Congratulations on the new gig. When George Negus Tonight was cancelled late last year, was that the first time you'd been "let go?"
Let go! It was the first time I'd had a program pulled from under me when it was going well. That was a Negus first. I'm still confused.

How did it feel?
The first reaction is shock, the second reaction is anger, the third reaction is "Let's not get angry, let's get even."

How have you got even?
Well, this isn't the silliest job in the world. With a bit of luck I can throw a few hand grenades around the place that may bother people.

You describe Dateline as "the natural habitat" for your kind of "journalistic animal." What sort of journalistic animal are you?
I'm insatiably curious about what's going on in the world, but, more importantly, why. I've spent 30 years in television journalism asking the question "why?" Basically, from the first time I saw the Berlin Wall in the late 1960s, I've been fascinated by what makes the world tick or not tick, and why it doesn't always tick the way it should tick. So I worked out that in television current-affairs journalism, you get paid for doing what I was doing anyway - asking questions. I'm a "why" person.

If I were to describe you to an American, who would I liken you to?
Ted Koppel from their Lateline.

Why?
I think he's also a "why" kind of guy.

You live in a town near Bellingen (NSW) called Glennifer. Let me guess, it was settled by a couple called Glenn and Jennifer.
It's not a town, it's a crossroads. It's a Scottish word, but the valley was actually settled by Italians, which is a very nice thing for us, because we're Italophiles.

And you're on the Promised Land Road near the Never Never Creek ...
We didn't make it up.

They must have been passing some wacky tobaccy around at that council meeting.
No, in fact, a government cartographer was going through the valley and he said to the original Italian inhabitant, "What do you call this?" and he said, "It's the promised land," and the bloke wrote it down and it's now on the signpost. Your son Serge played Mick Dundee's son in Crocodile Dundee in LA. Any more acting roles on the horizon? He did a little part in Danny Deckchair and he's up for a part at the moment, but he's a reptile freak. He wants to be a herpetologist or David Attenborough, or both.

Or Steve Irwin ...
He can't stand Steve Irwin! He's quite capable of dedicating his life to countermanding all the bad that Irwin's done. Serious herpetological people are disgusted with the way he plays up the danger. They feel very strongly, like Serge does, that you can't on the one hand say, as Irwin did, "I'm seconds from death" to his (US) audience, and then when he dangled his kid in front of the croc say his kid was never in any danger. Make up your mind, Steve.

Dateline has a pretty gung-ho reputation. Ever feel like slinging the jacket over your shoulder and going on the road again?
I've had to live with that forever, even though I think Ray Martin did it more often than I did. I'll be on the road for Dateline at some point. I'm not a desk jockey.

That coat habit got you parodied for years. Did that bother you?
I'm not thin-skinned. The combination of the moustache and the hairline and the coat and the alleged cowboy gear, it's all become part of Australian television folklore. It comes with the territory. I just wish Ray hadn't done it.