By Riley Walter
Veteran journalist George Negus has died, aged 82.
Negus was a founding member of the 60 Minutes reporting team alongside Ray Martin, Ian Leslie and producer Gerald Stone. Negus was also the founding host of the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent.
George Negus, a founding member of the 60 Minutes reporting team, has died, aged 82.Credit: Simon Schluter
In a statement on Tuesday, Negus’ family said he had “passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones after a gracious decline from Alzheimer’s disease, all the while with his trademark smile”.
The Negus family said they had shared “beautiful times, laughter, and happiness together in recent times” despite the renowned journalist’s health issues.
“George told us endlessly that he never imagined having a family, so the part of his life we shared was everything to him, and always his priority. While we know he will be celebrated for his unique contribution to journalism, football, and the environment, he would also want to be remembered for the incredible family man he was,” said his partner, Kirsty Cockburn, and sons Ned and Serge on behalf of the Negus family.
“Indeed, we will remember him for those wonderful contributions to the world and the rich life experience he shaped for us.
“Many of you will have uplifting and distinct memories of him, regardless of whether you met him, but especially if you did.”
Negus started his journalism career writing for the Australian Financial Review and The Australian before later forming part of the founding 60 Minutes team. In 1992, Negus hosted the first episode of the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, where he worked until 1999.
In a tribute posted on social media, 60 Minutes said Negus was an “icon of journalism”, a “legendary broadcaster” and a “friend to many”.
Martin told Nine News television had been created “for someone like George Negus”.
“To see George in a war zone with his moustache bristling and his eyes flashing and the jacket over his shoulder with a war going on behind – that was Negus,” he said.
“It was made for George.”
Leslie, who worked with Negus on 60 Minutes for several years from its launch in 1979, said he was “fearless” during overseas postings.
“He thought he was indestructible,” Leslie said.
Leslie said it was an “absolute joy” to form the inaugural 60 Minutes team alongside Negus and Martin despite the pressure for the program to succeed.
“All I say is thank God we had George because we needed that strong character and that spark that the audience very quickly identified with,” Leslie said.
Leslie said the last time he, Negus, Martin and Stone got together before Stone’s passing in 2020, the quartet had a “furious argument about everything”, shared a beer and parted ways with their decades-long relationship strong as ever.
Jana Wendt, who also worked alongside Negus on 60 Minutes, said he was the “very image of a foreign correspondent”.
“Our boisterous, irrepressible colleague has left us the gift of his own unforgettable story,” she said.
Longtime 60 Minutes reporter and former Today Show co-host Liz Hayes told Nine News Negus was “larger than life”.
In one of Negus’ most famous interviews, he went head to head with then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1981, when he told the “Iron Lady” that Britons had labelled her “pig-headed”.
Thatcher peppered Negus with questions, asking who had made the comments, when they were made and where.
Margaret Thatcher being interviewed by George Negus in 1981.
“I’m sorry, it’s an expression I have never heard. Tell me who has said it to you, when and where,” Thatcher said.
With a grin, Thatcher concluded Negus “obviously cannot say who or where” the comments had come from.
“Isn’t this interesting? Even the tone of voice you’re using is changing from what you used earlier,” she said.
In a 2013 interview, Negus told the ABC that not a month had passed without him being asked about the encounter.
“I thought for a moment if I wasn’t careful or got out of the place and out of the country quickly, I’d end up in the Tower of London,” Negus said.
“But it also meant I got seats and tables at restaurants in London for a while that I never thought I’d get.”
Negus was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 for his service to the media as a journalist and television presenter, and to conservation and the environment. In 2021, he received a Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.
The Project presenter and co-host of ABC Radio National’s Global Roaming, Hamish Macdonald, said Negus took him under his wing when he joined The Negus Project in 2011 and the pair had developed a close personal bond.
“It was a professional relationship that became a very genuine and important friendship,” Macdonald said.
“At one point, I think I was assigned the task of trying to teach him how to use Twitter which didn’t go down very well, but our friendship survived.”
Macdonald said Negus had maintained his “wonderful cheeriness” even through his health battle.
“I feel sad today but I feel very lucky to have known George Negus and to have learned something from him.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined the wave of tributes for Negus on Tuesday afternoon, remembering him as a “giant of Australian journalism”.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist and friend Peter FitzSimons said beneath Negus’ “twinkling eyes and world-class moustache of the blokey larrikin was a great journalist and storyteller with a very strong intellect”.
Football Australia said Negus, a former Soccer Australia board member, was a “friend of football” and a “titan of journalism”.
The Negus family suggested mourners “kick a football, enjoy a hearty bowl of pasta, plan your next adventure to somewhere intriguing or ask a curious question you think needs answering” to connect with memories of Negus.
“Even better, do all of those things and do them together with people you love,” it said.
“That’s what he would have done.”
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