Veteran journalist Liz Hayes is heading back to television, just months after announcing she was departing Nine following a 44 year career at the network.
Hayes has now jumped ship over to rival network Seven, and will be a guest correspondent for Spotlight, the Seven’s flagship current affairs program.
Hayes will front a long-form interview with Lauren Zonfrillo, the widow of MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo.
It will mark Lauren’s first public conversation since her husband’s death in a Melbourne hotel room in May 2023. The exclusive is expected to air on Spotlight in the coming weeks.
Executive Producer of Spotlight, Gemma Williams, said the addition of Hayes brings weight to the project: “We’re privileged to welcome Liz Hayes to Spotlight as a guest correspondent. Widely respected for her decades of experience, storytelling expertise and journalistic integrity, we look forward to collaborating with Liz on this special project.”
Hayes joined 9News in 1981 as a reporter and then went on to present the morning bulletin. In 1986 she became co-host of Today with Steve Liebmann, a role she held for 10 years.
Hayes joined 60 Minutes in 1996 and has covered everything from US presidential elections to the heart-wrenching Syrian refugee crisis, as well as natural disasters across the globe.
On leaving, she posted a video to Instagram saying, “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.”
Over the past four-and-a-half decades, Hayes’ contribution to journalism has been recognised with a Logie Award for producing and presenting acclaimed documentary The Greatest Gift and the 2024 Media Diversity Australia Award for Under Investigation with Liz Hayes.
The award celebrates journalists making an outstanding contribution through their reporting on diverse people or issues in Australia, and was the first time any commercial television network has been recognised in this category.