 He was employed as a sports journalist in Sydney and London.In 1975, he took up a position as a political correspondent for The Australian in Canberra.In 1975, he worked as a political journalist in Canberra and during this time, Hartung wrote several newspaper articles highlighting the inadequate support from the Federal Government for sport and assisted John Brown, Shadow Minister for Sport, to develop the Australian Labor Party's sport policy for the 1983 Federal Election.