Virginia Trioli will leave the ABC after 27 years on air, with the public broadcaster announcing today that the longtime television and radio presenter is departing to “pursue new creative opportunities”.
The ABC said the move had been inspired by Trioli’s latest television role as host of the arts series Creative Types with Virginia Trioli.
“After spending the last few years in the company of some of Australia’s most distinctive creatives, I realise I’m a bit of a creative type too, and so it’s time for me to independently pursue my own ideas,” Trioli, 60, said in a statement released by the ABC this morning.
She also reflected on her long career at the broadcaster, saying: “I have been able to take up some of the greatest opportunities that the ABC has to offer over the last 27 years, and I’m staggered at my good fortune. It’s made me the journalist, broadcaster, writer and program maker that I am. Grateful doesn’t begin to cover it. In return, I hope to have some new ideas for the national broadcaster down the track.”
Among the projects she plans to work on are two new books and a script for a television project, which she told the ABC she was “itching” to pursue.
Trioli returned to the ABC News Breakfast couch this morning to tell viewers the news herself.
ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks praised her contribution in a statement, saying she had “been at the heart of some of the ABC’s most important programs and conversations, earning the respect and affection of a wide variety of audiences along the way.”
Trioli started her media career at Melbourne broadsheet The Age in 1990 before joining the ABC in 1999. Over the years, her radio roles included hosting Mornings on ABC Radio Sydney, along with Drive and Mornings on ABC Radio Melbourne.
Her television work has included presenting Lateline, Q&A and 7.30, as well as regularly contributing to Insiders and Sunday Arts.
In announcing her departure, the ABC pointed to her work ethic, highlighting 2018 as a standout example when she fronted consecutive primetime programs, hosting 7:30 “before dashing across the ABC Ultimo foyer to front Q&A.”
