Dismayed: The host of 7.30 NSW, Quentin Dempster, an ABC employee of more than 30 years, was sad about the loss of his program. Credit:Wolter Peeters The ABC is abolishing local TV current affairs programs including 7.30 NSW. "I think the ABC is making a big mistake in axing these shows and will have to revisit the deficiency in future years," Dempster said. Within two hours of ABC managing director Mark Scott's announcement to staff on Monday that 400 jobs would be lost around the country, director of news, Kate Torney, called Dempster into her office to tell him he had no future role at the ABC. "I will be among 300 staff retrenched in the first round of the ABC's cuts," he said.

"This is a very emotional time for me. "I have worked extremely hard for the ABC to faithfully use the opportunity it has given me." On why he was being "sacked", Dempster says he "only ever sought to uphold the integrity of Her Majesty's institutions, the Parliament and the police, in "That's "Why isn't Rupert Murdoch being sacked for phone hacking, invasion of privacy, intimidating the politicians, his tax havens and all those tits on page three? Just asking."

In what has been described as a "Hunger Games" approach to staff culling, colleagues with similar skill sets have been grouped into small pools and told that some within that group will be among 300 to lose their jobs by Christmas Eve. "This has been a brutal "During this week I have been assisting and comforting staff as they go through what's called a 'pooling' process and made to scramble among each other for available jobs in skills categories." Ms Torney confirmed she had met with Dempster on Monday to inform him he would have no future position with the ABC. "It is with deep regret that we lose someone with the experience, integrity and reputation of Quentin and viewers and colleagues alike will greatly miss the enormous contribution he has made over such a long period," she said.

Ms Torney said Dempster's "deep understanding of the mechanics of government and his extensive contacts on all sides of politics have put 7.30 NSW - and before that Stateline - on top of issues in NSW and ahead of the pack in reporting on them". "The public is aware of Quentin's outstanding track record as an award-winning journalist," she said. "What they don't see is his commitment behind the scenes, mentoring, encouraging and guiding colleagues. He is passionate about the craft and role of journalism and is always keen to share his experience with those around him." Dempster, 63, hosted 7.30 Report until he vacated the chair for the late Andrew Olle in 1994. It was was turned into a national program hosted by Kerry O'Brien in 1996. He later became a part-time presenter of a program called Stateline at

"With executive producer Murray Travis [the late Paul Lyneham's producer] we worked hard to make the program relevant even with a timeslot which put us up against Brian Henderson's news on Nine and the Channel 7 news with Ross Symonds," Dempster said. Stateline moved to a 7.30pm Friday slot in 2001 and was renamed as 7.30 NSW in 2009. "Since then the show was seen to make a very valuable contribution to localism, even though I have been agitating since 1997 to have local current affairs returned to a nightly schedule, preferably at 6.30pm weeknights [with 10 minutes] of local news," Dempster said. "While the ABC acknowledged there was a deficiency the reinvestment could not be approved because of cost." In 1992, Dempster was awarded the Order of Australia for services to the media, "particularly in the fields of journalism and current affairs". Ten years later, he was honoured with a Walkley Award for the "most outstanding contribution to journalism". Dempster started his journalism career in newspapers and was chief political reporter at The Telegraph in Brisbane before joining the ABC in 1984. Within three years he was fronting 7.30 Report in Queensland.

While covering the Fitzgerald inquiry into police and political corruption, he wrote daily re-enactments and analysis to break down its complex evidence in a way that was easy for viewers to understand. In 1990, after moving to to host 7.30 Report in NSW, he turned his attention to police corruption in NSW while covering the Wood royal commission. He is the author of several books including Honest Cops, Whistleblowers and Death Struggle. An active member of MEAA, the journalists' union, he was also a staff-elected director of the board of the ABC.