Chris Uhlmann to join The Australian as columnist

The award-winning political editor and commentator says his time on the frontlines of the Ukraine war had drawn him back to the profession he knows best with The Australian.

Chris Uhlmann at his home in Canberra: ‘There are a great many things about the modern-day media cycle which I disagree with’. Picture: Martin Ollman

Award-winning political editor and commentator Chris Uhlmann is joining The Australian as a regular columnist, with the veteran journalist saying he’s ready to return to the “battle of ideas”.

Uhlmann, who held senior positions at ABC News and the Nine Network, said he wanted to re-­engage with the national debate, and would address subjects as diverse as Christianity and philosophy, AUKUS and the net zero transition.

Since 2022, the veteran journalist has travelled along the east coast of Australia – retracing a road trip he made with his brother and father in the late 1960s – and presented a documentary from the frontlines of the Ukraine war.

The experience of witnessing that war, Uhlmann said, had drawn him back to the profession.

“If you believe, as I do, that this is a conflict that’s on the frontline of a very real fight between the tyrannies and democracies of the world – and it’s about the way the world will be run in the 21st century – then it matters absolutely who wins,” he said.

“I thought, no, I want to stay in that fight. In Australia, we don’t have the foggiest idea of who we are or what we stand for and what we’d be prepared to fight to defend,” Uhlmann said. “But I saw in Ukraine, when push came to shove, the people realised how important democracy is and are prepared to fight to defend it.

“We have forgotten how important democracy is and we are unarmed in the fight.”

A longstanding critic of China’s regional influence, Uhlmann has repeatedly warned about the Asian nation’s attempts to undermine domestic security, accusing it and Russia of waging an “information war” within Australia’s borders.

Likewise, he has criticised the demonisation of coal and gas-fired energy sources on the path to net zero, while railing against progressive media outlets for perpetuating “boilerplate leftie outrage” in support of Covid-19 lockdowns during the pandemic.

Uhlmann, who departed Nine after the 2022 federal election, said he had grown tired of the demands of the daily news cycle and frustrated with the state of national debate.

“I just wanted to disconnect. The punishment of the daily news cycle is the stuff that I found was getting harder and harder … And there are a great many things about the modern-day media cycle which I disagree with.

“I didn’t want to be dragged into doing stories that I’m not interested in or have some objection to.”

Uhlmann departed Nine after the 2022 federal election and having grown tired of the demands of the daily news cycle.

Asked about the progress of AUKUS and the energy transition, Uhlmann said: “I’m 63 years old and I don’t ever expect to see a nuclear-powered submarine parked at Garden Island. And I’m not expecting us to get anywhere near the targets that have been proposed under the plan (for net zero) that is currently afoot.”

“I’m not saying there can’t be some technological breakthrough that will stagger us all … But on the current trajectory – with what’s currently known about the technologies we have – these targets are bulls..t. We are not going to hit them.

“We face really serious problems, and we don’t have really serious answers. We are being driven by some extremely powerful lobby groups in this country and if you stick your hand up and say, ‘I’m up for the transition, but I question the direction,’ you get accused of being a climate change denier.

“These people will come after you and drive you with forked sticks into hell for daring to question their direction. That really infuriates me, and I’m not prepared to stand silent, while something that’s very evidently flawed goes ahead.”

Asked about joining the national masthead, Uhlmann said: “I am genuinely excited at the prospect of joining The Australian. I have been a consumer since I was a teenager, and I think that it is a great newspaper, and it is world class. The Australian is one of the few places that’s prepared to run mainstream journalism of high quality.”

Uhlmann has also joined Sky News as a political contributor.

His first column for The Weekend Australian will appear on April 27.