Hamish Macdonald appointed Q&A host
Hamish Macdonald has been appointed host of ABC's weekly national affairs talk program, which has been embroiled in controversy.
Television and radio broadcaster Hamish Macdonald has been appointed host of ABC's weekly national affairs talk program Q&A, which has been embroiled in controversy this week after guests advocated violence.
READ MORE: Q&A probed over ‘call to violence’
The appointment of Macdonald, which was flagged by The Australian's Media Diarist Nick Tabakoff last month, follows the promotion of Erin Vincent as executive producer of Q&A a few weeks ago. He will also continue working as a senior presenter across TV and radio.
Macdonald has straddled working as a regular co-host on The Sunday Project and The Project on free-to-air TV broadcaster Network Ten and ABC’s Radio National Breakfast and Conversations, and the ABC Television’s Foreign Correspondent and Q&A.
The move to appoint Macdonald to the high-profile TV role completes a raft of vacant ABC hosting positions, including Lisa Millar joining News Breakfast and Virigina Trioli taking over from Jon Faine on Melbourne Mornings radio program. Barrie Cassidy left ABC's flagship political TV show Insiders recently, with Sky News David Speers set to take over next year.
ABC news director Gaven Morris said Macdonald was one of the brightest talents in Australian journalism, adding that hosting Q&A requires a “special set of skills”.
“It needs someone who is articulate and also a great listener, well connected, interested in everything and fully across news and current events at home and abroad,” Morris said in a statement.
“Hamish can do all of that – and also brings his own brand of warmth and energy that audiences love. He is a terrific communicator, and an experienced and accomplished broadcaster.”
Macdonald told The Australian earlier this year that he nearly walked away from his budding journalism career a few years ago after burning out covering major conflicts, including the rise of Islamic State in the Middle East and the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapping. After a year studying and teaching at Harvard University in the US in 2016, he returned home and started working at the ABC and Ten.
Macdonald will take over from founding Q&A presenter Tony Jones, who departs next month after 12 years with the show.
Along with Vincent's appointment, the ABC announced plans to establish a production unit for Q&A in Southbank in Melbourne, in addition to its existing Sydney base, “in order to expand the number of episodes produced out of Melbourne and other locations across Australia”.
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