[7] After working as a labourer in an abattoir,[8] Leunig enrolled at the Swinburne Film and Television School,[9] where he was at first interested in making documentaries.

[citation needed] Leunig was conscripted in the Vietnam War call-up, but he registered as a conscientious objector; he was rejected on health grounds when it was revealed that he was deaf in one ear.

[citation needed] The main outlet for Leunig's work was the daily Fairfax Media newspapers, Melbourne's The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also provided airtime to Leunig to discuss his views on a range of political and philosophical issues.

[13] Leunig continued to contribute cartoons for the Saturday edition of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald until he was sacked in August 2024, along with a number of other staff, as a cost-cutting measure.

[14] Leunig's drawings were done with a sparse and quivering line, usually in black and white with ink wash; the human characters often drawn with exaggerated noses.

He also made increasingly frequent forays into a personal fantasy world of whimsy, featuring small figures with teapots balanced on their heads, grotesquely curled hair and many ducks.

[15] Leunig frequently satirised concepts such as Americanisation, greed, consumerism, corporations and warmongering, in a personal proclamation against the "war on terror".

[citation needed] Readers and critics took special note of his parodies of political matters, especially those concerning former Australian prime minister John Howard and former American president George W. Bush.

[citation needed] He partially defined his position in 2006, saying that the Israeli government had "gravely mishandled" the situation in Palestine, and "it bothers me deeply.

[3][34] In 2006, Australian musician Gyan Evans released the album Billy the Rabbit, based on the poetry of Leunig.

[40] Several Leunig poems have been set to music by composers including Paul Stanhope,[41] and, for the Song Company, the composers Alice Chance, Drew Crawford, James Wade, Kate Moore, Kate Neal, Katy Abbott, Lachlan Skipworth, Lyle Chan, Mark Viggiani, Robert Davidson and Ruth McCall.