Kerry O'Brien ... in search of new pastures. Credit:Simon Schluter

"I've been in the pressure cooker of daily current affairs hosting and interviewing for 21 straight years, including six years at Lateline, and it's been something of a marathon.

"This has been a great year for the program, and it's good to leave on a high note."

O'Brien, who started in journalism as a cadet in 1966, thanked his colleagues and "an extremely generous audience", saying it has been "an absolute privilege to work with some of the most talented and dedicated professionals in the business".

But he was coy on what he was going to do next in his career, saying only he would "begin a new association with the ABC in the new year, but one that will allow me time to take a breath and consider what else I might want to do with the rest of my life".

Kerry O'Brien puts the heat on Tony Abbott on the 7:30 Report during the federal election campaign. Credit:ABC Television

"I would also like to thank an extremely generous audience, including those who may have occasionally thrown a shoe at the screen," O'Brien said.

Michael Idato, the Herald's television writer, said O'Brien was "not an easy man to replace".

"It's a massive event in the current affairs world of the ABC.

"O'Brien is a huge part of why The 7.30 Report is a successful show creatively and commercially, in ratings terms."

"The ABC would have succession plans in place but he's not an easy man to replace."

Idato said O'Brien brought a "huge amount of personal and professional integrity" to the program.

"Particularly on that show and on that network, the integrity of the host is a huge part of why people trust it, [whereas] in commercial current affairs, perception is everything and substance sometimes doesn't matter as much."

ABC's director of news, Kate Torney, said O'Brien helped set the agenda in Australian journalism.

"This has never been more apparent than during the recent federal election, where his interviews were some of the key moments in the campaign and helped drive the broader media coverage."

The public broadcaster's managing director, Mark Scott, also heaped praise on O'Brien, saying "few journalists have played such an important role, for such a long time, with such integrity and distinction, as Kerry O'Brien".

Torney said the ABC would announce a new presenter "in due course".

Chas Licciardello, best known for The Chaser's War on Everything, which featured O'Brien several times, was among the first to comment on the news via Twitter.

"I hear Kerry O'Brien's 'left'. Typical ABC," he wrote.

Not to be outdone, fellow Chaser writer Dominic Knight tweeted: "Kerry O'Brien's retiring from The 7.30 Report. He will be replaced by Australia's finest interviewer, Sonia Kruger."

O'Brien's interviews have consistently made headlines, particularly those with Australian political leaders.

He interviewed Tony Abbott in May when the Coalition leader famously said he did not always tell the "gospel truth".

A week before that, O'Brien enraged then prime minister Kevin Rudd over the failure of the Copenhagen summit, causing Mr Rudd to snap: "It might be easy for you to sit in 7.30 Report land and say that was easy to do. Let me tell you, mate, it wasn't."

O'Brien also interviewed US President Barack Obama in April this year.

He once listed his former boss and former managing director of the ABC, Jonathan Shier, as his most difficult interview subject.

"My opening question invited him to give us evidence he wasn't a failure. Those weren't the precise words that I used, but it was a tough question," O'Brien has been quoted as saying.

"He subsequently revealed, which I didn't know at the time, that he had been seeking to have me removed from the program."

O'Brien, who hails from Queensland, worked not only in television but also in newspapers and for wire services.

He has covered general news as a reporter, has had stints as a feature writer and also served as a political and foreign correspondent.

O'Brien joined The 7.30 Report from Lateline, on which he spent six years as a host.

Loading

He won the Gold Walkey, Australia's top journalism award, in 1982, and was once press secretary to former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam.

- with Robyn Grace and AAP

