Remembering John Tingle, an 'accidental politician', following his death aged 90

Journalist turned politician John Tingle began his retirement years in Wauchope in NSW's Mid North Coast with no intention of "making plans".

"All the interesting things that have happened to me have happened by accident," he told the Port Macquarie News in 2019.

Those "interesting things" included being a radio and television presenter and a highly-respected political and press gallery journalist, who reported during the Menzies era and covered such high-profile stories as the split of the Labor Party and the defection to Australia of Soviet spies Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov.

He was also a community advocate and what he called an "accidental politician".

The tributes that have followed his death in Wauchope, announced on Saturday (August 6) by his daughter and political journalist Laura Tingle, have touched on his significant contribution to all these areas of public life.

In her tributes to her father, Ms Tingle said he was her "greatest urger-on" and that he was proud she had followed him into journalism.

"He taught me at 15 what was the most important question to ask, cheered me on to tackle the small and mean people in politics, and to not be afraid to celebrate the transformative people and moments it sometimes give us," she said.

She also paid tribute to the people of Wauchope.

Mr Tingle's leadership of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party was the result of a "joke" that quickly snowballed.

"I was having lunch with the Police Minister Ted Pickering and he was going to introduce what I thought were quite unreasonable gun laws," he recalled in his 2019 interview.

"I told him that if he did that, the shooters would probably go political, and he just laughed."

He decided to go ahead with setting up a party in 1992 and "by the end of the week we had 1000 members."

That led to 11 years as an Upper House MP, before poor health prompted his retirement.

Mr Tingle rated his greatest political achievements as getting six pieces of legislation through, including the Home Invasion Bill which gives occupants of a house a parliament-guaranteed right of self-defence.

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But he was frank in his description of parliament as "bloody hard work".

"I had 46 years and three days in the media before this and I really thought I knew parliament because I had covered it ... but it's been more than a steep learning curve, it's been a steep, vertical climb," he told the Port Macquarie News when he retired in 2006.

"It's been torturous at times."

The party he founded has released a statement in response to his death.

Mr Tingle often lamented the direction of both the Liberal and National parties at a state and federal level.

He said when he was reporting on events in Canberra, people were powerful and they looked for power to do things.

"Now everyone is scrambling over the carcass of a prime minister. Those people crave power for powers' sake. And that's when the community, as a whole, suffers."

He was high in praise however for state Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams.

"She has worked hard for it as has Melinda Pavey in Oxley who has been a very good minister in a difficult portfolio."

At the time of his comments, Mrs Williams was with the National Party and Ms Pavey was a NSW Minister.

Mr Tingle told ACM's Port Macquarie News that the biggest lesson he had learnt was humility.

"I was a very arrogant bastard when I started, you can be knocked back then be sought after and now I never expect to succeed."

He remained community focussed in his retirement, particularly as Chairman of the Hastings Regional Shooting Complex.

Mr Tingle enjoyed "putting Port Macquarie on the map" with the government but found political life frustrating.

"I live with a sense of frustration because you go in thinking you can do all sorts of things then realise (parliament) is a big, immovable machine," he said.

Mr Tingle was father to Peter, Sally and Laura.