Barrie Cassidy’s message to viewers in final Insiders program

ABC host Barrie Cassidy has signed off as Insiders host after 18 years in a touching finale that paid tribute to one of the show’s much-loved commentators.

ABC host Barrie Cassidy has signed off as Insiders host after 18 years.

Cassidy’s final show featured a touching tribute to one of the show’s much-loved commentators, respected journalist Matt Price.

Cassidy and his panellists all wore purple in honour of Price, a sketch writer for The Australian.

Barrie Cassidy on his final Insiders program.

Price died in 2007 at the age of 46 after being diagnosed with brain tumours.

Cassidy paid tribute to Price, describing him as “a wonderful journo”, and Michael Gordon, the esteemed Fairfax journalist who died in 2018.

The ABC host described the finale’s panellists as “the three originals from 2001” — Malcolm Farr, political editor at news.com.au, Karen Middleton, of the Saturday Paper, and The Courier-Mail’s Dennis Atkins.

Barrie Cassidy paid tribute to respected journalist Matt Price.

“I should kick off by explaining the purple,” Cassidy said. “We’ve had some wonderful panellists over the years.

“We lost a couple, Mick Gordon and we lost Matt Price, who was one of our longest-serving panellists.

“And Matt loved the purple and he loved the Dockers, which kind of explains the purple.”

Atkins also paid tribute to Price, saying he had never known a journalist “so universally loved by his peers and also the politicians he wrote about”.

Labor Deputy Leader @RichardMarlesMP presents @barriecassidy with "a unique, one of a kind Barrie Cassidy snow dome".#auspol #Insiders pic.twitter.com/zhy8N5xVtp

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) June 8, 2019

For his final interview, Cassidy had deputy Labor leader Richard Marles in the hot seat.

Mr Marles, known for his kitchsy collection of 400 snow domes, presented Cassidy with a “unique one of a kind Barrie Cassidy snow dome”, much to the host’s amusement.

The custom-made dome showed a figurine resembling Cassidy sitting in his interview chair.

“For those of us who are on the inside, this is the interview of the week,” Marles told Cassidy.

“And the person who has sat in this chair changes week on week and from party to party.

“But the person who has been sitting in that chair ofr the last 18 years has been a constant and that’s been you, Barrie.

“It’s been an enormous contribution to our public debate and it’s been an enormous contribution to our nation.”

This was so brilliant. Well done @mpbowers and all 👏🏼👏🏽 A tremendous Insiders farewell and a powerful tribute to @barriecassidy’s contributions to political debate in Australia #respect #Insiders #brill https://t.co/ZbgRx3YBs1

— Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea (@MVEG001) June 9, 2019

The program feautred a recap of the show’s funniest moments over the years and ended with a funny anecdote from Cassidy that referenced Tinder before his final emotional message.

“The night after Bob Hawke died, I went to the John Curtin hotel in Melbourne for old time’s sake.

“I ran into this young bloke who said to me ‘a few years ago I went on Tinder’.

“He found a post from a young woman who said she wanted to meet a bloke who watched Insiders, prefereably with a hangover.

“He got in touch with her, they watched Insiders and now they’re married.”

Cassidy said he wanted to thank his audience for their years of loyalty.

“Over the years, I’ve been pulled up in the streets so many times and received so many emails from people who essentially make the same point.

“They changed their routine, they changed the way they managed their Sunday mornings around Insiders. I loved hearing that along the journey.

“So my final message is that I am moving on but next week and into the future it will be the same team, the same coach, just a different captain so stay loyal because the people around me deserve that.”

Sky News host David Speers will take over hosting duties in 2020.

Annabel Crabb and Fran Kelly will split the Insiders hosting role for the remainder of 2019

Originally published as Barrie Cassidy’s message to viewers in final Insiders program