Sarah Ferguson

Sarah Ferguson (born 31 December 1965) is an Australian journalist, reporter and television presenter.

She is the host of ABC TV's flagship news and current affairs program 7.30.

Ferguson was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where her British-born parents lived before moving to Britain as the Biafran war broke out.

Her Scottish father Iain, a trainee pilot turned businessman, worked for Dunlop.

Ferguson attended New Hall, a Catholic-run private girls school in Boreham, Essex.

She later studied English literature at King's College, London.

In her early teens, she began a correspondence with the poet Philip Larkin.

In a teenage essay she said when she grew up, she wanted to be "a commando and a librarian in the British House of Commons".

Ferguson's career began in newspapers in the United Kingdom, writing arts reviews for The Independent.

Later she moved to Paris and worked as a researcher and production assistant on arts programs for French and British broadcasters.

In 1992, Australian journalist and the ABC's London correspondent, Tony Jones, hired Ferguson to help him on a story about French politics.

Ferguson and Jones married a year later.

In 2000, Ferguson worked as a reporter for Dateline and Insight.

In 2004 she joined the Sunday program on Channel Nine and in 2008 joined Four Corners, the ABC's long form current affairs program.

Her first story was an investigation into political fundraising.

She was nominated for a record four Walkley Awards in 2007.

She wrote and presented The Killing Season, a documentary series on the Rudd / Gillard years, analysing the events of the Labor governments of 2007 to 2013.

Ferguson interviewed Australian Labor Party decision-makers and strategists who had engaged in internal conflict that brought down a government which had successfully countered the post-2008 global financial crisis.

Ferguson won the Logie for Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

She also won the George Muster Award and the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards for her reporting on people smuggling and the toxic culture within the rugby league.

In 2011, Ferguson reported on the live cattle export trade in Australian cattle to Indonesia.

The episode, "A Bloody Business", won the Gold Walkley Award and led to suspension of the trade.

In 2014, Ferguson hosted 7.30 and her interviews with the Australian treasurer Joe Hockey were nominated for a Walkley for journalistic excellence.

They would later be described as "aggressive" and "the tone of the questioning could have been interpreted by some viewers to be a potential breach of the ABC's impartiality guidelines".

In 2014, Ferguson caused controversy at the Walkley Awards when she publicly railed against job cuts at the ABC.

Ferguson presented two major series for the ABC in 2015.

The series won the AACTA award for documentary in 2015.

In November 2015, Ferguson replaced Kerry O'Brien as host of Four Corners.

In 2016 she presented Hitting Home on domestic violence in Australia.

In 2017, the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred on Ferguson by the University of Sydney for excellence in journalism.

In 2017, as Ferguson was getting off a plane, she was told that her mother Marjorie had died suddenly in England.

Later she became aware that hospital negligence had led to her mother's death.

She wrote about the experience in her book On Mother.

In May 2017, Ferguson presented "The Siege", a two-part special investigating the siege at the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place, Sydney.

Ferguson interviewed the families of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson and the surviving hostages and examined how authorities had failed to comprehend the risk posed by hostage-taker Man Haron Monis.

In June 2018, Ferguson presented and produced "Trump/Russia", a Four Corners three-part series on President Donald Trump and his connections to Russia.

The series was filmed over several months in the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia.

In November 2018, Ferguson reported and presented "Bitter End" about conflict within the ABC which led to the resignations of its managing director Michelle Guthrie and chair Justin Milne within one week.

On 5 July 2022, Ferguson replaced Leigh Sales as presenter of 7:30 on ABC.

Ferguson has collaborated with producer Nial Fulton on two documentary series for ABC.