ABC host steps down from govt board October 25, 2013 - 2:18PM Veteran ABC journalist Barrie Cassidy has resigned from a voluntary position on a government board following pressure from the coalition. The Insiders host was appointed chairman of the Old Parliament House Advisory Council by former arts minister Tony Burke the day before the September 7 election was called. Mr Cassidy stood down from that role on Friday after a request from Arts Minister George Brandis. "Remaining in the position would shroud the board and the institution in ongoing controversy; and that's the last thing that I want," he said in a statement. Mr Cassidy said Senator Brandis had explained to him that while he held him in high regard, he was concerned people currently involved in politics should not be sitting on such boards. "I respect that view," Mr Cassidy said. Mr Cassidy's wife, ABC's 730 national affairs correspondent Heather Ewart, said on Twitter her husband resigned to "prevent further controversy impacting on a fine institution." Barrie Cassidy and I devoted a lot of time and exhibits to set up press gallery museum at old parl house. Still happy to help," she wrote. Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said Senator Brandis should have better things to do than "bully someone out of volunteering for a respected national institution." "As a former president of the press gallery at Old Parliament House, Barrie Cassidy is eminently qualified to serve on its advisory council," he said. This is just petty politics. Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticised the appointment earlier in the week, saying that while Mr Cassidy was a good bloke, his appointment was done with an "unseemly haste." Mr Cassidy was a press secretary for Labor prime minister Bob Hawke.