptical magazine The Zetetic in which he expressed interest in beginning a skeptical organisation in Australia. Sydney electronics entrepreneur Dick Smith responded to the letter, and offered to sponsor a visit to Australia by James Randi, the principal investigator for the American-based Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, part of the non-profit organisation Center for Inquiry, which are joint publishers of the Skeptical Inquirer. During this visit, James Randi, Dick Smith, Phillip Adams, Richard Carleton and an unidentified businessman offered a $50,000 prize to anyone who could prove psychic phenomena in front of Randi. A number of contenders, largely water diviners came forward, but all failed to prove their claims in front of independent observers.The Australian Skeptics formed in 1980 out of this event, with the original purpose of continuing to test claims of the paranormal, with committee members Mark Plummer, James Gerrand, Joe Rubinstein, and Allan Christophers, as well as Bill Cook, John Crellin, Logan Elliot, Peter Kemeny, Loris Purcell, and Mike Wilton. It was at this time that the group adopted the name "Australian Skeptics". The amount of the prize was raised to AU$100,000 and it has been offered since then. Very soon after the original formation of the Australian Skeptics in Victoria, Barry Williams from Sydney, New South Wales, responded to a call from Dick Smith seeking interest for new members. He became involved, and the New South Wales committee formed. The NSW committee included Barry Williams, Tim Mendham, Mel Dickson, Dick Champion, Jean Whittle and others. The Australian Skeptics are the second oldest English language skeptical group in the world after CSICOP in the US. Tim Mendham joined the NSW committee from the very first meeting and went on to become secretary, treasurer, and editor of the magazine.
In 1986, the year after the first national convention in Sydney, Mark Plummer stepped down as national president when he began a new job as an executive officer at CSICOP in the US. At this time the NSW Skeptics group took over the role as the national secretariat and the national committee, but the magazine production remained in Victoria with various editors including James Durand. The national committee did not consist of representative from all the state organisations, but rather was just of the state groups which acted as the national organising committee. "Australian Skeptics incorporated in NSW" became an incorporated association in 1986 in NSW with Barry Williams as president.
ASI still operates today and is responsible for several national activities, such as the publication of The Skeptic magazine and coordination of awards and the annual conventions. Today ASI is one of many formal and informal skeptical groups throughout Australia that fall under the general umbrella title of "Australian Skeptics". Over time, other branches around Australia became incorporated including Australian Skeptics Inc, Skeptics Incorporated, Hunter Skeptics Incorporated, Canberra Skeptics and Borderline Skeptics Inc. ASI is the local group in NSW.
In 1995 the Australian Skeptics received a sizeable bequest from the estate of Stanley David Whalley. With these funds the organisation established the "Australian Skeptics Science and Education Foundation", tasked to expose "irrational activities and pseudoscience and to encourage critical thinking and the scientific view". This foundation now funds the "Thornett award for promotion of reason", known affectionately as "the Fred", named after the late Fred Thornett, an influential figure in the skeptical movement in Tasmania and nationally. "The Fred" is a $1000 prize given by ASI for significant contribution to educating or informing the public regarding issues of science and reason. The bequest also allowed for the introduction of a paid position, that of executive officer. This position is answerable to the ASI committee, and traditionally manages accounts, queries from the public and media, editing The Skeptic, and various sundry tasks. Barry Williams was executive officer from 1995 to 2009, followed by Karen Stollznow and Tim Mendham from 2009 to the present.
In 1989 at a national committee meeting the aims of Australian Skeptics were updated and drafted as follows:
- To investigate claims of pseudoscientific, paranormal and similarly anomalous phenomena from a responsible, scientific point of view.
- To publicise the results of these investigations and, where appropriate, to draw attention to the possibility of natural and ordinary explanations of such phenomena.
- To accept explanations and hypotheses about paranormal occurrences only after good evidence has been adduced, which directly or indirectly supports such hypotheses.
