John Lehmann has been appointed deputy editor of The Australian, returning to the newspaper he first worked on as a young reporter almost two decades ago. 
Currently editor-at-large for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, Lehmann is a former editor-in-chief of news magazine The Bulletin.
The Australian's editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell said he was delighted to team up again with Lehmann.
"I am glad to be working with John again," Mitchell said. "He was my state political correspondent in Brisbane at the Courier-Mail and a senior writer on The Australian before leaving to edit The Bulletin magazine.
"I am also grateful to the editor of The Daily Telegraph, Paul Whittaker, for enticing John back to journalism two years ago." Lehmann, who will join The Australian at the end of   October, replaces Peter Fray, who has been appointed University of Technology, Sydney's new professor of journalism.Lehmann worked on The Australian from 1998 to 2001 as senior Olympics writer, before working on The New York Post during a four-year stint as crime reporter and news editor. He was on the ground for the attacks of   September 11 and subsequently reported on the FBI investigation. He returned to The Australian in 2005 as the newspaper's media business writer.