Insiders (Australian TV program)

Format

As a Sunday morning talk show, the format of the program usually starts with the show's host discussing political issues of the week and the weekend newspapers, followed by a long form interview of around 15 to 20 minutes with a current Australian political figure, usually an Australian politician. Following the interview in the first half hour, current political issues are discussed with a changing panel of three commentators/journalists of varying political perspectives. Similar in format to Sunday morning talk shows in the United States, Insiders analyses and discusses Australian politics with the use of a panel of political journalists and columnists and interviews with prominent politicians and commentators with a number of regular weekly segments, such as 'Talking Pictures'. The show ends with the panel members asked for their "final observation and predictions".

The program features a wide array of regular commentators from various Australian media outlets and think tanks. The show is part of the ABC's Sunday morning line-up, commencing with Insiders, and since 2006 has been followed by a similar panel format show Offsiders, a sports program initiated and initially hosted by Cassidy.

Background

First host: Barrie Cassidy (2001—2019)

The program first aired on 15 July 2001 on ABC TV, and was hosted by Barrie Cassidy for 18 years until his retirement in June 2019. The first guest interview was with Prime Minister John Howard.

"Insiders entered a very crowded Sunday morning political market in 2001. But our approach was to provide coverage with so many more elements, and to do it in a way that is informative but irreverent. And of course have a few laughs along the way. If you took politics too seriously you'd go mad," — founding host, Barrie Cassidy.

Fran Kelly hosted Insiders when Barrie Cassidy tooklong service leave, and Chris Uhlmann, prior to his move to the Nine Network, also hosted the show in Cassidy's absence.

The 2007 series included small changes to the format of the show: re-ordering the segments, commencing the program with the political interview, followed by 'Your Shout'. Paul Kelly's discussion (this segment was discontinued in 2010) was then used as a starting point for the panel discussion. 'Talking Pictures' continued to provide a break point within the panel discussions.

In 2011, the usual program format began with a brief monologue from Cassidy followed by a brief video summary of the major events of the preceding week. Cassidy then reviewed the Sunday papers with the studio panel before moving on to the studio guest. If the guest is present in the studio the interview is introduced by a short video clip relating to the first interview question. The interview usually lasts until midway through the hour and is followed by a video clip which concentrates on events surrounding a major news topic of the week. This was followed by a panel discussion between Cassidy and his studio guests. Cassidy introduced 'Talking Pictures' towards the end of the hour, which is followed by further panel discussion in the studio. The show usually wound up with Cassidy introducing amusing or otherwise interesting media clips followed by an observation or prediction from each panel member before Cassidy ended the show with a final media clip or two.

In March 2019, Cassidy announced he would be leaving Insiders after the 2019 Australian election and after eighteen years in the hosting chair. His last show was on 9 June 2019; regular fill-in presenters Fran Kelly and Annabel Crabb alternated hosting duties until the end of the year.

On 11 July 2021, Barrie Cassidy returned to the show as a guest on 'Talking Pictures' to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary.

Second host: David Speers (2020—)

In June 2019 David Speers was announced as Cassidy's replacement from 2020.

Since David Speers became host in 2020 the format has remained relatively consistent, with an opening edited video compilation that frames the weeks key events, opening remarks and discussion with the three panellists, a look at the Sunday newspaper stories followed by a political interview of around 15 to 20 minutes in duration. The discussion returns to the panellists for around 20 minutes then breaking to a prerecorded 'Talking Pictures' package (hosted by Mike Bowers with a weekly guest), then returns to the studio for closing comments and observations.

In June 2020, the program received criticism for having an all-white panel discussing the Black Lives Matter movement. An investigation by Junkee discovered that there seemingly had never been a person of colour on the panel in the show's history. Consequently, ABC journalist Bridget Brennan accepted an invitation to be on the following week's program, seemingly becoming the first non-white person to ever appear on the Insiders panel. Addressing the criticism, Speers admitted the previous week's edition of Insiders lacked an important perspective and that the program needed to do better in having more diverse insights into political debate.

