Why I’ve Decided to Retire from Presenting Elections Plus a few words of thanks

Those watching News Breakfast this morning saw me announce that this year’s Federal election will be my last as an on-air analyst as part of ABC election coverages.

The ABC has put out a press release about my decision, but this post is a view from my perspective of my long career covering elections, a few people who I have to thank, and a few memories and anecdotes.

And I’ve added a few pictures from the past.

(Below: 2013 Federal election, the first from studio rather than the tally room)

(Below: In action, 2016 Federal election, coverage from ABC Foyer, Ultimo)

In making my decision to retire, I can’t help but look back to 1989 when I took the first steps on a road that leads to where I am today.

I’d decided to leave my job in the computer industry and was scanning newspaper job ads looking for something interesting. There I spotted an ad for a six-month position as an “Election Researcher” with the ABC. That was my job I decided. I could always do something else afterwards.

There were 150 applicants and I was the one chosen, starting work in August 1989. I have a sense of amazement at how one decision 36 years ago has led me to work on more than 90 Australian elections including 13 Federal elections. Then there are dozens of by-elections, several rounds of local elections, and work covering overseas elections in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada.

There are many people who have played an important role in my unexpected career. Foremost is former ABC Executive Producer, the late Ian Carroll, who made the original decision to hire me despite no background in the media. It was Ian who after the 1990 Federal election, arranged for me to stay at the ABC and work on the development of a new election computer system.

(Below: Ian Carroll 1996)

It is a computer system that through several re-writes and enhancements remains the bedrock of the ABC’s television election coverage today. And it has been extended to provide the most comprehensive on-line election results service of any media outlet.

There are so many who’ve helped and backed me in my career. So many have trusted my knowledge, analytical skills and judgment on election night. And many who have backed me on ideas for the internet, and in developing my results touch screen. It is impossible to name them all.

But I will mention two who few will have heard of. The late Jenny McGrath used to bring up my on-air graphics in the early days before the development of my touch screen and was important to making me look good on camera. There’s also Arthur Gray, a senior engineer who’d written much of the ABC’s old computer system. It was Arthur who taught me about the technical aspects of covering elections and explained television technology to me. This was before digital televisions and before the internet.

I thank those who backed me on my first steps into election coverage. In particular Kerry O’Brien, the late Andrew Olle and Paul Lyneham. On the night of the 1990 election, it was they who insisted to ABC management that I should be re-employed.

There’s also Quentin Dempster who first put me on camera in 1991. I was incredibly nervous for that first interview, about newly released NSW electoral boundaries. In those low-tech television days, I was given a pointer to use on an electoral map pinned to an office divider. I was so nervous my hand was shaking, which led to my first tip in television. The Director came down and said that if I leant the pointer on the map, my hand wouldn’t shake. The rest is history.

My first on camera election was the 1991 NSW election at which the Greiner government came perilously close to defeat. My first on-camera Federal election coverage was the 1993 election when Paul Keating’s Labor government was re-elected. It was the first Federal election to use the computer system I’d helped to design. That we were confident early that the government was on track for re-election caused some consternation amongst ABC management. (Shots below)

I used to say election night was like bungee jumping for intellectuals. You leap into the election night void hoping the thin stream of data from the Electoral Commission doesn’t snap. Over the years the robustness and quantity of data from Commissions has grown, but election night still provides that adrenalin rush.

(Below: 1996 Victorian election with two future Premiers)

But today in making the decision to retire, I feel like an aging footballer. The rush of the contest eventually pales against an aging body and the threat of another year’s pre-season training. Many play a season too many, a mistake I don’t intend to make.

My decision to retire was made after the 2022 election. It was a decision I advised to the head of ABC News of at the time and re-confirmed in mid-2024. I will turn 65 on 2 March this year and will be 68 by the time of the next Federal election. This year is the time to step back from presenting.

Those few hours on election night are only the tip of my work load each year. Most of my work is the hard grunt of preparation. That work has become more public in the last fifteen years with the development of the ABC’s election website. The material that I once prepared as background for presenters is these days publicly available. The basic structure and presentation of the website is one I first designed 25 years ago.

(Below: 2016 Federal election, just some of the technology that brings election night to viewers)

And elections have become more complex. The old days when all seats were contests between Labor and the Coalition are over. More people are voting pre-poll meaning the bulk of results are coming in later in the evening, and pre-poll votes don’t always reflect on the day votes or have a regular pattern from election to election.

After the Federal election I will take a period of long service leave before returning to pass on my knowledge of data setup and website preparation to a new generation. I feel a loyalty to the ABC for the punt they took on me many years ago. Much of my work in preparing for elections is second nature to me but needs to be documented for the future. I want to insure I leave an institutional legacy at the ABC.

Covering elections for the last 36 years has been a wonderful and at time exhilarating experience. But each passing year has also made it a more exhausting experience. It is time to move on.

(Below: With Maxine McKew at the 1998 Queensland election. One of my toughest elections as two-party politics came undone in the face of One Nation’s first burst on the scene.)

(Below: With Lisa Millar, Queensland 1998 again)

(Below: 2019 Federal election – another day wasted on promos shots)

(Below: In rehearsal for the 2016 election with Chris Uhlmann. Can they make this desk any bigger?)

(Below: Old school tally board, Tasmania 1992)

(Below: Graduation day from my Economics degree, early 1989. Six months later I was at the ABC)

(An old promo shot for the Election Chaser)