Barrie Cassidy

Barrie Cassidy
Born 4 March 1950 (aged 68)
Wangaratta, Victoria
Occupation Journalist
Employer Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Known for Political journalist, TV presenter and commentator
Spouse(s) Heather Ewart
Children 2
Website https://twitter.com/barriecassidy

Barrie Cassidy (born 4 March 1950) is an Australian political journalist, as well as a radio and television host and presenter and commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[1] He is the current host of the Sunday morning political commentary program Insiders.[2]

Life and career

Cassidy was born in Wangaratta, Victoria, on 4 March 1950, and grew up in the Victorian town of Chiltern, attending Rutherglen High School. He had four brothers and an elder sister, and grew up with a love of football and sports.

Starting his career as a cadet on the Albury Border Morning Mail in 1969,[1] he moved to the Shepparton News about a year later before being hired as a court reporter for the Melbourne Herald. Joining the ABC Network, he initially covered state politics. He moved to Canberra to become the ABC's federal political correspondent for radio and television in 1979.

In 1986, Cassidy was approached by the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, to become his personal press secretary. He remained in the job—which he has described as "the most rewarding and interesting period of my life"—until Paul Keating took over the leadership in 1991 following a challenge.[1]

Moving to Washington, Cassidy worked as a correspondent for The Australian before returning to Australia to host the Last Shout and Meet the Press programs on Network Ten.[3] Cassidy returned to the ABC to replace Paul Lyneham as host on The 7.30 Report,[4] before he and his wife, Heather Ewart, were sent to Brussels as European correspondents.[5]

In 2010, Cassidy wrote The Party Thieves: The Real Story of the 2010 Election (Melbourne University Press, October 2010, ISBN 978-0-522-85780-1), which one reviewer called "the standard text on precisely what happened in 2010."[6]

Cassidy has hosted the Sunday morning political discussion show Insiders since its inception in 2001.[3][7] He formerly hosted the sports panel show Offsiders, but he stepped down from this role to write The Party Thieves, and at the end of the 2013 season left the program entirely. He has also hosted the morning show ABC News Breakfast.

Cassidy appeared as himself in the first episode of the 1998 Australia television series The Games. He has a keen interest in horseracing, and is a devout fan of Collingwood in the Australian Football League. Cassidy is also a keen jogger, running almost every day. [8]

Political views

Cassidy worked as Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke's press secretary from 1986 to 1991.[1] In 2015, he welcomed the replacement of Tony Abbott as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party by the less conservative Malcolm Turnbull.[9][10] After a speech in which former Prime Minister Abbott urged caution on asylum seeker policy to European leaders, Cassidy described Abbott's creed as "a fundamental rejection of negotiation and compromise, and a refusal to allow compassion to get in the way of a nation's self-interest."[11]

Cassidy described the arrival of Turnbull in office as "a new and positive era".[10] He describes Abbott's subsequent policy disagreements with Turnbull as "vindictive".[12] In June 2017, Cassidy blamed the Turnbull Government's poor performance in the polls on Tony Abbott and his supporters, telling Insiders Extra: "The Liberal Party is in a world of pain right now, and it's not Pyne's fault, and it's not Turnbull's either. It's the fault of an ideologically obsessed, uncompromising and destructive conservative right wing" [...] Tony Abbott is running amok," [13] When conservative Peter Dutton challenged Turnbull in August 2018, Cassidy denounced the move and supported the canditure of Julie Bishop over the more conservative Dutton and Scott Morrison once Turnbull had resigned.[14]

Cassidy advocated against the election of Republican Donald Trump in the United States presidential election, 2016 and dismissed his chances of election.[15][16] When US voters went to the polls, Cassidy tweeted: "Trump cannot win. The nightmare is over."[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 O'Connor, Shaunagh (25 March 2006). "Barrie Cassidy, political journalist". Sunday Times. p. 39.
  2. ↑ "About Us". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2017-10-22.
  3. 1 2 Kent, Melissa (17 July 2003). "Chatalong Cassidy". The West Australian.
  4. ↑ Conway, Andrew (26 December 1995). "Channelling". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 2.
  5. ↑ Johnston, Tony (14 July 2002). "Bringing politics home". Herald Sun.
  6. ↑ Tony Wright (20 November 2010). "Making sense of election madness". The Age.
  7. ↑ Overington, Caroline (15 July 2001). "Host with the most to lose". The Age. p. 11.
  8. ↑ Blackburn, Nick (14 May 2006). "The all-rounder of Sunday mornings". The Courier-Mail. p. 12.
  9. ↑ If leadership coups were the problem, why have things improved? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Abc.net.au (2015-11-27). Retrieved on 2017-09-10.
  10. 1 2 Welcome to the new, positive era of Australian politics. No really - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Abc.net.au (2015-11-20). Retrieved on 2017-09-10.
  11. ↑ Tony Abbott's ideology laid bare: no compromise, just fight, fight, fight - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Abc.net.au (2015-10-30). Retrieved on 2017-09-10.
  12. ↑ Tony Abbott's self-indulgent and damaging farewell radio tour - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Abc.net.au (2015-10-02). Retrieved on 2017-09-10.
  13. ↑ Abbott causing Liberals a world of pain: Cassidy; Insiders Extra; www.abc.net.au; 30 June 2017
  14. ↑ ‘’Insiders’’, ABC TV, Sunday August 26
  15. 1 2 MPs slam ABC's US election coverage as biased against Trump; The Australian; 14 November 2016
  16. ↑ ''Insiders'': 13 November 2016. Abc.net.au (2016-11-13). Retrieved on 2017-09-10.
Media offices
Preceded by
Program started		 ABC News Breakfast
Co-host with Virginia Trioli
3 November 2008 – January 2009		 Succeeded by
Joe O'Brien
Preceded by
Program started		 Insiders
Host
2001 – present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Program started		 Offsiders
Host
2005–2013		 Succeeded by
Gerard Whateley
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