High-profile ABC News host Patricia Karvelas has announced that she will be leaving the Radio National Breakfast show.
Karvelas will continue to host Q&A and present political coverage on ABC TV.
She has been with the ABC since 2014 and took over as the host of Radio National Breakfast from Fran Kelly in 2021.
Despite her efforts, Karvelas has struggled to attract listeners, with her RN Breakfast program ranking last in Sydney in the most recent GfK survey, which showed a 2 percent audience share—a decline of 0.5 percentage points from the previous survey.
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 as the Breakfast host, she addressed the perception of 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’re from, the schools we went to,’ she told The Australian.
‘But all of the professionals I’ve worked with at the ABC question their own biases.’
Karvelas was a strong advocate for the Albanese government’s failed proposal for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
She tweeted a message of support from the Labor 2022 election night party, posing with Labor’s Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman, Linda Burney, and writing: ‘This woman is a legend and looks like she will be the next Indigenous Affairs Minister #UluruStatement.’
ABC Managing Director David Anderson stated at a Senate Estimates hearing on November 29 that this did ‘not’ demonstrate political bias.
In 2023, she slammed cruel trolls who subjected her to horrific online abuse after she opened up about the struggles she faced as a closeted lesbian journalist at the start of her career.
‘I was very careful among my colleagues who I perceived not to be supportive, [and] among politicians who I knew were hostile towards gay rights, which were many,’ she said.
‘People would be surprised by that, because I think I’m well-known in the public, as being someone who does stand up 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 out’ and has heard young LGBTQ+ journalists working in Canberra are more accepted than she was 20 years ago.
However, she did admit that her new roles hosting RN Breakfast and Q&A for the ABC came with their own challenges.
Listeners of the national morning radio show who may have apprehensions towards gay people still make her think twice about being too open.
‘I don’t want people to feel like I’m not their broadcaster. But equally if I’m not my authentic self, I can’t do my job well,’ she said.
‘I think if you’re your full self, you do a better job.’
ABC star Patricia Karvelas has announced she will be quitting the Radio National Breakfast show
