ABC journalist Dan Bourchier announces he is quitting the network after almost a decade on air
Bourchier, who joined the ABC in 2016, revealed the news in a social media post on Monday, saying it had been his 'absolute privilege' to spend nearly nine years helping Australians 'understand each other, our country and our world a little better'.
'I'm particularly proud of the work I've helped to drive to increase Indigenous representation internally, and create the space for other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to tell their stories in their way.
'While leaving is hard, I'm optimistic about the future of the ABC I say goodbye to, and the tremendous leadership across the organisation.
'Thank you to the loyal audience who has supported, challenged, and backed me. We've navigated some of the some tumultuous news and change of the last decade, together. It's made me a better journalist, and a better leader.'
Bourchier began his ABC career in Canberra as the ACT Indigenous Affairs Reporter before moving into roles as ABC Radio Canberra breakfast host and presenter of the 7pm TV news bulletin.
He later co-hosted programs including The Drum and Insiders, and in 2023 took on a national reporting role covering the Voice to Parliament referendum.
Since early 2024, Bourchier has worked across the ABC News Channel, chaired the broadcaster's Bonner Committee, which advises on Indigenous content, and regularly filled in on News Breakfast weekends.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Afternoon Update: Israel diplomatic row deepens; Lehrmann a ‘national joke', court told; and the agony of a software update
Good afternoon. Australia's government has rejected Benjamin Netanyahu's incendiary criticism and accused some Israeli politicians of 'bigoted' views about Palestinians, as the extraordinary political fight between the two nations turns uglier. The federal government's refusal of a travel visa for the far-right Knesset member Simcha Rothman stoked criticism from the Israeli prime minister, who labelled Anthony Albanese a 'weak politician' who had 'abandoned Australia's Jews'. 'Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry,' the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, told Radio National on Wednesday. 'Strength is much better measured by exactly what [Albanese] has done, which is when there's a decision that we know Israel won't like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu.' On Wednesday afternoon, Albanese said he wouldn't take Netanyahu's comments personally. 'I engage with people diplomatically. [Netanyahu] has had similar things to say about other leaders.' Bruce Lehrmann has become a 'national joke' and can't afford barrister for defamation appeal, his lawyer says Children with autism to be diverted off NDIS under $2bn federal program Victoria's urgent childcare review recommendations unveiled: major reforms but no 'silver bullet' to stop 'dangerous individuals' French prosecutors investigating death of man during live stream Microsoft workers occupy HQ in protest at company's ties to Israeli military Why is the NZ government cutting Māori words from some school books? Recent media coverage claims that 'Australians, especially men, are reading less' and 'young men have stopped reading books'. But is that true? Guardian Australia's data editor, Nick Evershed, does a deep dive into whether that claim is backed up by the numbers. 'Liam's smashing it. I'm proud of him … I couldn't do the stadium thing like he does it, it's not in my nature. But I've got to say, I kind of look and I think, 'Good for you mate.' He's been amazing.' – Noel Gallagher Noel Gallagher has opened up about his feelings towards his long-estranged brother Liam during Oasis' sold-out global reunion tour for the first time. Fifteen years after their acrimonious split, Gallagher said it was 'great being back in the band with Liam, I forgot how funny he was'. Zelenskyy suits up for peace but can Trump deliver? Six months after their explosive meeting in the White House, Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again met Donald Trump in Washington. But this time the Ukrainian president arrived with the support of key European leaders, who dropped everything in the hopes of securing a potential deal to end the war with Russia. Washington bureau chief David Smith speaks to Nour Haydar about whether Europe's united front managed to steer Trump away from the Kremlin, what chance is left of a ceasefire and how Trump welcomed Vladimir Putin back on to the world stage. Listen to the episode here Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen $ The promise of forced software patches is that they improve the software and apps we use every day – make them more convenient, maintain our security and so on. But what actually happens most of the time, writes Patrick Lum, is that updates change perfectly fine tech to the point where it sucks. Australian Book Week is here – and we'd love to see your children's costumes The highlight of Book Week for many kids is the chance to dress up as their most beloved characters, bringing them to life from the pages of a favourite book and into a costume parade. The annual event, which promotes literacy, is celebrating 80 years as part of Australian school life – and we'd love to see the weirdest, wackiest and most wonderful costumes. Today's starter word is: BOOT. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply. If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Josh Willie named new Tasmanian Labor leader after party officially concedes election defeat
Tasmanian Labor has replaced Dean Winter as parliamentary leader, with Josh Willie elected unopposed to serve as the state's new opposition leader. The party, which has been in opposition for 11 years, met for more than seven hours on Wednesday before announcing Willie's appointment. 'Tasmanian Labor has a proud history and I look forward to giving this role everything I've got to return Labor to government,' he said in a statement. It came a day after Winter's bid to take power via a no-confidence motion in parliament fell spectacularly flat. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Neither the incumbent Liberal government (14 seats) nor Labor (10) got the 18 seats needed for majority at a snap poll on 19 July, meaning both parties had spent the past month courting the 11-member crossbench in an attempt to form government. Tasmania's governor had declared that in the absence of a confidence and supply agreement, Jeremy Rockliff would remain premier as the incumbent, but Winter had flagged a motion of no confidence in the Liberals on the first day of the new parliament. None of the crossbench, made up of up five Greens, five independents and one Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP, backed Winter's bid on Tuesday. The result meant the election was declared officially lost by Labor, with party rules meaning the leadership was automatically spilled as a result. Winter was criticised by several crossbench MPs on Tuesday for failing to compromise during policy negotiations. The Liberals made a number of concessions to the largely left-leaning crossbench, including a pledge to ban greyhound racing and review salmon farming. Labor suffered a 3% swing against it at the election and picked up 25.9% of the primary vote, the party's worst election result in more than a century. Winter, who assumed the Labor leadership 16 months ago, said he took 'full responsibility' for the election result and it was 'understandable' for the party to have a new leader. He accused Rockliff of selling out workers by shifting positions. