Award winning journalist Hamish Macdonald will present the Mornings program on 702 ABC Radio Sydney in 2025 leading a group of incoming talent across the station this year.
Hamish will present the Mornings program from Monday to Thursday from Monday 20 January.
“First and foremost I’d like to pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of Sarah Macdonald. I know these are big shoes to fill.” Hamish said.
“I’m looking forward to putting my head down, getting to work from Monday and serving the wonderful 702 audience in what will be a huge year of news for Sydney.”
Leading audiences into the weekend will be journalist and presenter Kathryn Robinson who will present Mornings every Friday from Friday 31 January.
Audience favourite Dom Knight will host Friday Drive and Saturday Mornings. On Sunday Mornings renowned science and technology journalist and presenter Rae Johnston will bring audiences a mix of lifestyle, gardening, information and conversation.
Other new voices on the network this year are Chris Bath who will start her new role presenting Monday to Thursday Drive and Charlie Pickering who will present Thank God It’s Friday!.
New 702 ABC Radio Sydney Manager Katrina Palmer joined the team this month and said “I’m excited to be starting with such a fantastic line up.”
“ABC Radio Sydney is deeply connected to audiences across Australia’s largest city, breaking news and sharing stories from across the region every day.
“In 2025 we will build on these connections in new and meaningful ways and I’m eager to get started from ABC Radio Sydney’s new home in Parramatta.”
About Hamish Macdonald
Hamish Macdonald is an award-winning journalist who has covered wars, disasters, and major world events. He presents Take Me To Your Leader and co-hosts Global Roaming on ABC Radio National and The Project on Channel Ten.
Hamish has won numerous awards including a Walkley for current affairs journalism. In 2024 he won the EU-Qantas Journalism Prize and the Elizabeth O’Neill Journalism Award. He was also previously named Young Journalist of the Year by Britain’s Royal Television Society.
Overseas, Hamish has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and Ukraine, the nuclear disaster in Japan, uprisings in Hong Kong and Egypt, the London bombings and the rise of ISIS in Iraq.
He has featured regularly on the ABC since 2016, hosting Radio National Breakfast, Black Summer bushfire coverage, Q&A, Australian of the Year and reporting for Foreign Correspondent.
In 2016 he became a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Hamish is Patron of the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation and Ambassador for Dementia Australia.
About Kathryn Robinson
Kathryn Robinson is an Australian journalist and presenter who has presented Ten’s Meet the Press, Ten Late News and Ten Evening News and was news presenter on 6PM with George Negus.
She was a fill in presenter on The Project and a regular Friday night panellist on the program.
Since 2015 Kathryn has been a part of the ABC News team presenting on the ABC NEWS Channel. She hosted The Business for two years, presented ABC Weekend Breakfast, The Drum and One Plus One and filled in as presenter on Radio National Drive.
About Rae Johnston
Rae Johnston is a multi-award-winning journalist. A Wiradyuri and Greek woman who was born and raised on Darug and Gundungurra Country in the Blue Mountains of NSW.
Rae is a leading commentator on all things science, technology, video games and geek culture. She is the creator and presenter of Weird Tech podcast and will also present ABC Radio National’s Download This Show in 2025.
She is also a presenter on Back Roads on ABC TV and Going Places With Ernie Dingo on NITV.
Rae serves on the boards of both the Telstra Foundation and Swinburne University of Technology.
About Dom Knight
Dom Knight is a comedy writer and broadcaster who was one of the founding members of The Chaser when it began as a satirical newspaper in a small terrace house over the road from Sydney Uni. He later worked on most of the team’s ABC TV projects.
Dom’s first radio experience came in The Chaser team’s early years, hosting late night shows on a commercial music station. More recently, he’s hosted several comedy podcasts and radio shows with his Chaser colleagues.
From 2012 to 2016 Dom presented Evenings on ABC Radio Sydney, and in recent years he has filled in across the station, including on Drive this week.
Dom is also the author of nine books, most recently The Dictionary of Terrible Ideas for ABC Books.