- To encourage Australians and the Australian news media to adopt a critical attitude towards paranormal claims and to understand that to introduce or to entertain a hypothesis does not constitute confirmation or proof of that hypothesis.
- To stimulate inquiry and the quest for truth, wherever it leads.
Awards and prizes
Thornett Award for the Promotion of Reason
The Thornett Award for the Promotion of Reason, affectionately known as "The Fred", is named after Fred Thornett, a noted member of Australian Skeptics from Tasmania who died in April 2009. The Fred award includes a $2000 cash prize that is given to the recipient or to a charity or cause of their choice. It is awarded annually to a member of the public or a public figure who has made a significant contribution to educating or informing the public regarding issues of science and reason.| Year | Winner | Reason |
| 2025 | Robyn Williams | "'Robyn is a justifiably famous national living icon, and his dedication to science, reason and truth over the years makes him a highly worthy winner.'" |
| 2024 | Dr Nikki Milne | |
| 2023 | Nathan Eggins | |
| 2021 | Prof Kristine Macartney, NCIRS | |
| 2020 | Dr Vyom Sharma | GP and magician, who has maintained his cool while imparting information that is both accurate and understandable when bringing his medical and scientific expertise to bear on COVID-19, despite what has been a hazardous road full of pseudoscientific pitfalls. |
| 2019 | Guy Nolch | Former publisher of the magazine Australasian Science which ceased publication in 2019. |
| 2018 | Ian Musgrave | For being a long-standing and effective science communicator in the area of pharmacology and providing a voice of reason in challenging "chem-phobia". |
| 2017 | John Cunningham | In recognition of his continued and authoritative exposure of chiropractic misconduct and anti-vaccination misrepresentation. |
| 2016 | Jill Hennessy MP | For courageously facing down those who misrepresent and mislead the public in their promotion of dodgy medical claims and practices. |
| 2015 | Catherine & Greg Hughes "Light for Riley" | Continuing the fight against vaccine preventable diseases after the death of their son Riley from pertussis. |
| 2014 | Northern Rivers Vaccination Supporters | A grassroots pro-vaccination group in a northern NSW region which has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country. |
| 2013 | Sonya Pemberton | For her documentary Jabbed, a dramatic presentation on the impact of delaying or refusing immunisation. |
| 2012 | Adam vanLangenberg | For his work in founding McKinnon Secondary College in Melbourne’s skeptical club. |
| 2011 | Ken Harvey | For taking great personal risks in exposing pseudomedicine claims, including his much publicised stoush with the SensaSlim company. |
| 2010 | Wendy Wilkinson and Ken McLeod | For their relentless campaign to ensure that the Australian Vaccination Network's activities are brought into the light of official scrutiny, and their subsequent success in this campaign. The prize in 2010 was doubled. |
| 2009 | Toni and David McCaffery | For their unstinting and extremely brave efforts on behalf of children in the face of the anti-vaccination movement. |
Skeptic of the Year
The Skeptic of the Year award is given annually to someone associated with the skeptical community who has been particularly active over the previous year. ASI coordinates the prize, and the final decision is voted on by representatives from the various Australian Skeptics groups.| Year | Winner |
| 2023 | Paul Gallagher |
| 2020 | Mandy-Lee Noble |
| 2017 | Christine Bayne |
| 2016 | Mal Vickers and Ken Harvey |
| 2014 | Peter Tierney |
| 2013 | Simon Chapman |
| 2012 | Friends of Science in Medicine |
| 2011 | Loretta Marron |
| 2010 | Stop the AVN |
| 2007 | Loretta Marron |
| 2006 | Karl Kruszelnicki |
| 2004 | Lynne Kelly |
| 2002 | Paul Willis |
| 2000 | John Dwyer |
| 1999 | Cheryl Freeman |
| 1998 | Mike Archer |
| 1997 | Peter Doherty |
| 1996 | Derek Freeman |