Liz Hayes remembers the day her family got their first TV set. She grew up on a dairy farm near Taree in NSW, at a time when a lot of country areas were just starting to get TV reception.
“Dad won a television, because he was a champion sailor,” Liz remembers. “That’s how we got our first television. And we sat in front of it and looked at the test pattern for weeks.”
That wide-eyed young country girl could never have guessed that she would grow up to become one of Australian TV’s most respected journalists. Now 65, Liz is busier than ever, reporting for 60 Minutes as well as hosting her own show, Under Investigation.
Liz grew up on a dairy farm near Taree in NSW, and is now one of Australia’s most respected journalists.
(Image: TV WEEK)In a chat with TV WEEK, the former country girl is warm and down-to-earth and funny. When she’s asked how she feels about all the time she has to spend in hair and makeup to achieve the TV presenter look, there’s laughter over the phone.
“If you saw me now, you’d know that I’m not committed to maintaining the look when I walk away! But it’s part of the deal, and I marvel at how good a job they do. I mean, the transformation of me is to be held up there as award-winning, really!”
As someone who always “really liked stories”, Liz started out as a cadet at the local newspaper in Taree. She moved to Sydney with her first husband, builder Brian Hayes, working briefly in magazines before getting into TV.
In 1986, she took on the job that would bring her into people’s living rooms every morning: co-host of Today, alongside Steve Liebmann. Having never been a “morning person”, the early starts were a challenge, taking her back to her childhood on the farm.
Now 65, Liz is busier than ever, reporting for 60 Minutes as well as hosting her own show, Under Investigation.
(Image: Nine)“I had to bring in the cows,” she explains. “That was my job and I hated it because it was so early.”
Co-hosting Today was “exhausting”, but Liz thrived.
“They were 10 fantastic years. I think it gave me the confidence to be me. I felt very comfortable in that format.”
In 1996, 60 Minutes came calling. Liz was off around the world, covering stories from the Syrian refugee crisis to the US’s nuclear conflict with North Korea. But the moment that went viral was when Russell Brand kissed her, after she’d interviewed him on a movie set and he’d taken off with her in his golf cart.
“I was not anticipating that, but I hadn’t anticipated that he would effectively kidnap me,” she remembers with a laugh.
In 1996, Liz was covering stories from the Syrian refugee crisis to the US’s nuclear conflict with North Korea.
(Image: Supplied)She says there’s a photo of the kiss that looks “terrible”.
“When I look at that I think, ‘Oh my God, it looks like we’re having a passionate moment!’ But trust me, it wasn’t.”
As for Under Investigation, that’s a show that’s very close to Liz’s heart. It takes a lot of work to come up with an hour’s worth of TV on one subject, and Liz admits that it’s “stealing my time”.
“But I love that,” she adds. “It was an idea that was put forward by Gareth Harvey, who’s the executive producer, and myself. It’s a program we asked to do, so we did it to ourselves, but we’re ever so grateful to be given an opportunity to do something brand new.”
While a lot of people have had a quiet two years because of COVID, Liz says she’s never been busier, because of Under Investigation.
Liz started out as a cadet at the local newspaper in Taree. She worked briefly in magazines before getting into TV.
(Image: TV WEEK)“So just when I should have taken up craftwork or something, I didn’t have time,” she says, laughing again. “I just focused a bit more on how to stay fit and healthy in my own backyard. I did lots of walking and stuff like that. I decided that the one thing I needed to do was to keep moving my butt!”
Another thing Liz has devoted time to over the past couple of years is pushing for reforms to the NSW rural health system.
In September 2019, her beloved father Bryan Ryan died in a country town hospital from a stroke, after the hospital failed to give him his anti-stroke tablets. The following year, Liz shared the story of her father’s tragic death, drawing attention to the failings of the rural health system and helping to launch a parliamentary inquiry.
Liz admits she “didn’t particularly want to” share her father’s story.
“But I couldn’t not,” she adds. “I ask people all the time to share their stories and I hoped, like most people when they choose to do these things, that it would mean something. It might change something.”
The inquiry has heard from hundreds of people, including Liz.
“If nothing comes of that, then I will be genuinely appalled, and I think it would be unforgivable.”
After nearly five decades in journalism, Liz has no plans to retire. She still gets as excited about a good story as she ever did.
“I’d be twisting by the pool now if I wasn’t still motivated and feeling like it’s worthwhile,” she says. “I think journalism is one of those things that gets under your skin, and I don’t think it leaves easily.”
She feels like she’s still got lots to contribute.
“Television’s a strange old biz, of course, but at this stage, the network is encouraging me to be there. I’m always cognisant that the wheels can fall off. But at the minute, I feel good about being there.”
