The story begins with my being on leave. Barrie Cassidy, who was the original host and the man who really invented ABC’s Insiders, was at the time the European correspondent for the ABC based in Brussels. I had an inordinate amount of time up my sleeve because I’d worked on the Olympics for the Sydney Morning Herald and built up a lot of time owing in lieu. So I took three months off at the end of 2000 and I was travelling around Europe visiting various friends and acquaintances. And I called in to Brussels to say hello to Barrie and his wife, Heather Ewart.
Barrie told me that he was finishing up his posting with the ABC in Europe and that he was coming back to Australia to pitch a program idea to the powers that be at the ABC. It was to be a political program on a Sunday morning and it was to contain all sorts of things political. And he asked me: what would you put in it as a photographer who has spent a lot of his career photographing politicians?
