The ABC's 2025 federal election coverage will be the last to feature Antony Green AO in an on-air role. The national broadcaster's chief election analyst is stepping down after more than 30 years in a role he helped create. "By the time of the next election, I'll be 68 and I know I'm not as sharp and quick as I was five years ago," Green said. "It gets harder and harder. It's like a footballer, sometimes they play on a season too long, and I'm making sure I don't do that." Green will remain with the ABC in a behind-the-scenes role, continuing to work on election-related projects. Thanks to both his analytical skills and his ability to explain numbers in a way that a layperson can understand, Green has become a household name in Australia, ensuring the ABC's election night broadcasts attract millions of viewers. He has provided live analysis for the network on about 100 state and federal election programs, winning the universal respect of politicians, parties and electoral experts, as well as unexpectedly becoming a cult figure on social media. He is one of the ABC's most trusted on-air figures, known for his impartiality, attention to detail and rapid-fire ability to connect dots and turn numerical data into accurate electoral predictions. The ABC's director of news, Justin Stevens, paid tribute. "Antony Green is an Australian institution and much-loved figure with the public," Mr Stevens said. "For more than three decades he has performed one of the ABC's most important roles with precision, impartiality, dedication and unprecedented expertise. "He has the ABC's immense gratitude and respect. I'm sure our audience joins me in thanking him and wishing him well as he prepares for his final federal election broadcast." Green's public service and expertise have been recognised with an Order of Australia (2016) and an honorary doctorate from the University of Sydney (2014). His parents migrated to Australia in 1964 as "ten pound poms" and the family lived in the Western Sydney suburb of Dundas. He attended a selective public high school, James Ruse Agricultural High, where he was a whiz at mathematics. He then studied computer science at the University of Sydney and worked briefly as a programmer. However, he grew bored and returned to university to study politics and economics. In 1989, he answered a newspaper advertisement for a six-month position as a researcher at the ABC, working on the 1990 federal election. "You had to have research skills, computer skills, and I went, 'That's me!' And so I applied and the legendary ABC producer, Ian Carroll, selected me out of about 150 applicants," Green recalled. "I think I did have all the skills but the one thing I had that nobody else had — well, I had confidence — but nobody else had the computer skills I had, way back in 1989." News managers and senior journalists quickly clocked the university graduate's unique abilities and he was offered a permanent position. He went on to design the election night computer program that the ABC still uses to this day (with some tweaks along the way). His first on-air appearance was in the 1991 NSW state election, and his first federal election broadcast was the return of the Keating Labor government in 1993. 2025 will be Green's 11th federal election broadcast for the ABC. Seven of them were anchored by Kerry O'Brien (1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2013), three by Leigh Sales (2016, 2019, 2022) and his final one will be hosted by David Speers and Sarah Ferguson. Green will be succeeded by Casey Briggs, already well-known to ABC audiences for his outstanding communication and data skills. Briggs's title will be ABC chief election and data analyst. Antony Green in conversation with Leigh Sales What has made you decide now is the time to go? In my job, you end up having this three-year cycle of federal elections. By the time of the next election, I'll be 68 and I know I'm not as sharp and quick as I was five years ago. It gets harder and harder. It's like a footballer, sometimes they play on a season too long, and I'm making sure I don't do that. It's a decision I made three years ago. This will be my last one on-camera, but what I will do is stay on for another year or two and I'll try to ensure that the work I've put in — people see me on camera, but most of my work is off-camera, doing websites, background material, setting up computer systems — I'll ensure that whoever replaces me has that material available and knows how to do the systems. I remember when you came off air after the last federal election in 2022, you were absolutely exhausted and said at the time, I think that's my last one. It never shows on air, but I'm not sure if people realise how truly exhausting that job is and the amount of pressure that comes with it. Well, that election was the hardest. When I started this job 35 years ago, every seat was a two-candidate preferred contest, 80-85 per cent of the votes were cast on the day. You just got polling place results and everything worked well in terms of predicting models. But things have got more complex. The major party vote has declined over the years. More and more people are voting pre-poll, which means they come in later in the evening and they don't always behave like the polling day votes. The whole modelling process has got more difficult. You're starting to see third party candidates come through, like the teals at the last election. We didn't have an obvious model to call some of those seats, so you're having to make a lot more individual decisions. How did you come to work at the ABC? I had worked in the computer industry and it got a bit dull. I couldn't imagine still doing that in 10 years time, let alone 30 or 40 years. I went back to university in 1984 — I had done a science/maths degree the first time through after school — and I did an economics/politics degree. I was inspired by the first years of the Hawke government, all the change that was coming through. It was all economics and I was quite fascinated by it. But at the end of that, I was back writing computer code again and I thought, "My god, what have I spent four years doing this degree for?" I told my bosses, I'm leaving, I have to find something else to do. I looked in the newspaper that weekend and there was this ad for an election researcher, you had to have research skills, computer skills, and I went, "That's me!" And so I applied and the legendary ABC producer, Ian Carroll, selected me out of about 150 applicants. I think I did have all the skills but the one thing I had that nobody else had — well, I had confidence — but nobody else had the computer skills I had, way back in 1989. So you came in, and they realised, as you say, "This guy's got a unique skill-set that nobody else has." When did it shift to you being on-air instead of behind the scenes? It was about two years later. The 1990 federal election went until very late in the evening, and afterwards, [journalists] Kerry O'Brien, Andrew Olle and Paul Lyneham all told the head of news they should re-employ me. So I was given this job to redesign the computer system. About a year and