Debbie Whitmont - The Man Who Couldn't Wait

Name: Debbie Whitmont - The Man Who Couldn't Wait
Start: 2026-05-01T18:30:00+10:00
End: 2026-05-01T18:30:00+10:00
Location: Upstairs at Gleebooks

About

6pm for 6:30pm Friday 1 May

Debbie Whitmont in conversation with David Marr

The true story of Australia's first political assassination

Could the conviction of Vietnamese refugee Phuong Ngo for the 1994 assassination of Cabramatta MP John Newman be one of Australia's greatest miscarriages of justice?

'I think that every now and again our wonderful system cocks up, and this was one of those times.' Former ALP Senator Graham Richardson

Cabramatta was embroiled in a heroin epidemic, gang wars and demands to deport Vietnamese gangsters when local MP John Newman was gunned down in the driveway of his home.

Newman's murder was billed as Australia's first political assassination and the killer was identified within hours as the politically ambitious Vietnamese refugee and Deputy Mayor, Phuong Ngo.

Ngo was found guilty of killing Newman to take his seat in parliament and sentenced to die in jail. But there have always been questions about his conviction.

Why did it take seven years and three trials to find Phuong Ngo guilty? Why were the names of so many witnesses and so much evidence kept secret? How could Ngo be the murder mastermind when both of the men accused of shooting Newman were acquitted? Why is the killer still at large? And why do some of the most senior politicians of the day say they never believed Phuong Ngo was guilty?

For the first time, Phuong Ngo tells his story, and The Man Who Couldn't Wait unpicks one of the country's longest and most secretive investigations.

Debbie Whitmont is a journalist and lawyer, a former Middle East Correspondent and reporter for the ABC's Four Corners program for more than two decades. She has won two Walkley Awards and three Human Rights Commission TV Awards.

David Marr has written for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian and The Monthly, and has served as editor of The National Times, reporter for Four Corners and presenter of ABC TV's Media Watch. His books include Patrick White: A Life, The High Price of Heaven, Dark Victory (with Marian Wilkinson), Panic and six bestselling Quarterly Essays. His most recent book is My Country. David is the recipient of four Walkley awards for journalism, an Honorary Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities and received Honorary Doctorates from Newcastle and Sydney Universities. He currently hosts Late Night Live on ABC Radio National.