Ian Craig Leslie OAM (born 6 July 1942)[1] is an Indonesian-born Australian television journalist and corporate communicator.
At the time, his father William was interned in a POW camp in West central Java and would not see the twins until the Japanese surrender three and a half years later.
His mother's family was of white Russian origin and fled their homeland to escape persecution under the Communist Bolshevik tyranny.
Indonesia was no longer a safe place to raise a family, with politically motivated attacks on Europeans becoming a daily occurrence.
[6] In 1979, the Australian edition of 60 Minutes was launched on the Nine Network, with Ian Leslie, Ray Martin and George Negus as the original reporting team.
In his time with 60 Minutes, he is best remembered for his compassionate reporting, especially where children were involved, and for his unwavering commitment to expose suffering in Australia and in developing countries.
Leslie covered conflicts in most of the world's major trouble spots: Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lebanon, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Burma, Korea, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
[1] He interviewed many other world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Moraji Desai, Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Presidents Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), Godfrey Beniza, Milton Obote and Yoweri Muzeweri (all of Uganda).