In May 2023, it was announced that the show would relocate from the ABC's Melbourne studio to Canberra later in 2023. The first episode broadcast from Canberra was on 9 July 2023.

Regular segments

Talking Pictures

Presented by Mike Bowers, the **Talking Pictures **segment analyses political cartoons and photographs featured in the nation's newspapers, magazines and news websites from the previous week in around a four minute timeslot. Regularly appearing cartoonists and photographers have included Warren Brown, Bryan Dawe,Bill Leak, Geoff Pryor, Bruce Petty, Alan Moir, Peter Nicholson, Mark Knight, Jon Kudelka, Peter Hoysted, Matt Golding, Andrew Meares, David Pope, Amanda Copp, Paul Batey, Cathy Wilcox, Sean Leahy, Fiona Katauskas and Alex Ellinghausen. The segment is produced by Fiona Katauskas.

The Curve

Presented by Casey Briggs,** The Curve** started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic providing weekly analysis and information graphics of infection and hospitalisation rates. The segment has evolved into other subject areas including electoral polling analysis and the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum called The Crunch. Federal election polling analysis segments are titled as Australia Votes.

Matt Price Moment

The 'Matt Price Moment' is an annual award and is included in the final Insiders episode of each year with an edited shortlist, and a selected winner decided by the show's producers. It showcases humourous, oddball, quirky and lighthearted political moments from the previous 12 months, often highlighting politician gaffes or amusing event, speech or media interaction. The segment honours journalist and sketch writer Matt Price, a regular Insiders panellist who died in 2007.

Matt Price Moment Winners

• 2008
• 2009
• 2010 Bob Brown — Masterchef cooking tips
• 2011 Kevin Rudd — Appears on stage
• 2012 Bill Shorten — "My view is what the Prime Minister's view is." — interview with David Speers
• 2013 Tony Abbott — "Suppository of all wisdom."
• 2014 Tony Abbott — "Shirt front Mr Putin, you bet you are."
• 2015 Christopher Pyne — "I'm a fixer." — interview with David Speers.
• 2016 Richard Marles and Christopher Pyne — Pyne & Marles TV show intro
• 2017 Bob Katter — "People are entitled to their sexual proclivities, let there be a thousand blossoms bloom, as far as I am concerned, but I ain’t spending any time on it because in the meantime, every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland!"
• 2018 Pauline Hanson — Flip flop answer
• 2019 Simon Birmingham — Closed doors
• 2020 Daniel Andrews — "Platonic and intimate partners."
• 2021 David Honey (West Australian Liberal leader) — "Fight like a chi-chi-uana."
• 2023 Jane Hume — Mangled Winston Churchill quote
• 2024 Elizabeth Lee (ACT Liberal leader) — Flips middle finger
• 2025 Anthony Albanese goes into reverse gear "You have to deal with things as you get..."

Former segments

Your Shout

The Your Shout segment (which was dropped in 2010) gave a member or group of members of the public a chance to air a grievance or present opinions about topical political issues that concerned them, in a short, pre-recorded segment shown during the program. It appears that the program attempted to ensure that the members of the public selected from week to week represented a broad range of political opinion and were spread across different parts in Australia.

Poll of Polls

Presented by Andrew Catsaras, the Poll of Polls segment aggregated and reviewed political polling from the previous month. This segment commenced in February 2012, appearing during the last week of each month in 2012, moving to the first week of each month in 2013.

Video mashups

Up to 2022 the program's editor, Huw Parkinson, produced dozens of video mashups compositing the faces of political figures onto films and other pop culture footage. Parkinson's videos won him a Walkley Award for multimedia storytelling in 2015.

Theme music

The Insiders opening and closing theme music uses a track titled "Call It 95" by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, from the 1994 album Dis Is da Drum. The track includes the line "you're making us all feel very excited about being here".

