Statement on Cancellation of Chris Hedges’ confirmed appearance at the National Press Club of Australia

AFOPA is responding to the Statement published on 4 October 2025 by the National Press Club of Australia ( NPC) in relation to their cancellation of Chris Hedges’ confirmed appearance at the National Press Club on 20 October 2025. 

The National Press Club Statement declares that Chris Hedges’ appearance was “ tentatively agreed to”. This is untrue. AFOPA received  written confirmation from the NPC’s Chief Executive on 8 September 2025 as follows:

“I write to confirm arrangements for Chris Hedges to appear at the National Press Club of Australia on 20 October 2025”. 

Furthermore, in an email on 28 September 2025 to AFOPA’s Chairperson in relation to the cancellation, the NPC’s Chief Executive wrote:  “For clarity I am withdrawing our confirmation”.

For the National Press Club to therefore state that Chris Hedges’ appearance was “tentatively agreed to” is as astonishing as it is false. Perhaps the National Press Club needs to include a disclaimer in its written confirmations that a confirmed booking is actually not a confirmed booking! 

The National Press Club’s Statement that the “proposed address was never published on our website” is also untrue. Chris Hedges’ appearance was on the Australia Press Club website( with photo and price of ticket - $95) on 8 September 2025, published by “NPC Coordinator”, at approximately 4pm. 

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former foreign correspondent for the New York Times, the author of 16 books. He spent seven years in the Middle East, much of that time in Gaza. He has taught at the Universities of Columbia, New York and Princeton. He is currently finalising a book based on the accounts of survivors of the Gaza genocide. Amid his busy schedule he had prepared his  NPC presentation and provided a summary to the NPC as requested by them.

AFOPA urges the President and Board of the National Press Club to reconsider their cancellation of Chris Hedges’ appearance on 20 October and to honour the commitment they made.