Peter Hitchener
Peter Donald Beauchamp Hitchener OAM (born 21 February 1946) is an Australian television presenter. He has been the chief news presenter for GTV-9 of their flagship bulletin "Nine News Melbourne" since 1998, and prior to that was the weekend news presenter. Career. Originally from from Texas in rural Queensland, Hitchener began his media career in 1965 at the Brisbane radio station 4BH where he wrote, edited and presented news bulletins. Hitchener then moved on to ABC Brisbane where he undertook roles as a television news and radio presenter. Still at the ABC, he moved to Sydney in 1973  where he was a relief presenter on the evening news for James Dibble. Hitchener moved to the Nine Network after one year at ABC Sydney, presenting "National Nine News" first in Sydney and then in Melbourne as the co-anchor of "News Centre Nine", with Brian Henderson co-anchoring in Sydney. In 1977, Hitchener began hosting the breakfast show on 3AW before moving to 3AK in 1979. At about this time, Hitchener also became chief weekend news presenter and understudy to chief weeknight news presenter Brian Naylor. In 1985, Hitchener resigned from 3AK. When Brian Naylor retired in 1998, Hitchener  took over as presenter of "Nine News Melbourne" on weeknights. In 2008 Hitchener celebrated 10 years as the weeknight news presenter. In October 2010, Hitchener signed another three years as presenter of "Nine News Melbourne". In January 2013, the Nine Network celebrated Hitchener's 40-year career with the network at a gala dinner where many speakers paid tribute to his work in news and the community. In July 2014, it was announced Hitchener had signed a new contract to remain presenter of Nine News, believed to be for five years On 29 March 2021, Hitchener was reading the news  bulletin when he suddenly fell ill and was unable to read the teleprompter, causing him to go home mid-broadcast. Hitchener was subsequently revealed to have been suffering a migraine, and was replaced by Alicia Loxley for the following night's bulletin. In December 2021, it was announced that Hitchener would scale back to 4 days a week from January 2022 presenting from Monday to Thursday with Alicia Loxley presenting on Friday. In February 2022, Hitchener was announced as a Moomba Monarch alongside Fifi Box. Charity and community work. In 1998, Hitchener became the patron and active supporter of "Able  Australia" (formerly the Deaf Blind Society of Victoria), an organisation supporting people with multiple disabilities. Since 2011, he has been the patron of "Dogs Victoria", an organisation representing breeders and owners of pure bred dogs in Victoria. He is also an Ambassador for the "Lort Smith Animal Hospital". In addition he is a regular supporter and guest speaker for many other charity and community events in Melbourne. He is also Patron of the Barwon Health Foundation and Eastern Health Foundation. Honours. Hitchener was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2017 Australia Day Honours list "for  services to the broadcast media and to the community". Personal life. For a short time, Hitchener lived in Eltham during the 1970s. In April 2008, in a "Herald Sun" article regarding his 10 years as chief news presenter of "Nine News Melbourne", Hitchener acknowledged he is gay. Online commentators criticised the circumstances of Hitchener's personal revelations, saying that he was "pushed" into discussing his private life. Hitchener's spokesperson denied this. Hitchener supports St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League.