‘He was a trailblazer’
Veteran journalist Mike Willesee loses his battle with throat cancer
Mike Willesee was one of Australia’s most recognised and respected current affairs TV journalists, and despite enduring huge highs and lows, he has left a lasting legacy. Willesee died on March 1, aged 76, after a two-year battle with throat cancer.
“The word legend is somewhat too readily conferred in modern times, but it describes Mike to a tee,” Nine chief Hugh Marks said in a statement. “He all but invented current affairs television in Australia at the ABC in the 1960s. He was a trailblazer.” Channel Seven’s Melissa Doyle tweeted: “We’ll remember an incredible journalist, tenacious and tough. A loss for our industry.”
From hard-hitting interviews and creating A Current Affair in 1971 to gentle favourites like This is Your Life, Mike entered living rooms across the nation on a regular basis.
“He had an extraordinary career and set the bar higher than any of us can reach,” former ACA host Ray Martin said.
There is one interview, however, that will always be remembered – one that cost the Liberal Party an election. In 1993, Willesee asked then Opposition leader John Hewson whether a birthday cake would cost more or less after GST – a question he couldn’t answer. Until then, the election was seen to be “unlosable” for the Hewson-led Coalition, but they lost in a landslide to Labor, led by Paul Keating. “He’ll be remembered particularly fondly – even by me,” Hewson said on hearing of Mike’s death.