Kumi Taguchi

Kumi Taguchi is the host of SBS’s flagship current affairs program, Insight, Australia's leading forum for ideas and national conversation. With over 25 years of experience across radio, television, current affairs, and long-form documentary, Kumi brings depth, warmth and curiosity to every story she tells. Prior to joining Insight, she hosted Compass on ABC TV and worked as a presenter and reporter across ABC News. 

A highly regarded live event host, Kumi regularly MCs major national broadcasts, including the Australian of the Year Awards and Stargazing Live. In 2018, she hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of The Invictus Games in Sydney, sharing the stage with athletes and Patron Prince Harry, and broadcasting to a global audience of 60 million people.

Kumi began her media career at the ABC’s 7.30 Report in 1997, famously starting out behind the scenes picking up dry-cleaning, organising couriers and transcribing the answering machine. Two decades on, she has anchored nightly news, ABC News Breakfast, the 7:30 Report, and ABC News Afternoons, and has worked across ABC, SBS, Star TV, and Asia Television in both Australia and Hong Kong. She is equally at home on radio, having hosted programs on local radio, Classic FM, Triple J, ABC regional radio, and 702 ABC Sydney.

Beyond the studio, Kumi is known for her adventurous spirit and commitment to storytelling that pushes personal and physical boundaries. She has reported live from the Sydney to Hobart yacht race aboard a 70-foot yacht, documented her first marathon run near Uluru, covered the Blue Mountains bushfires, and spent weeks reporting inside a hospital treating people with post-traumatic stress disorder. She is also a passionate advocate for mental health awareness.

Born in Melbourne to a Japanese father and Australian mother and raised in rural New South Wales, Kumi trained as a classical violinist from the age of five. Her love of music remains central to her life and work, including her involvement in the 2019 documentary Christmas Sounds Better This Year, where she played violin as part of a national creative collaboration.

In her acclaimed memoir, The Good Daughter, Kumi reflects on identity, belonging and family, offering the same honesty and insight that define her broadcasting career. A Sydney to Hobart sailor, desert marathon runner and trusted national voice, Kumi Taguchi is a compelling speaker whose stories resonate long after the conversation ends.