Barrie Cassidy

Barrie Cassidy (born 4 March 1950, Wangaratta, Victoria) is a veteran Australian political journalist.

Cassidy was born in Wangaratta and grew up in the Victorian town of Chiltern. Starting his career as a cadet on the "Albury Border Morning Mail" in 1968, 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.

Moving to Washington, Cassidy worked as a correspondent for "The Australian", owned by Rupert Murdoch. He returned to Australia, where he hosted a program on Network Ten called "The Last Shout". Then it was back to the ABC - this time with "The 7.30 Report" - before he and his wife, Heather Ewart, were sent to Brussels as European correspondents.

Cassidy currently hosts the Sunday morning political discussion show "Insiders", and the sports panel show "Offsiders". 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.

He and Ewart have a son and a daughter.

References

* [http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:tGm0chb9MlUJ:www.chilternbusinessjournal.com.au/cassidy/index.htm+barrie+cassidy+chiltern&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=au&lr=lang_en Speech delivered by Cassidy and reported in the Chiltern Business Journal, March 16, 2007] - broken link