60 Minutes’ Liz Hayes exits Nine after 44 years with broadcaster
Veteran broadcaster and journalist Liz Hayes has made a shock career announcement, bringing to an end 44 years with Nine. She’s off contract, but will “continue to tell stories”.
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Veteran journalist Liz Hayes has announced her departure from Nine after 44 years with the network.
“I leave Nine grateful for the decades of experience, the wonderful friendships that have endured and deeply appreciative to the many people who trusted me to tell their stories,” Hayes said in a statement issued by Nine.
An hour later, at 3pm, Hayes shared a video to her personal Instagram account.
“I made that decision (to leave Nine) last year because I felt it was time to move to the beat of a different drum, my own,” she said.
“I have had the most extraordinary life telling wonderful stories working with brilliant people and an audience that, thank you, you have hung in there with me.
“And I am hoping that you will still hang around because I am not going anywhere. I am still passionate about telling stories and I plan to tell many more. So this is not goodbye, this is the beginning of what I see as a great new and exciting chapter in my life. I hope you come along for the ride.”
Hayes, 66, has worked across many prime time shows, from 60 Minutes to Under Investigation with Liz Hayes.
While no longer ”under contract” as staff with the network, the broadcaster said she would “remain part of the Nine family” and “viewers can expect to see her on their screens for special stories and events”.
“When I arrived at Nine I had little more than a notebook and a typewriter, but like my new and far more experienced colleagues, I carried with me an enormous passion for telling stories. I was blessed. I had found my tribe,” she said in the statement.
“Even Nine’s owner at the time, Kerry Packer, seemed to carry the same passionate story telling gene.
“Of course since then much has changed. The media world has evolved, as have I.
“What hasn’t changed is the need for good stories to be told, and I will continue to tell them.”
On the immediate horizon for Hayes is a new book she has written about outback astronomer Trevor Barry.
Hayes started at Nine in 1981 as a reporter and went on to present the morning bulletin.
In 1986, she began co-hosting Today with Steve Liebmann.
A decade later, Hayes joined 60 Minutes, where she has covered US presidential elections, natural disasters and wars.
She has a Logie Award to her name for her documentary, The Greatest Gift.
“Liz Hayes is an Australian television legend and has dedicated most of her career to Nine, she will leave an undeniable legacy,” Nine director of television Michael Healy said.
“Her many accomplishments speak volumes about the type of journalist she is – tenacious, a truth seeker, and above all, a storyteller. I’d like to recognise Liz for the impact she has had on Australian journalism and thank her for all she has done for Nine over the past 44 years.
“We know Liz’s next chapter will be just as successful as her last, and she has our full support.”
Hayes was born in Taree, NSW, and got her start in journalism as a cadet at the local Manning River Times newspaper.
She has been married twice, including to Australian media identity John Singleton.
Hayes is known to be very private about her personal life, although shared her story in the best selling book, I’m Liz Hayes, A Memoir, in 2023.
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