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'Some say that politics is the art of compromise, but compromise does not and should not mean capitulation,' said Winter, who will continue as an MP for the seat of Franklin. Willie, from the party's left faction, was a teacher before entering politics and spent eight years in the upper house before being elected in the lower house in 2024. Janie Finlay has been elected as deputy leader, replacing Anita Dow. The Greens and several independents said they lacked faith in the Liberals, but had less faith that Labor could form a workable government. Rockliff said it was time to 'get on with the job' and policy shifts were a recognition of a minority scenario. Tasmania's fourth election in seven years was triggered after Rockliff lost a no-confidence motion in June that criticised the state's ballooning budget debt.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
AI doom, nature laws and solving the housing problem: five takeaways from day two of economic reform roundtable
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, presided over talks about growing the Australian economy on day two of the economic reform roundtable. As proceedings wrapped up, Chalmers said 'there is a real prospect of a useful consensus emerging on a number of key reform areas.' Here are five takeaways from Parliament House: The government is optimistic about efforts to lower spending including on the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the age pension. The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, on Tuesday announced plans to end the freeze on the deeming rate used to calculate welfare payments. The freeze has cost the budget about $1.8bn. Plibersek said a phased return to pre-Covid settings is appropriate as inflation pain eases for households. Separately, the health minister, Mark Butler, said the 8% growth target for the NDIS was 'simply unsustainable'. Currently growth is closer to 11%. Butler wants it lowered to 5 or 6%. Butler is expected to join a session on efficient and high-quality government services, spending and care at the summit on Thursday. While business leaders and experts talk up the potential of AI, Sally McManus, the ACTU's secretary, backed a worker-centric approach to rolling out the technology. Danielle Wood, the Productivity Commission's chair, said AI could lift the average workers' income by $4,300 per year over the coming decade. While acknowledging AI's potential, McManus said 'we shouldn't just say automatically we are all going to be better off because of AI - we've got to make sure we are'. 'It may boost productivity, it may also just boost profits.' McManus said she wasn't advocating for 'over-regulating' AI. But she said there was a 'doomer' view of the technology that comes with the fear of a 'Trump-billionaire, let-it-rip' approach. 'People have got to trust AI to deliver good outcomes. You are going to get better outcomes if you involve people in the use of it.' A discussion on better regulation and approvals involved the environment minister, Murray Watt, who is in charge of the rewrite of the Howard-era Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC). Kelly O'Shanassy, the Australian Conservation Foundation chief, said increased productivity was meaningless if the planet is overheated and natural environment is lost. O'Shanassy has welcomed signs of consensus the establishment of areas for critical developments like housing and renewable energy. However, there was no consensus on the powers of the planned independent environment protection agency. Business has pushed for the federal government to retain approval powers. 'We went into the room a bit worried that people would have a knee jerk reaction of 'just get rid of the EPBC Act', or 'just devolve all the responsibilities to the states' or 'fast track environmental approvals for renewables and housing',' O'Shanassy said. 'None of that was the reality. I think there was support for better, smarter regulation that has increased protections for nature.' With most in agreement that we need to make it easier to build homes, Daniel Mookhey, the New South Wales treasurer, and the Business Council of Australia's chief executive, Bran Black, voiced strong support for a temporary freeze of the national construction code. Mookhey, speaking on the sidelines of the roundtable, said a pause in adding new federal regulations would 'certainly' lead to more homes being built. 'If the national code is frozen it gives us a bit more time to get the interactions between national standards and state standards clear and sorted. But equally, it will give a lot of confidence to people who are looking to build right now.' Black was more circumspect on whether there was widespread support for pausing the NCC, saying 'there isn't agreement on that within the room'. The Australian Council of Social Service boss Cassandra Goldie told the meeting a freeze might be bad for vulnerable people and flexibility was required to improve the standards of housing, including in the rental market. Meanwhile, the former industry minister Ed Husic said he was concerned about the proposed pause to the code. Husic said the former Coalition government had frozen new homebuilding regulations, only to rush through a mass of changes in a short period of time. 'People who've lived in older homes with regulations that weren't as strong understand why livability is such an issue.' The Productivity Commission's Danielle Wood reminded attendees that 'it's productivity that drives improvements in living standards'. Average productivity growth in the decade to 2014 had slumped to a 60-year low of 0.4%, she said. According to slides obtained by Guardian Australia, she blamed the slowdown on the waning boost from technology, low rates of business investment, a less dynamic economy, and a disinterest in pro-growth policy reforms. The shift to more labour-intensive services industries, such as the care sector, has also played its part in the productivity decline. The PC boss then ran through the commission's 'five pillar' interim reports. She highlighted smarter regulation is needed for approvals for building homes and green energy projects. 'Australia needs 10,000kms of new transmission lines and a six-fold increase in grid-scale renewable energy to reach net zero by 2050,' her presentation slides noted. But the average time for a decision under the EPBC for clean energy projects was over 500 days, while 45 projects from 2018 to 2022 still had no decision by November 2024. It was a similar story in housing, where Wood said actual building is a small fraction of the time it takes to build a home. 'An apartment complex that takes seven to 10 years to develop can be built in one to two years.'