Commentators and panellists

Regular panellists

Panellists who have appeared since February 2022

Former panellists

Episode listing

2024 season episode listing

2025 season episode listing

2026 season episode listing

References

References

1. (16 February 2006). "Beyond the boundary".
2. Groch, Sherryn. (14 November 2015). "How Barrie Cassidy, the ultimate Insider, charmed his way to number one".
3. "Insiders about and contact page".
4. (16 March 2019). "Barrie Cassidy to leave Insiders". TVTonight.
5. ABC News. (9 June 2019). "Insiders farewells Barrie Cassidy after 18 years (highlights package)".
6. (11 July 2021). "Video: Sunday July 11 Full Program, 2021".
7. (5 June 2019). "David Speers to host Insiders from 2020". TVTonight.
8. Sutton, Candace. (14 June 2020). "ABC's Insiders: Host forced to admit its failure to include Indigenous voices". news.com.au.
9. Scott, Rob. (12 June 2020). "ABC's 'Insiders' has not had a person of colour on its panel in at least a decade". Junkee.
10. Knox, David. (15 June 2020). ""Insiders does need to do better"". TV Tonight.
11. Meade, Amanda. (2023-05-04). "ABC's Insiders moving to Canberra after 21 years in Melbourne". [[The Guardian]].
12. "Insiders moves to Canberra, expanded role for David Speers".
13. (5 August 2018). "Talking Pictures with Bryan Dawe".
14. "Casey Briggs: Latest articles and reports".
15. (12 July 2020). "Video: The Curve (Coronavirus Covid-19)".
16. (4 December 2011). "Matt Price Moment 2011".
17. ABC News (Australia). (5 December 2010). "Matt Price Moment for 2010 (Bob Brown)".
18. ABC News (Australia). (4 December 2011). "Matt Price moment winner".
19. ABC News (Australia). (1 December 2013). "VIDEO: Matt Price moment awarded (2013)".
20. ABC News (Australia). (1 December 2013). "VIDEO: Matt Price moment awarded (2013)".
21. ABC News (Australia). (7 December 2014). "VIDEO: Matt Price moment awarded (2014)".
22. ABC News (Australia). (6 December 2015). "The Matt Price Moment 2015".
23. (4 December 2016). "VIDEO: Sunday December 4 Full Program".
24. (4 December 2016). "Matt Price Moments 2016".
25. ABC News (Australia). (17 December 2017). "The Matt Price Moment 2017".
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27. ABC News (Australia). (9 December 2018). "The Matt Price Moment Winner 2018".
28. ABC News (Australia). (9 December 2018). "The Matt Price Moment Shortlist 2018".
29. ABC News (Australia). (8 December 2019). "The "Matt Price moment" - what was the silliest moment in Australian politics in 2019? {{!}} Insiders".
30. ABC News (Australia). (13 December 2020). "VIDEO: Sunday December 13 Full Program (45 minute mark)".
31. ABC News (Australia). (5 December 2021). "VIDEO: Sunday December 5 Full Program (46 minute mark)".
32. ABC News (Australia). (10 December 2023). "Video: Insiders (45 minute mark)".
33. ABC News (Australia). (1 December 2024). "VIDEO: Sunday December 1 Full Program (45 minute mark)".
34. (1 December 2013). "Poll of Polls".
35. (24 February 2016). "ABC's Game of Thrones spoof unites Donald Trump lovers and haters". ABC News.
36. "Huw Parkinson". The Walkley Foundation.
37. {{Discogs release
38. "Tom Crowley".
39. "Peter Hartcher profile".
40. Hewett, Jennifer. "Jennifer Hewett AFR Articles".
41. (2025). "Jason Koutsoukis".
42. "Dana Morse".
43. "Amy Remeikis profile".
44. "Greg Sheridan profile". [[The Australian]].
45. (2025). "Michael Stutchbury".
46. "Carly Williams profile".
47. "Shane Wright profile".
48. "''Insiders'' – About Us". Australian Broadcasting Commission.
49. (22 September 2013). "Video: Insiders Sunday 22 September".
