Kerry O'Brien delivers the 2011 Wallace Wurth Memorial Lecture.

Kerry O’Brien is one of the most well regarded names in Australian journalism. With a career spanning 45 years, Kerry has been awarded six Walkley Awards and the coveted Gold Walkley, which is the highest honour in Australian journalism.

The host of the ABC’s Lateline for six years, Kerry later moved to The 7.30 Report in December 1995, and only concluded his time on the program in December 2010. Kerry now comperes Australia’s most respected investigative television current affairs program, Four Corners, and is also the regular anchor of the ABC’s election tally-room coverage. He has interviewed many world leaders including President Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher.