Steve Cannane

Steve Cannane is a Walkley Award winning journalist who has worked at the ABC for nearly 30 years.

He has hosted TV and radio shows, worked as an investigative journalist and foreign correspondent, and written two critically acclaimed books.

He has reported for the ABC from over 20 countries including covering elections in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

From 2021-2024 he has been the ABC’s Europe Bureau Chief. In that time, he has reported extensively on the war in Ukraine and its impact on security in Europe, covered the death of the Queen and the coronation of King Charles, reported on the rise and fall of a series of UK prime ministers as well as being on the ground for presidential elections in Germany and France.

From 2018-2021 Steve worked in the ABC’s Investigations unit. His series of stories on the gambling industry shone a light on the harms caused by poker machines and sports betting and exposed the lack of regulation that led to such high problem gambling levels in Australia.

Steve loves sport. While in the UK he played cricket for the Authors XI and covered the Rugby World Cup, The Ashes, the Rugby League World Cup and other sporting events.

From 2016-2018 he was one of the ABC’s Europe correspondents, covering the region’s biggest stories including the Brexit referendum, terrorist attacks in the UK, France and Spain, and the rise of populism in Europe.

Prior to being appointed Europe correspondent, he was a journalist on ABC TV’s Lateline and was the founding presenter of ABC TV’s weeknight discussion program The Drum. He also worked as a reporter, producer and presenter at Triple J was the founding presenter of the network’s popular youth current affairs program Hack.

In 2008, Steve Cannane presented The Hack Half Hour on ABC TV. In 2009, he presented the award-winning ABC documentary series Whatever – The Science of Teenagers. Focusing on the science behind the teenage brain, Whatever! won the international award for best TV series in the 2010 SCINEMA Festival of Science Film Competition.

That year, he also published First Tests: Great Australian Cricketers and the Backyards That Made Them, which was chosen in 2010 as one of the ‘50 Books You Can’t Put Down’, part of the Australian Government’s Get Reading! initiative.

In 2016, Steve released his exposé on abuses within Scientology. Fair Game – The Incredible Untold Story of Scientology in Australia. The Saturday Paper described it as a publication “that will drop your jaw on the first page and leave it on the floor until the last”. The book was a finalist in the Walkley Book of the Year Award. He has spoken at global conferences and been interviewed by international media for his ground-breaking work on Scientology.

An accomplished keynote speaker, MC and facilitator, Steve draws on his experiences working around the world in the media to present fascinating insights about international politics, security, science, culture and sport.