50. "Lorena Allam Profile".
51. (1 November 2025). "Video: Sunday November 1 Full Program".
52. "Simon Benson".
53. (30 November 2020). "Video: Sunday 29 November Full Program".
54. (10 April 2011). "Farewell Andrew Bolt".
55. (15 November 2020). "Video: From the Couch".
56. (26 April 2020). "Video: Sunday 19 April Full Program".
57. (12 July 2020). "Video: Sunday 12 July Full Program".
58. (25 October 2020). "VIDEO: Sunday October 25 Full Program".
59. (24 February 2020). "Conservative commentator Gerard Henderson dropped from ABC's ''Insiders'' program". [[The Guardian]].
60. (13 October 2019). "Video: Sunday 13 October Full Program".
61. "David Marr Profile".
62. (17 November 2019). "Video: Sunday 17 November Full Program".
63. Wright, Jessica. (4 September 2011). "ABC dumps Milne from Insiders".
64. "Katharine Murphy profile".
65. (29 January 2024). "Guardian political editor Katharine Murphy accepts job in Prime Minister Albanese's office".
66. (29 November 2020). "Video: Sunday November 29 Full Program".
67. (26 November 2007). "Journalist Matt Price dies aged 46". [[The Australian]].
68. "Insiders Episode #6.39".
69. (24 May 2020). "Video: Sunday 24 May Full Program".
70. (12 August 2018). "Video: Sunday 12 August Full Program".
71. (13 September 2015). "Video: Insiders Sunday September 13 Full Program".
72. (6 February 2018). "Brian Toohey profile".
73. (6 September 2015). "Video: Insiders Sunday September 6 Full Episode".
74. (12 April 2020). "Video: Sunday 12 April Full Program".
75. (5 August 2018). "Video: Sunday 5 August Full Program".
76. (4 February 2024). "Video: Sunday February 4 Full Program".
77. (4 February 2024). "Video: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese".
78. (11 February 2024). "Angus Taylor, Shadow Treasurer (11/2/2024)".
79. (18 February 2024). "Video: Sunday Feb 18: Full Show".
80. (25 February 2024). "Video: Sunday February 25 Full Program".
81. (3 March 2024). "Video: Sunday March 3 Full Program".
82. (10 March 2024). "Video: Sunday March 10 Full Program".
83. (10 March 2024). "Video: Energy Minister Chris Bowen".
84. (17 March 2024). "Video: Sunday March 17 Full Program".
85. (17 March 2024). "Video: David Speers interviews James Paterson".
86. (24 March 2024). "Video: Sunday March 24 Full Program".
87. (24 March 2024). "Video: Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles".
88. (7 April 2024). "Video: Sunday April 7 Full Program".
89. (7 April 2024). "Video: Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham".
90. (14 April 2024). "Video: Sunday April 14 Full Program".
91. (14 April 2024). "Video: Treasurer Jim Chalmers".
92. (21 April 2024). "Video: Sunday April 21 Full Program".
93. (21 April 2024). "Video: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton".
94. (28 April 2024). "Video: Sunday April 28 Full Program".
95. (28 April 2024). "Video: Independent MP for Fowler, Dai Le".
96. (5 May 2024). "Government responds to male violence crisis + Katy Gallagher MP".
97. (5 May 2024). "Video: Minister for Finance & Women Katy Gallagher".
98. (12 May 2024). "Video: Sunday May 12 Full Program".
99. (12 May 2024). "Video: Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor".
100. (9 June 2024). "Video: Sunday June 9 Interview with David Coleman".
101. (16 June 2024). "Video: Sunday June 16 Interview with Penny Wong".
102. (16 June 2024). "Video:Talking Pictures".
103. (23 June 2024). "Video: Sunday June 23 Full Program".
104. (7 July 2024). "Video: Sunday 7 July Full Program".
105. (14 July 2024). "Video: Sunday July 14 Full Program".