a half later, we used it in Queensland in 1992. It was just terrific, it worked really well. In the meantime, I'd written some software to calculate redistributions and in 1991 there was a major one in New South Wales. The Greiner government cut the size of the parliament by about 10 seats. It had all sorts of political implications and I worked it out. So [journalist] Quentin Dempster put me on camera that night to talk about it. I remember, I was so nervous. We had this map and I had to use a pointer, and my hand was going like that [demonstrates violent shaking] and the director of the broadcast, the late Janie Lalor, came down and said, "If you lean the pointer on the map, your hand won't shake." This was my first tip! I remember bumping into the legendary Paul Williams [former head of ABC News] on the Monday, and he said, "Mate! MATE! I saw you on camera on the weekend." I said, "Oh, I was so nervous." And he said, "We could see you were nervous but everyone could tell you knew what you were talking about." And so I think that was the advantage I had. I was slightly quirky, had a strong accent, stronger than I do now, and everyone went, "He knows what he's talking about though." They used me on camera for the first time in 1992 federal election. We had a new computer system. We didn't display the graphics quite right. We predicted quite early that the Keating government was re-elected and there was a bit of a bunfight as to whether we could call that or not. Well that's because it was very unexpected because everyone anticipated Keating was going to lose. So it was quite something when you were on live TV, Keating's going to be re-elected. People didn't believe it. There's a lot of myths that people on the board are running the ABC and they're not, you rarely ever hear from anyone or the managing director. But that night, the MD was David Hill and on the board were John Bannon, the former South Australian premier, and Rod Cameron, who was a Labor Party pollster, and they thought Keating had lost. They were watching our coverage, and it was showing there's a swing to Labor, swing to Labor, swing to Labor. There was a lot of concern from high up, "Are we getting this right? Stop using those predictions!" You mentioned when you first started doing it, you'd get horrendously nervous. How about now, do you still get nervous? I get nervous until I see the first figures come in from the Electoral Commission. And then it's off and running. You're off and running. Once you've got numbers, you know you've got numbers. I've described election night as like bungee jumping for intellectuals. You've got this thin tether of data that keeps you in touch with the Electoral Commission. I know when I've been anchoring, when the executive producer comes in my ear and says "Antony is ready to call it", I start shaking because it feels so big that we're about to call it and the terror strikes about what if we get it wrong. Last election you put me on the spot! I'd done a rather indeterminate call, there'd been a bit of confusion and they rolled the tune, swapping the cameras around and all the trumpets went off, and they came to me, and I said, "I think they want me to call it, but I'm not ready to call it yet!" There was a bit of miscommunication. But then about 20 minutes later, none of you had understood what I'd said, and you suddenly came to me and said, "Antony, are you saying Anthony Albanese will be the 30th prime minister?" And I'm sitting there thinking, "Oh god Leigh, put me on the spot." I think as journos, we're trained to want clarity, whereas a data expert is seeing nuance. David Speers did it to me at the last Queensland election as well! David said to me, "So you're not ruling out that the Miles government could be re-elected?" I was like, "Oh god." We're evil people Antony. Do you feel any pressure to call it first, because obviously the commercials all have their broadcasts on too. Do you feel any weight on you around that? No, I don't think so. There have been two elections where we over-called them. One was 2010 in Victoria and we misread the data. While we were right that the Brumby government was defeated, we called it far too early. The last NSW election we were right, but we over-predicted what Labor would win. Occasionally you get ahead of yourself, but you just have to be cautious. What did your mum and dad think about seeing you on TV when you started out? Oh, I think they were quite chuffed. Dad was an electrician from the north of England and mum was a seamstress. They migrated here, I got a good education here. I've done alright in this country, better than I would have done in Warrington in Lancashire. They were very proud. Dad died 14 years ago of a heart attack and mum died of dementia a couple of years later. I got an Order of Australia a couple of years back, after they died. I think one of the reasons I took the OA is because they would have been so proud of that. What were you like as a kid? Always bright, always good with numbers. Not particularly. I think I was always a spark when I was a young kid, I was a voracious reader, still am, a notorious devourer of facts. Not always good at putting them into good order and synthesising a general theory. My first couple of years of high school, I don't remember, I think I was very late into puberty. I blossomed a bit later. I know you like cycling, you love cricket. Are you going to have more time for that, or will you keep working, what's the plan? I will continue to work. I will stay involved with the ABC computer set up. I'll keep up the website through to the next South Australian election which is early next year. After that, I'll slowly step away and mainly just be involved in negotiating with the Electoral Commission. Antony, you have been an awesome colleague. I have greatly enjoyed working with you and admired you for 30 years. You've been brilliant. Thank you so much for your service and for being such a trusted figure for the ABC. You're an absolute legend. And it's been fantastic to work with you, and all those many people who came before. Kerry O'Brien, such an important part of me being on camera and staying on camera. He didn't like the touch screen, but that's another story! I've worked with many, many people over the years. For me, somebody who didn't have a journalism background, I've had impostor syndrome sometimes — "Me, what am I doing here?" But I remember talking to Peter Cave one day, a veteran ABC journalist, famously held up on the highway by some Arabs during the Gulf War, had guns pointed at him and all that. I remember I could talk to Peter about that, and he would treat me as an equal. Because I wasn't a journalist, I was always impressed by those people. They were impressed that I could take data and talk about it! The thing that has always impressed me about you is that you have treated me exactly the same, whether I was anchoring the whole thing, or whether I was a 22-year-old junior reporter in the newsroom, and it's been very much appreciated. Like A Star is Born, you have to be nice on the way up, cos some day, you'll be on the way back down.