Two publishing industry figures have questioned Gerard Henderson's ability to judge the prime minister's literary award for non-fiction, arguing that the Sydney Institute director had a "history of incessant and obsessive criticism of leading Australian writers and commentators with whom he disagrees politically".



The director of Schwartz Media, Morry Schwartz, and Black Inc publisher Chris Feik said Henderson's appointment as chairman of the non-fiction award "seriously damaged" the award's integrity.

The pair said Henderson's political targets included many of Australia's leading writers, commentators, historians and journalists.

"He is an ideological warrior whose regular targets include David Marr, Peter FitzSimons, Robert Manne, Elizabeth Farrelly, Margaret Simons, Malcolm Fraser, Virginia Trioli, Mungo MacCallum, Waleed Aly, Guy Rundle, Laura Tingle, Jonathan Green, Fran Kelly, Malcolm Farr, Mark Latham, Paul Bongiorno, Phillip Adams, Tim Flannery, Tim Soutphommasane, Nick Dyrenfurth and Hugh White," they said.

"If any of these writers were to submit a book for the 2014 prime minister’s non-fiction literary prize, Henderson’s history of campaigning against them means they could have no confidence of receiving an unprejudiced reading."

Guardian Australia has sought a response from Henderson, who writes a weekly "Media Watch Dog" blog and is a columnist with News Corp.

An $80,000 prize is given to the winner of each category in the prime minister's literary awards and each shortlisted title wins $5,000. Three judging panels consider the entries and recommend winners and shortlists for each category, with the prime minister making the final decision.

Henderson will chair the non-fiction and history panel, which includes four other members: the former Liberal MP and widely published writer Peter Coleman, the Griffith University emeritus professor Ross Fitzgerald, the writer Ida Lichter, and the historian Ann Moyal.

Schwartz and Feik said their concerns about the politicisation of the award should be addressed with transparency about the entries submitted.

"Black Inc will publish a list of all books it enters for the prize," the pair said. "As a sign of good faith, the award should publish a list of all entries received so that readers can see what was submitted and rejected, as well as what was shortlisted. We urge this course of action, which costs nothing and increases the accountability of the nation¹s richest literary prizes."

Tony Abbott and the arts minister, George Brandis, said last month that the 15 members of the three judging panels had "experience, expertise and commitment to Australian literature across a wide range of genres".



Brandis said the awards were created by the Labor government in 2008 but the judging panels previously lacked members with "conservative or even liberal democratic" views.

He told a Senate estimates committee hearing last week he was trying to ensure diversity of opinion among panels by including "a couple of people who were not of the left".

"The chair of the non-fiction and history panel, Gerard Henderson, is a very well-known author and commentator whose views I think would be regarded, uncontroversially, as conservative," Brandis said.

"The chair of the fiction and poetry panel is Ms Louise Adler, a person who proudly and accurately describes herself as a woman of the left."