Source : the age
ABC finance presenter Alan Kohler has announced his retirement after 31 years at the national broadcaster and will depart at the end of the year.
Kohler joined the ABC in 1995, following stints as the editor of The Australian Financial Review and The Age, a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald (all three mastheads owned by Nine) and, more recently, penning columns for The Australian and The New Daily.
Kohler also presented the ABC show Inside Business for many years and currently hosts the weekly podcast That’s Business. He has written a number of books, including The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess and How to Fix It and It’s Your Money: How Banking Went Rogue, Where It Is Now and How to Protect and Grow Your Money.
In a statement published on the ABC website, Kohler said he had always loved the ABC, “even more so after I joined it”.
“I find it very hard to imagine this wonderful place not being part of my life, but I’m 74, and it’s time to spend more time with my family, including the six grandchildren,” he said.
Kohler first joined the ABC as The 7.30 Report’s business and economics correspondent, then, in 2002, became the 7pm news finance presenter, famed for his dry humour, inventive use of graphics and his “And that’s finance” sign-off.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks said he had “made an extraordinary contribution to the ABC, our audiences and the nation”.
“For decades, he has helped Australians make sense of complex issues with insight, clarity and a uniquely engaging style, always delivered with warmth, humour and that trademark cheeky grin,” he said.
“I can’t thank Alan enough for everything he has given to the ABC and our audiences. While this marks the end of an incredible chapter, it is certainly not the end of Alan’s contribution, just the beginning of a new one.”
Freshly arrived ABC news boss Simon Robinson also paid tribute.
“Sadly for us, and for the audiences who treasure him, Alan has decided to call time on this distinguished ABC tenure at the end of this year,” he said. “Alan will remain connected to the ABC and we’ll be talking to him about future ideas and projects.”
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he wished Kohler well, and praised his ability to explain economic issues to his audience.
“I’ve got a heap of time for Alan, not because he’s always especially kind to the government, he’s not. But Alan is, in lots of ways, the very best of journalism,” Chalmers said.
“He takes these big, serious issues in our economy very seriously. He deals with them in a considered and sensible way, and so I think he’ll be really missed from [the] ABC and from the TV screens in suburbs right around Australia.
“He’s always done a wonderful job boiling down some of these difficult and complex interactions in our economy … I wanted to take the opportunity publicly to say how much he will be missed from the ABC. I hope and expect that he’ll continue to make a contribution to economic commentary in this country.”
Over his more than 50-year career, Kohler also founded online news sites Eureka Report and Business Spectator. He was honoured with the Order of Australia in 2019 for his services to the media, and has been inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.
He will present his final finance report on December 16.
Robinson said an announcement of Kohler’s successor would be made “in coming weeks”.
However, there will still be a Kohler presenting news, with his son Chris Kohler now the finance editor for Channel Nine (owned by Nine, publisher of this masthead).
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Chris Hook is Culture News Editor Sydney for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