106. (4 August 2024). "Video: Insiders Full Program 4 August 2024".
107. (4 August 2024). "Video: Insiders Full Program 11 August 2024".
108. (18 August 2024). "Video: Insiders Full Program 18 August 2024".
109. (25 August 2024). "Video: Insiders Full Program 25 August 2024".
110. (1 September 2024). "Video: Andrew Bragg Interviewed".
111. (1 September 2024). "Video: Talking Pictures September 1st".
112. (8 September 2024). "Video: Insiders—The Interview, Jim Chalmers".
113. (8 September 2024). "Video: Talking Pictures".
114. (15 September 2024). "Video: Sunday September 15 2024, Full Program".
115. (15 September 2024). "Video: Interview with Jane Hume".
116. (15 September 2024). "Video: Talking Pictures".
117. (22 September 2024). "Video: Interview with Mark Butler".
118. (22 September 2024). "Video: Talking Pictures".
119. (29 September 2024). "Video: Sunday September 29 Full Program".
120. (29 September 2024). "Video: Interview with Shadow Transport Minister Bridget McKenzie".
121. (29 September 2024). "Video: Talking Pictures".
122. (6 October 2024). "Video: Interview with Richard Marles".
123. (6 October 2024). "Video: Talking Pictures".
124. (13 October 2024). "Video: Sunday October 13 Full Program".
125. (20 October 2024). "Video: View from the Couch".
126. (27 October 2024). "Video: Sunday October 27 Full Program".
127. (3 November 2024). "Video: View from the Couch".
128. (3 November 2024). "Video: The Interview, Joe Hockey".
129. (3 November 2024). "Video: Insiders: Talking Pictures".
130. (3 November 2024). "Video: Sunday November 10 Full Program".
131. (24 November 2024). "Video: View From the Couch".
132. (1 December 2024). "Video: Sunday December 1 Full Program".
133. (2 February 2025). "Inflation (Episode 1, 2025)".
134. (2 February 2025). "Talking Pictures with Glen Le Lievre".
135. (9 February 2025). "VIDEO: Sunday February 9 Full Program".
136. (9 February 2025). "Talking Pictures with Cathy Wilcox".
137. (16 February 2025). "VIDEO: From the Couch".
138. (23 February 2025). "VIDEO: Sunday February 23 Full Program".
139. (23 February 2025). "Talking Pictures with Zoe Norton Lodge".
140. (2 March 2025). "VIDEO: Insiders: From the Couch".
141. (9 March 2025). "VIDEO: Full Episode 9 March".
142. (16 March 2025). "VIDEO: Full Episode 16 March".
143. (23 March 2025). "VIDEO: Full Episode 23 March".
144. (23 March 2025). "VIDEO: Interview with Angus Taylor".
145. (30 March 2025). "VIDEO: Sunday March 30 Full Program".
146. (27 April 2025). "VIDEO: From the Couch".
147. (11 May 2025). "VIDEO: Sunday May 11 Full Program".
148. (18 May 2025). "From the couch".
149. (22 June 2025). "View from the Couch".
150. (27 July 2025). "VIDEO: Interview with Anthony Albanese".
151. (27 July 2025). "Talking Pictures with Brendan Esposito".
152. (3 August 2025). "Full Program 3 August 2025".
153. (10 August 2025). "Interview with Richard Marles".
154. (17 August 2025). "Insiders 17 August, Full Episode, Tim Wilson".
155. (24 August 2025). "Video: From The Couch".
156. (31 August 2025). "Video: From the Couch 31 August 2025".
157. (31 August 2025). "Video: Talking Pictures, Eleri Harris".
158. (28 September 2025). "VIDEO: Interview with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese".
159. (9 November 2025). "From the Couch".
160. (9 November 2025). "Video: Talking Pictures with Mike Bowers and Mick Tsikas".
161. (25 January 2026). "Video: Interview with Anthony Albanese".
162. (1 February 2026). "Video: Ted O'Brien - Shadow Treasurer and Deputy Leader of The Opposition (1/2/2026)".