Journalist and television presenter George Negus has been hailed as a "giant of Australian journalism" following his death at the age of 82.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered the heartfelt condolences of the nation to Mr Negus' family, in a statement posted on social media on Tuesday.
"George Negus was a giant of Australian journalism," the PM said.
"His courage, curiosity and integrity gave millions of Australians a sense of the big issues on 60 Minutes, and a window to the world through Foreign Correspondent.
"George sought and served the truth with steely determination and a twinkle in his eye, and along the way, he made even the smallest TV screen feel that much bigger."
The groundbreaking correspondent was a household name in Australia, known for his moustache, a twinkle in his eye, and direct interviewing style.
He was the first host of Foreign Correspondent on the ABC and one of the founding members of the 60 Minutes reporting team on the Nine Network alongside Ray Martin and Ian Leslie.
"He was an extraordinary character, an extraordinary journalist, and what you saw on television is what he was," Ray Martin told ABC News 24.
"There was nothing fake about George."
Martin described his longtime friend as an extraordinary, larger than life character who deserved all the fame that came his way.
"He was a very good journalist, very ethical and a very good storyteller, but an even better bloke," he said.
The third member of the founding 60 minutes trio, Ian Leslie, said the death of his former colleague and friend was like losing family.
"I have always taken the view that it was George's wit and outgoing character that earned 60 Minutes its early success," he said in an obituary published in the Nine papers.
Negus once famously veered off-script during an interview to ask Margaret Thatcher why people regarded her as "pig-headed".
But in an exchange still taught in journalism schools, the Iron Lady wanted to know who precisely had said this, and when and where.
That interview was the only time fellow journalist Derryn Hinch had ever seen Negus nonplussed, he said.
The pair were friends for decades, but the world of television journalism pitched them as rivals at various times.
"I thought that George Negus was one of the greatest television journalists Australia has ever seen, and George would agree with me," Hinch told radio station 3AW.
"George Negus was the best of men. Great company, curious, a good listener, an adventurer, a family man," said presenter Hugh Riminton.
The Negus family revealed in 2021 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
They have have asked for privacy but encouraged people to remember him by kicking a footy, eating a hearty bowl of pasta, planning an adventure, or asking a question that needs asking.
