Batt was born in Cardiff, Wales, and arrived in Australia in 1910. He initially worked in a range of occupations, including selling rural land near Cabramatta in 1919 and mining for opals in the mid-twenties. In 1923, his father William Batt advertised anxiously to find Batt's whereabouts after he left Cabramatta.

From 1930, Batt's writings began to appear in a range of publications, including Aussie, The Labor Daily, Country Life, The Sun, Yesterday and Most of Today, Daily News, Woman, The Australian Woman's Weekly. In July 1934, he was responsible for the new Australian monthly Home Wisdom.

During the thirties, Batt also edited the progressive in-house magazine of the Pakie's Club, a café on the second floor of 219 Elizabeth Street that was a centre for bohemians, artists and intellectuals, operating from 1929 until the sixties. He was an active member of the Society of Australian Authors, including serving as its publicity officer.

Batt was actively involved in establishing a range of publishing and other companies:

1934: Amalgamated Specialities Ltd, sales organisations systems, with John G. Graham, John Ramshaw, Theo. Cox, William Ellerston, Hartmut ('Hottie') Lahm and Rupert M. Bloxham. (Cox is a newspaper compositor who co-owned the Cumberland Mercury from about 1890. Lahm is a commercial artist and cartoonist)

1935: Enterprise Publicity Service Ltd, advertising agents and publishers (5 Hunter Street, Sydney), established with James N. MacMahon, William P. Black, Archibald H. Faulkner, Sidney G. MacDonell, Percy James and Frank Holmes. The first directors were Batt, Black and Holmes, and Batt and Harry H. Turner proprietors. (Black was also a proprietor of Black & Gordon publishing.)

1936: Fleetway Press, printers and publishers, established with Lindsay Clinch, Lindsay Craig and Norman E. Kessell (1a Percival St, Petersham). Cyril E. Anderson became the owner in April 1936. (Clinch was an editor at the Sun and Mirror newspapers.)

1937: Beauty Publishing Co., magazine publishers (54 Young Street, Sydney), established with Walter B. Harvie. (The previous year, Harvie was arrested for running illegal gambling. In 1939, he established a company for fabric and textile manufacturing, Fabric Proofers Pty. Ltd.)

1937: Youth Publications Ltd, newspaper publishers, with Lloyd Ross, Sydney Nicholls, Paul Moline, Francis A. Worth, Maxwell Glashen and Reginald E. Murphy. Initial directors were Batt, Ross, Nicholls, Moline, Worth, Jeffrey T. Fitzgerald and William G. Coughlan. (This company's paper Young Australia was claimed to associated with the communist party.)

1938: Film News Pty Ltd, film news, with Clement Wales. The first directors were Wales and William Sheppard.

1940: Pertinent Publishing Company, magazine publishing (75 Pitt Street, Sydney), as sole proprietor.

Batt launched his own magazine Pertinent in July 1940 as a 'medium of expression for all who have something constructive, interesting, entertaining, and pertinent to say'. After a three month hiatus at the end of 1945 due to Batt's ill health, Pete Rowe acquired Pertinent and converted it to a smaller format in January 1946, until it was cancelled in May 1947.