Charles Croucher is an Australian journalist. He is currently the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

's chief political editor, a position he was appointed to in October 2022.

Early life and career

He grew up in

Branxton, New South Wales Branxton is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Branxton is north of Sydney via the Pacific Motorway and New England Highway. Branxton is located mostly in the City of Cessnock, but part of it is in Singleton Shire. H ...

. He attended Hunter Valley Grammar School, graduating in 2005. He studied a Bachelor of Sport Studies/Bachelor of Communication (Journalism)

double degree Joint degrees are academic qualifications awarded through integrated curricula often jointly coordinated and delivered by multiple higher education institutions, sometimes across different countries. Graduates may receive a single qualification ...

Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain (British Army and Royal ...

, where he graduated in 2009. While he was at university, he found employment with Bathurst radio stations 2BS and B-Rock where he worked as a news presenter, before becoming the host of a weekend breakfast show and then the presenter of the weekday morning program. In 2009, Croucher was a finalist in the "Best News Presenter (Country)" category at the

Australian Commercial Radio Awards The Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs), previously known as the rAWARDS, are an Australian award ceremony held to recognise outstanding achievements in the radio industry. They were first held in 1989, and recognise excellence in all are ...

but lost to Lois Chislett from 3YB in

Warrnambool, Victoria Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...

Television career

In 2010, Croucher began his long association with the Nine Network in Darwin when he was appointed a sports reporter for '' Nine News Darwin'' where he also became a weekend news presenter. In 2012, he moved to Melbourne to work as a reporter for ''

A Current Affair ''A Current Affair'' may refer to: * ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network * ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...

'' before relocating to

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

in 2013 upon being appointed a politics reporter based at

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Meeting places of parliament Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * P ...

. From 2018 to 2020, Croucher was Nine's Los Angeles-based US correspondent before returning to Australia to become a co-host of ''

Weekend Today Weekend editions of '' Today'', an American morning news and talk program that airs daily on NBC, began with the launch of the Sunday edition of the program on September 20, 1987. After NBC expanded ''Today'' to seven days a week in the 1990s ...

'' in 2020. In October 2022, it was announced he would succeed

Chris Uhlmann Christopher Gerald Uhlmann (born 24 June 1960) is a former security guard, Australian journalist and television presenter. Career Uhlmann was formerly a seminarian, a security guard, and a journalist with ''The Canberra Times'' before joining ...

as the Nine Network's political editor. As Nine's political editor, Croucher regularly provides commentary in a regular segment on '' RN Breakfast'', where he discusses political news with

Patricia Karvelas Patricia Karvelas (born 28 January 1981) is an Australian radio presenter, current affairs journalist and political correspondent. Karvelas hosted ''RN Breakfast, Breakfast'' on Radio National, ABC Radio National from 2021 until 2024. Early l ...

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

National Press Club incident

Following a

National Press Club A press club is an organization for journalists and others who are professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press Club ...

address in October 2022, Croucher asked Federal Treasurer

Jim Chalmers James Edward Chalmers (born 2 March 1978) is an Australian politician and economist who has been serving as the treasurer of Australia in the Albanese government since May 2022. A member of the Labor Party (ALP), he has been the member of p ...

whether the

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 ...

's promise to cut electricity bills by $275 had been included in the Federal Budget, Chalmers mistakenly claimed: "Yep, it's in the Budget". However, Chalmers later claimed to have misheard the question, phoning Croucher to confess his mistake, and correcting the record in 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 ...

. When pressed on the issue during Question Time by Angus Taylor, he stated: "I was temporarily blinded by the vast influence of Charles Croucher who has inherited this remarkable position of power from

Laurie Oakes Laurie Oakes (born 14 August 1943 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is an Australian former journalist and author. He worked in the Canberra Press Gallery from 1969 to 2017, covering the Parliament of Australia and federal elections for print, ra ...

and

and I say, as I said to Charles who I rang straight after the press club, I rang Charles and I rang Laura Tingle and I said I thought you were asking me a different question, I misheard it and I answered a different question and so I say again to Charles, who is in the gallery through you, Mr Speaker, I misheard his question and I am generally grateful for once to the member for Hume for the opportunity to talk about this. The incident was widely reported and commentated on in the media. Chalmers was criticised for his explanation by 2GB host

Ben Fordham Ben Fordham (born 29 November 1976) is an Australian sports reporter and radio presenter. , Fordham hosts the breakfast radio program ''Ben Fordham Live'' on Sydney radio station 2GB. Early life and education When Ben Fordham was seven years ...

who doubted that he had misheard Croucher's question.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croucher, Charles Australian television journalists Australian political journalists 21st-century Australian journalists Australian television newsreaders and news presenters Australian male journalists Charles Sturt University alumni People from the Hunter Region Living people Year of birth missing (living people)