Speculation Leigh Sales will host her own weekly talk show on ABC in 2023

There is word around the ABC that outgoing 7.30 host Leigh Sales could be given her own weekly talk show for the broadcaster in 2023.

Outgoing 7.30 host Leigh Sales could be given her own weekly talk show for the ABC in 2023, according to rumours at the broadcaster.

In February, Ms Sales shocked viewers when she announced she was stepping down after 12 years at the helm of the ABC’s flagship current affairs show once the federal election was over.

She still has a few weeks remaining in the coveted role and will be officially stepping down at the end of June, after which she is expected to take a break.

But according to speculation at the national broadcaster – picked up by the ears of The Australian’s Media Diary – she could return to screens next year for a once-a-week celebrity interview show.

“The feeling around Aunty for some time has been that Sales could fill the void by providing a kind of ‘cross between Denton and Oprah Winfrey,’” Diary’s Nick Tabakoff reported.

He also wrote that the idea for a celebrity interview show with Sales as host first started as far back as five years ago within the ABC.

On 7.30 she has spoken at length with numerous celebrities including Paul McCartney, Ricky Gervais and Shane Warne.

Despite being known for her tough political interviews, Sales said her interview with former Beatle McCartney was one of the best moments of her career.

She said meeting the legendary songwriter and musician “and getting a hug from him is one of the best days of my life”.

In the interview recorded when McCartney toured Australia in late 2017, she was clearly awe-struck at being in the presence of one of the two surviving members of The Beatles.

“Hi Leigh, give us a kiss, come one,” McCartney said when he met her, pulling her in for a hug.

In February, Sales revealed why she was stepping away from 7.30.

Speaking on the show, the 48-year-old revealed she would be leaving the desk “once the federal election is over”.

“There’s nothing wrong, other than I just feel a strong sense of it being time to pass the baton to the next runner in the race and to take a break,” she said.

“At the end of an election cycle feels like a good time to move on to something new at the ABC. I hope it’s been obvious that I’ve always approached this job with one goal – and that is to ask frank questions of people in power, without fear or favour, that a fair-minded, reasonable person with some common sense watching at home might like to ask if they were sitting in my position.”

Leigh Sales has been at the helm of the current affairs program for 12 years. Picture: Renee Nowytarger/The Australian

Since taking up the role in 2010, Sales has covered five Australian prime ministers and presented nine federal budgets.

“I’ve tried to shut down and call out bulls**t, hold powerful people to account, expose lies, incompetence and exaggeration in all political parties and all issues and present facts even when they’re unpopular or inconvenient,” she said.

“I have truly tried my absolute hardest on behalf of you at home to do that every single time I’ve sat at the desk. Anchoring 7.30 has been the most amazing job and I’ll never stop being grateful for the opportunities it’s given me.”

ABC News has appointed multi-award-winning investigative journalist Sarah Ferguson as the new host of 7.30.