Ten made it a special project to poach Hamish Macdonald from ABC

Hamish Macdonald will join Ten’s The Project after his exit from the ABC’s Q+A.

An announcement about Hamish Macdonald’s poaching by Ten is expected this week.

Hamish Macdonald is to join Ten’s The Project after the shock announcement of his departure from the ABC’s Q+A on Monday.

An announcement about Macdonald’s poaching by the Ten panel show is set to be made as early as this week, days after his ABC departure.

The Australian can reveal that as part of the deal, the Sydney-based Macdonald will join Lisa Wilkinson in co-hosting Ten’s The Sunday Project as well as the program’s Friday night edition.

It is understood Macdonald will take on an extra role as a ­roving reporter for The Project, and conduct “special investigations” and documentaries.

Lisa Wilkinson

There could also be scope for Macdonald to host a Thursday night version of the show with Wilkinson from Sydney in future if the Melbourne-based Waleed Aly ever chose to follow Carrie Bickmore’s lead and cut back from four to three nights a week on hosting The Project.

Macdonald’s defection to Ten will also involve changes for the network’s political editor Peter van Onselen, who will now move on from the role of Wilkinson’s co-host on the Friday and Sunday editions of The Project.

The Ten political editor has been in the co-host’s chair since Macdonald left the role at the start of last year. It is understood he will continue as Ten political editor full-time, and will no longer work six days a week as he now does.

Van Onselen currently works as political editor from Sunday to Thursday, on top of his two-night-a-week hosting job.

Macdonald is expected to join The Project by September, with van Onselen continuing to co-host in the interim.

Peter van Onselen. Picture: Nigel Wright.

Two months ago, van Onselen is understood to have floated to Ten management that he wanted to get his weekends back by cutting his commitments with The Project. He is also a columnist for The Australian and has a professorship with the University of Western Australia.

When he brought up the possibility of lightening his workload, Macdonald was still committed to Q+A and van Onselen was convinced to stay.

However, in recent weeks discussions commenced between Macdonald and Ten about his return to The Project, during a period in which he largely disappeared from Q+A.

This month, The Australian’s Media Diary noted Macdonald had appeared more as a guest on The Project during June and July than he had on the ABC show he was meant to host, as David Speers, Stan Grant and Virginia Trioli were guest anchors.

It is understood van Onselen will continue his association with The Project by conducting live crosses as network political editor.

Macdonald gave a clue he had lined up another on-air role in the announcement of his departure from Q+A on Monday when he said: “I’m really excited to be moving on to a new ­opportunity.”

Given he hosted The Sunday Project for some time before joining Q+A, that opportunity may not appear so new.

Macdonald, van Onselen and Ten could not be reached for comment on Tuesday night.