Sally Sara has been announced as Patricia Karvelas’ replacement on ABC Radio National Breakfast.
“We’ll cover what’s happening across the country and given the kind of stories that are developing internationally, obviously international news would be hugely important as well,” Sara said on Friday morning.
Sara has reported from more than 40 countries as an ABC foreign correspondent, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa and India, and worked for Foreign Correspondent and Landline.
She has extensive experience in audio journalism and has been a presenter for El Mundo Hoy since 2020.
‘I am very grateful for the opportunity to join the team. “I can’t wait,” Sara said.
“I will work hard to engage audiences with stories from around the country and the world.”
Karvelas announced that he would be leaving the ABC Radio National Breakfast show in October.
“After a decade, it’s time to change this and I’m ready to take on a new multi-platform role,” she said.
ABC star Patricia Karvelas announced she would be leaving the Radio National Breakfast show in October.
Karvelas has struggled to attract listeners, with his RN Breakfast show coming last in Sydney in the most recent GfK survey, which showed a 2 per cent audience share, a decline of 0.5 percentage points from the survey former.
ABC President Kim Williams said in June that he was concerned about the ratings decline and the changes noted.
“I would like to see a larger audience for Radio Nacional,” Williams said in an interview with Karvelas.
“I would like to see Radio National increase its ambitions in terms of its role in Australia.”
Before joining the public broadcaster in 2015, Karvelas worked for The Australian newspaper for 13 years and had a brief stint at Sky News Australia.
After being appointed breakfast presenter, she addressed perceived left-wing bias at the ABC.
“Everyone has their own biases, because we all have a ‘lived’ experience: the suburb we live in, the families we come from, the schools we attend,” he told The Australian.
“But every professional I’ve worked with at ABC questions their own biases.”
Karvelas was a strong supporter of the Albanian government’s failed proposal to have an indigenous voice in Parliament.
She tweeted a message of support from Labor on election night 2022, posing with Labour’s Indigenous Affairs spokesperson Linda Burney and writing: “This woman is a legend and looks like she will be the next Minister of Indigenous Affairs # UluruStatement”.
ABC CEO David Anderson testified at a Senate Estimates hearing on November 29 that this “did not” demonstrate political bias.
In 2023, she criticized trolls who abused her online after speaking out about the struggles she faced as a closeted lesbian at the beginning of her journalism career.
“I was very careful with my colleagues, who I perceived were not supportive, (and) with politicians who I knew were hostile to gay rights, which were many,” she said.
“People would be surprised, because I think I’m very well known among the public, as someone who stands his ground and isn’t really afraid of people.”
“But that’s not what happens when you’re in a social environment where people think gay jokes are funny.”
She is now “very open” and has heard that young LGBTQ+ journalists working in Canberra are more accepted than she was 20 years ago.
However, she said there was still some reluctance to be too open about her love life when speaking on air.
‘I don’t want people to feel like I’m not their announcer. But equally, if I’m not myself, I can’t do my job well,” she said.
“If you are yourself, you do a better job.”
Karvelas has two daughters with his wife.
