Virginia Haussegger to leave ABC News

Canberra’s Virginia Haussegger will leave ABC News next month after 15 years fronting the 7pm bulletin.

Fairfax reports she will head up a new foundation at the University of Canberra’s dedicated to increasing the number of female policymakers in government and the public sector.

Haussegger has worked in media for 30 years, reporting from the Middle East, Iraq, Europe, Washington and New York, for programs including the Seven’s Witness and Nine’s A Current Affair.

“While I’m chomping at the bit to get into my new role, and it feels like I’ve been moving towards this particular role for years, it was a hard decision to leave ABC TV News, mostly because I was there for the set-up and it’s been a phenomenal 15 years, an extraordinary 15 years,” she said.

“The change we’ve witnessed in our community and broadly in our nation over that time has been phenomenal and I’ve been at the forefront of it every night and it’s been the greatest privilege of my life.

“The fact that in 2013 a federal cabinet could be announced with only one woman in it and some 18 or 19 men is quite extraordinary. That’s why we need to focus on this issue a lot more diligently.”

Her last bulletin is on October 7.