Ray Hadley has joined the call to hold Order of Australia recipient Bettina Ardnt to account over her defence of convicted paedophile Nicolaas Bester.

Ray, an ambassador for child protection organisation Bravehearts, says he sympathises with the Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy, who on Wednesday petitioned the Governor-General to have Arndt’s honour stripped.

In 2018, Ardnt interviewed Bester, a teacher who was jailed in 2011 for raping his 15-year-old student. In the video, she voices concern about girls “exploiting their seductive power to ruin the lives of men”.

“I don’t know how many other people have been honoured over the years for defending pedophiles, but I don’t think it would be many,” Ray commented.

He acknowledged Arndt’s gender equity activism, saying she’s done “a lot of good work over a long, long period of time,” but says her comments on the Bester case were a “gross error of judgement”.

“In this particular case, Bettina Arndt is defending the indefensible, and for that, she should be held to account.”

Ray has spent his entire career exposing paedophilia and says he won’t stop any time soon.

“I will not stand by and be silent when such creatures exist on the Earth.”

Click PLAY below to hear Ray’s comments in full