Peter Harvey (born 1940s) is an award-winning Australian television journalist.
He has been with the Nine Network since 1975 and currently he presents the mailbag segment on 60 Minutes as well as being a reporter on Nine News and a regular contributor on Today.
Harvey studied his journalism cadetship with the Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph, and in 1964 received a Walkley Award for his work (the principal Australian awards for Journalism.) He later worked with London’s The Guardian newspaper (where he received the British Reporter of the Year Award) and with the American Newsweek magazine as a reporter in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.[1]
Harvey commenced his employment with the Nine Network in 1975 and was the News Director in the network’s Canberra bureau for many years. This included being the chief Nine Network reporter in Canberra during the Whitlam Dismissal of 1975.
It was from this work, and his regular political reporting on evening news bulletins around the country, that his sonorous closing line "Peter Harvey [pause] Canberra" and deep baritone voice became something of a catchphrase and was lampooned by numerous comedians, including Australian television’s Full Frontal.
Harvey has also reported for the network in numerous trips by Australian Prime Ministers around the world, and was based in Saudi Arabia in 1990 with American forces at the commencement of the first Gulf War.[1]
Harvey transferred to the network’s Sydney studios in February 1997 and, in addition to news reporting, also reports and presents with the 60 Minutes program in Australia.[1]
Harvey once did a handstand on the bar of John Sorrell's Melbourne home while holding a glass of beer in his mouth.[2]