Legendary news figure Liz Hayes has announced she will be leaving Nine after an incredible 44-year career with the network.

Hayes will remain part of the Nine family and be part of special stories and events, as well as pursuing other opportunities.

After joining 9News as a reporter in 1981, Hayes 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.

She 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.

Hayes’s 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.

“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,” Hayes said.

“I was blessed. I had found my tribe. 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.

“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.”