{"id":740989,"date":"2026-06-16T21:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/740989\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T21:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:45:17","slug":"seven-job-cuts-female-talent-takes-the-brunt-of-channels-on-air-redundancies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/740989\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven job cuts: Female talent takes the brunt of channel\u2019s on-air redundancies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nine women and just one man are among the redundancies of on-air talent in Seven\u2019s Sydney and Melbourne newsrooms that have been publicly identified in the company\u2019s latest round of job cuts.<\/p>\n

Southern Cross Media, which owns the television network, announced between 250 and 300 job cuts last week, noting that market conditions had deteriorated more quickly than anticipated.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Seven Network has slashed jobs after its merger with Southern Cross Austereo.Paul Rovere<\/p>\n

Although the cuts are being felt across the business among on-air talent who have been spared in part from past redundancy rounds, it is largely women who have publicly identified themselves as departing in that section of the business.<\/p>\n

Across the Sydney and Melbourne newsrooms, nine have been made redundant. Just one male reporter, veteran journalist Chris Maher, has been forced out.<\/p>\n

Among those leaving the business are Sydney-based reporters Brianna Jackson, Amy Clements and Phoebe Worthley, and Melbourne-based Rochelle Brown. Natarsha Belling, hired last year to present the national news at noon, is also out.<\/p>\n

Reporters Estelle Griepink (who is also on maternity leave), Grace Fitzgibbon and Inga Neilsen took voluntary redundancies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing made redundant on mat leave was not on my 2026 bingo card \u2026 but all the greatest things that have happened in my career have come after setbacks \u2013 so I know the best is yet to come,\u201d Seven Melbourne presenter Bethan Yeoman wrote on Instagram last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the people who make this job so special \u2026 and I\u2019m just so grateful for all the amazing journos and cameramen I\u2019ve worked so closely with over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griepink wrote on Instagram that \u201cThere is NO job like TV news and I leave with stories to last a lifetime \u2013 but I\u2019m so excited about the new chapter and can\u2019t wait to spend more time with my babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Seven staff who are leaving include senior sports producer Nick Markham and cameraman Scott Lipman. All either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

A Southern Cross spokesperson declined to comment on questions about the gender breakdown of staff made redundant, and pointed this masthead to the company\u2019s ASX announcement last week about the scope of its operating review.<\/p>\n

In a message to staff on Thursday morning, Southern Cross chief executive Rohan Lund said the decisions had not been made lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis transformation involves making incredibly tough choices regarding our team structures, and we will be saying goodbye to many smart, talented and hard-working colleagues who have played a vital role in building both businesses,\u201d Lund said.<\/p>\n

But some Seven staff felt that last week\u2019s cuts had been handled in a chaotic and haphazard manner, leading to a sense of panic around the newsrooms. The company has suffered major upheaval since it merged with Southern Cross, leading to the departure of both its previous chief executive and chair.<\/p>\n

Many affected journalists were informed of their redundancies over the phone just hours after this masthead<\/a> revealed impending job cuts at the company.<\/p>\n

Worthley revealed she had been made redundant through a TikTok video of her crying in a car to Coldplay\u2019s Viva La Vida.<\/p>\n

\u201cReminder to love every moment in your dream job because you could be made redundant at 4.48 on a random Thursday,\u201d the video said.<\/p>\n

The decision to axe Yeoman while on maternity leave also alarmed some staff.<\/p>\n

Penny Parker, a senior associate at employment law firm Maurice Blackburn, said she had often seen women made redundant while on parental leave.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Justin<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers are really prone to having a view of \u2018out of sight, out of mind\u2019,\u201d Parker said. \u201cIt\u2019s really common and particularly devastating for women trying to transition back into the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Fair Work Act makes it unlawful to terminate a worker\u2019s employment because they have taken parental leave<\/a>, this is difficult to establish in practice.<\/p>\n

Nine, owner of this masthead, has also made a number of staff redundant in its TV division this year. It is defending a legal claim from one presenter who claimed Nine\u2019s decision to axe her job was motivated by a combination of her age and gender.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"KishorKishor Napier-Raman<\/a> is a senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliamentary press gallery.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-740989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}