When Ted Robinson first approached Paul to take on the role of the host of GNW both Paul and the ABC were a little doubtful. The ABC thought Paul was too aggressive and immature to do it, they took a lot of convincing as they thought he couldn’t talk or adlib because he had always let Rich and Tim do the talking, he also had dreadlocks at the time. Ted had a lot of trouble convincing them Paul had any skills at all. Paul was hoping to slide gently into retirement after nearly a decade with the Doug Anthony Allstars . He wasn’t interested in going back on stage after the DAAS split as comedy didn’t interest him. In comparison to the other arts he saw it as transitory and flippant. When the Dougs came to an end he thought of it as something that has been good to do for 8 years but was then over. So even though Paul had little interest in taking GNW on, he did it as he had a point to prove, and also after the split it left him broke so he needed it for financial purposes.
Paul couldn’t get used to saying someone else’s words. 
Good News Week first went to air on 6th March 1995 on the ABC. It stayed in it’s Friday 8:00 – 8:30 pm timeslot for 3 years, until at the end of 1998 it decided to pack up it’s bags and leave the safety and comfort of it’s home.
Ratings weren’t very good in the first year of Good News Week so when it faced being axed due to cost cutbacks at the ABC it was a concerted campaign by it’s loyal fans (who I presume are my buddies from the MOSH and ex- GNW message boards) who saved it. (Thank you so much to these people). Paul took the criticism of the show personally.
GNW had a lot of guests in the three years. But Paul pointed out one who hadn’t been on. "John Howard hasn’t come on yet- we keep sending a big invitation out to him. It’s not like he’s doing anything at the moment. We want him. We want the big man, who’s actually quite short, to come on the show. I’ll put a cushion on the seat so he looks the same height as everyone else. He’ll be fine." ( )
At the ABC Paul had a small office with second hand furniture with a desk piled with unanswered fan mail, in the Virgin Record’s office.
