Financial journalist Alan Kohler, a familiar face on the ABC’s 7pm news bulletin, will retire in December after three decades as the public broadcaster’s highly respected financial guru. Now 74, Kohler has been presenting finance, complete with idiosyncratic graphs, on the ABC for almost a quarter of a century, signing off each evening since 2002 with the catchphrase: “And that’s finance”. I wanted to take the opportunity publicly to say how much he will be missed from the ABC.
I hope and expect that he’ll continue to make a contribution to economic commentary in this country. His contribution has been immense and I hope that it continues in one way or another and I expect that it will.” During the pandemic, Kohler delighted audiences with a quirky home-based TV set he decorated with an ever-changing erudite pile of books and a single house plant. ler joined the ABC in 1995 as business and economics correspondent for the 7.30 Report after editing the Age and the Australian Financial Review. During his 50-year career in media he has enjoyed success as an entrepreneur, founding online platforms Eureka Report and Business Spectator.
The managing director of the ABC, Hugh Marks, praised his “extraordinary contribution” to the ABC. The broadcaster’s new news director, Simon Robinson, said Kohler would remain connected to the ABC with future ideas and projects. Economist Stephen Koukoulas said Kohler had made a huge contribution to economics, policy and markets and was a “thoroughly fabulous chap”.
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