Christopher Gerald Uhlmann (born 24 June 1960) is a former security guard, Australian journalist and television presenter.

Career

Uhlmann was formerly a

seminarian A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

, a

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

, and a journalist with ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'' before joining the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

as a

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

in 1998. From 1999 to 2004, Uhlmann co-hosted '' Local Radio Breakfast'' on ABC Radio Canberra with David Kilby. In 2005, he was Jon Faine's producer for the ''Mornings'' show on

ABC Radio Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official List of radio station callsigns in Victoria, callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924 and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after Radi ...

, and in 2006 was made chief political correspondent for ABC Radio current affairs. In 2008, Uhlmann switched to television, and was political editor for '' The 7.30 Report'',

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, and ABC News channel. In December 2010, he was appointed co-host of the ABC Television current affairs program, '' 7.30''. In 2012, the show was revamped again, with Uhlmann returning to the political editor role, and

Leigh Sales Leigh Peta Sales (born 10 May 1973) is an Australian journalist and author, best known for her work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). She has won three Walkley Awards, and in 2023 was nominated for the Gold Logie Award for M ...

hosting the program. In 2013, Uhlmann stepped down as ''7.30'' political editor. He announced that he would be working on a documentary about the

Rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. The fishes in this genus are commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without ...

and Gillard governments for the ABC. In February 2014, Uhlmann became the 14th presenter of '' AM'', the ABC Radio news and current affairs program. He took over after Tony Eastley resigned to take up a senior presenter role with the ABC News channel. In January 2015, Uhlmann was appointed in a newly created position as ABC News political editor. As a result of the new position Uhlmann left his role as presenter of ''AM'', and was replaced by Michael Brissenden. In July 2017, Uhlmann's 2-minute report for ABC's '' Insiders'' on

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's appearance at the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit went viral, and he was interviewed extensively in the United States, on various television networks. In August 2017, Uhlmann announced that he would be leaving the ABC to join

Nine News Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...

as political editor, replacing Laurie Oakes. In August 2018, amid the 2018 Liberal Party leadership spill, Uhlmann gained popularity again on social media when he appeared on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'', where he stated that the

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

television channel, 2GB radio station and

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television prod ...

were "waging a war" against Prime Minister of Australia

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

. When asked how he expected presenters on Sky or 2GB to respond, he said he "couldn't give a rat's arse", adding "If you dish it out, you have to be prepared to take it". Uhlmann retired in October 2022 and Charles Croucher was appointed political editor for Nine News. In April 2024, Uhlmann joined Sky News as a political contributor, and ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' newspaper as a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

Awards

*2008: Walkley Award for Broadcast Interviewing

Politics

Uhlmann unsuccessfully contested the ACT 1998 general election for the electorate of Molonglo with the Osborne Independent Group. The conservative group was named after Paul Osborne, who was strongly opposed to abortion, and advocated blocking both euthanasia legislation and any attempt to decriminalise abortion. Osborne and Uhlmann fell out when Osborne moved to severely restrict abortion in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

. Six years earlier, Uhlmann had written in support of establishing an abortion clinic in the territory.

Books

With Steve Lewis, Uhlmann has written a series of political novels set in Canberra: ''The Marmalade Files'' (2012), ''The Mandarin Code'' (2014) and ''The Shadow Game'' (2016). These feature a political reporter, Harry Dunkley, investigating a conspiracy involving China, the US and Australian security organisations. In 2016 the first two books were adapted as the Australian television series '' Secret City'', and Harry became Harriet.

Personal life

Uhlmann is married to Gai Brodtmann, who was an

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the

Division of Canberra The Division of Canberra is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the Australian Capital Territory. It is named for the city of Canberra, Australia's national capital, and includes all of cent ...

from 2010 to 2019. Brodtmann is also a member of the

Australian Strategic Policy Institute The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is a defence and strategic policy think tank based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, founded by the Australian government, and funded by the Australian Department of Defence along with o ...

council.

References

External links

*
Contributions
at ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Uhlmann, Chris 1960 births Living people Australian television journalists Australian television newsreaders and news presenters ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Australian radio producers Australian people of German descent Sky News Australia reporters and presenters The Australian journalists Australian columnists Walkley Award winners Australian television talk show hosts