Bernadine Oliver-Kerby leaves TVNZ

Bernadine Oliver-Kerby has waved goodbye to TVNZ after 25 years - but if there was a farewell event, the newsreader says with a laugh she "hasn't been invited".

Oliver-Kerby's contract with the state broadcaster finished on Monday, wrapping up a TVNZ career that saw her rise from a Christchurch-based lifestyle show to fronting prime time sports bulletins and the 6pm news.

Bernadine Oliver-Kerby as a sports reporter at TVNZ in 2000.

Despite the lack of a proper farewell after two and a half decades of work, Oliver-Kerby says she's not upset at TVNZ and has her eye on the future.

If they did hold anything for her, she says she would probably be too busy to attend.

"TVNZ certainly haven't let me know there's anything on. Maybe I didn't get the memo," she jokingly told the Herald. "If there's something for me, I'm not there ... I haven't been invited."

TVNZ didn't reply to Herald requests for comment about Oliver-Kerby's departure.

Her position was disestablished in 2015 and she's spent the past 12 months on a temporary contract filling in as a newsreader on the 6pm bulletin.

The 45-year-old says that was the perfect way to slowly leave her "safety net" after 25 years. 

"That's been a nice way to ease my way out of what I guess has been a real cocoon for me," she said.

"Twenty-five years with one company is a long haul ... it's sad to leave TVNZ ... but doors will open or close and you've gotta be open to it. I'm starting to get excited about other opportunities. I haven't really put my toe in any other pond. It's always been TVNZ."

As well as a variety of charity work, Oliver-Kerby said she was focusing on her role at Newstalk ZB, which saw her crowned the Best Newsreader alongside Hilary Barry at the 2016 Radio Awards.

- Read the full story at spy.co.nz