David Gordon Speers (born 9 September 1974 in

Inverell Inverell is a large town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River, close to the Queensland border. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the No ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) is an Australian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and host of '' Insiders'' on ABC TV. Previously he was political

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

Sky News Australia Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...

, as well as host of ''

PM Agenda ''Agenda'' is the name given to a series of Australian television news and commentary programs, broadcast on Sky News Australia throughout the week. The ''Agenda'' series of bulletins serve as the channel's flagship program. The series focuses ...

'', '' The Last Word'' and '' Speers Tonight''.

Career

Speers began his career in

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, a ...

in the newsroom of radio station K-Rock. Speers then worked at

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total rad ...

, 2UE and

3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...

. He has been a member of the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

board since 2005 and is currently a director.

Sky News

In 2000, Speers joined Sky News as a political editor. During his time with Sky News, Speers hosted the channel's flagship ''

'' program Monday to Thursday afternoons. Additionally, he presented political updates and conducts interviews throughout the day on the 24-hour news channel. He also previously commuted from his home in Canberra once a week to Sky News' primary studios in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to host primetime program '' The Nation with David Speers'' before the program ended in 2015. On 28 January 2016, Speers began hosting a new weekly Sky News format '' Speers Tonight'' from Canberra.

ABC News

In June 2019, Speers was appointed as host of the ABC's '' Insiders,'' replacing

Barrie Cassidy Barrie Cassidy (born 4 March 1950) is an Australian political journalist, as well as a radio and television host and presenter and commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He was the long-running host of the Sunday morning pol ...

from February 2020. Speers regularly appears on ''

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

'', ''

News Breakfast ''News Breakfast'' is an Australian news breakfast television program. It is broadcast on ABC TV and ABC News channel from 6:00 am to 9:00 am AEST/AEDT on weekdays and is hosted by Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar. The program is also streamed ...

'' and

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

including ''Mornings with

Virginia Trioli Virginia Frances Trioli (born 16 August 1965) is an Australian journalist, author, radio and television presenter. Trioli currently hosts the morning program on ABC Radio Melbourne in Melbourne. She has previously been co-host of the Australi ...

'' on

ABC Radio Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

. Speers is also a fill in presenter for Michael Rowland on ''

.''

Election coverage

Speers was chosen to moderate the leaders' debate between

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

and

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

for the

2007 Australian federal election The 2007 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 24 November 2007. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The election featured a 39-day campaign, with 13.6& ...

and again in the

2010 Australian federal election The 2010 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 August 2010 to elect members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a second term against the op ...

between

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...

and

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

, as well as the

2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of Aus ...

between Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott.

Other

In 2020, Speers released the book ''On Mutiny'' () which covered the removal of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister. Speers has also written regular articles for financial website Switzer.

Awards

Between 2006 and 2015, Speers has been awarded with an ASTRA Award for "outstanding performance" by a presenter or journalist every year with the exception of 2010. The awards were discontinued after 2015. Speers won a

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

in December 2014 for a notable interview with

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

George Brandis George Henry Brandis (born 22 June 1957) is a former Australian politician. He was a Senator for Queensland from 2000 to 2018, representing the Liberal Party, and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. He was later Hi ...

, in which Brandis struggled to explain what

metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...

was despite being the minister in charge of proposed new laws surrounding the storage and police access of metadata. Speers won the same award at the 2015 event (which Speers also hosted) for his notable "The Fixer" interview with

Christopher Pyne Christopher Maurice Pyne (born 13 August 1967) is a retired Australian politician. As a member of the Liberal Party, he held several ministerial positions in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, and served as a member of p ...

on ''PM Agenda''. In 2016, Speers was named one of the 50 most powerful people in Australian television by

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,00 ...

. Speers won the Subscription Television Award for Best Male Presenter at the 2017

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

Personal life

Speers' parents are Peter Speers and Robyn (née Cowled). He lives in Melbourne, and is married to Liz, with whom he has two children, born in 2010 and 2014. Speers plays the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and demonstrated this ability while hosting the 2010 ASTRA Awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speers, David Living people Australian television journalists Sky News Australia reporters and presenters 1974 births Journalists from Sydney Australian political journalists Walkley Award winners ABC News (Australia) presenters