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Liz Hayes departs Nine after 44 years with the network

“I never thought I would still be a woman in television at my age. It’s a fickle business and when I started it was a novelty to have a woman,”
Liz Hayes at Lee screening. News of Liz Hayes
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 20: Liz Hayes attends the gala screening of "Lee" at Ritz Cinemas on October 20, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Hanna Lassen/Getty Images)

Legendary news reporter and journalist Liz Hayes has announced she is departing Nine after 44 years with the television network.

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Liz joined Nine in 1981 as a fresh-faced 25-year-old, ready to take on the news world. She was one of two women on the news team.

She began as a reporter, graduated to presenting the morning bulletin, and in 1986 was made co-host of Today Show. Liz remained there for a decade. It was this show that made her a household name. After her tenure at Today, she joined 60 Minutes as a correspondent where her talents as a passionate interviewer were put on show.

For the next fifteen years, she covered everything from natural disasters to US presidential elections and interviewed prime ministers, music legends like Olivia Newton-John and Paul McCartney, athletes like Roger Federer, and influential actors — like George Clooney, who she described as”totally charming” in an interview we did with her in 2021.

(Credit: Alana Landsberry)
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In 2021, Liz got her own show, Under Investigation with Liz Hayes, in which Liz and her team of investigative journalists aimed to uncover new evidence and bring new light to unsolved crimes. It won the 2024 Media Diversity Australia Award.

Throughout her career, Liz told heartwrenching and important stories in all corners of the world, from the stories of heart transplant patients in her award-winning documentary The Greatest Gift to a television special on the Lindt Cafe siege in 2014 Sydney, to the human horror of the Syrian refugee crisis. She’s reported from Sydney to Turkey, Iran to the Arctic Circle and everywhere in between.

Past and Present Today Show presenters Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson, George Negus and Liz Hayes live on-air as part of the Today Show 25th birthday celebrations outside the Sydney Opera House on June 28, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Liz graced the cover of our February 2021 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly and delved into the impact she’s had on the industry as a trailblazer for women.

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“I never thought I would still be a woman in television at my age. It’s a fickle business and when I started it was a novelty to have a woman,” Liz admits. “I always used to think by the time I’m 40 I’ll be out of a job, and then maybe I’ll make it to 50 and then if I’m still here at 60 that’s extraordinary and I made that. So I’m tootling along, wondering.”

You can read our full interview with Liz Hayes here.

According to a release by the network, Liz will remain “part of the Nine family”, so expect to see her gracing our screens at some point in the future as part of “special stories and events”.

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