Nicholas Charles Cater is a British-born Australian journalist and author who writes on culture and politics. He is a columnist for The Australian newspaper. Early life and education Cater was born in Billericay, Essex, and grew up in Hythe near Southampton. His parents were teachers. He graduated from the University of Exeter with an honours degree in sociology in 1980 and drove laundry vans for a year before joining the BBC as a trainee studio manager. Career He worked as a producer in the London bureau of Australia's Channel Seven from 1983 to 1986 before rejoining the BBC as a journalist. He produced and directed the documentary Bridge Builders comparing the construction of the Tyne and Sydney Harbour Bridges. Cater emigrated to Australia in July 1989, where he joined News Limited. He worked on The Advertiser in Adelaide and became group Asia correspondent in 1993, where he was best known for tracking down the paedophile Robert 'Dolly' Dunn, reported on the front page of The Daily Telegraph under the headline "Hello Dolly" on 17 April 1996. Cater worked in senior editorial roles at The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph in Sydney before joining The Australian in 2004. He was appointed editor of The Weekend Australian in 2007. Cater left The Australian in September 2013, but continued to write a weekly column for it. In 2014, Cater was appointed executive director of the Menzies Research Centre. where he was instrumental in founding the Robert Menzies Institute a library, exhibition and research institute dedicated to the legacy of former prime minister Sir Robert Menzies, housed in the heritage Quad building on the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus. He co-curated of the Institute's permanent exhibition with Dr David Kemp. Cater is a regular commentator on Sky News Australia, he hosts the weekly show Battleground on Alan Jones's ADH TV and co-hosts the weekly podcast The Six O'Clock Swill with Tim Blair. Defamation case In 2015, the Wagner family, of Toowoomba, Queensland, sued him for defamation over comments he made in broadcasts and in print about the cause of the floods in that town in 2011, in which 12 people died. Justice Peter Flanagan dismissed the complaints against Cater relating to comments he made on radio, however The Spectator (Australia) settled out of court over comments Cater made in an article. In September 2019 a jury found that Cater had defamed the Wagners