Seven News Spotlight

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7NEWS Spotlight: Defending Australia

Exposing critical gaps in Australia’s national security

In the heart of Australia’s largest city – and at key military bases across the country – critical defence infrastructure is alarmingly exposed.

A major 7NEWS Spotlight investigation airing this Sunday at 8.50pm on Seven and 7plus has uncovered vulnerabilities so stark that what happens around a warship docked at a major tourist hotspot will shock viewers and raise urgent questions about our national security.

7NEWS Spotlight correspondent Liam Bartlett reveals these weaknesses at a time of intensifying global tension: China’s growing power, unrest on Australian streets, and renewed uncertainty surrounding the US alliance under Donald Trump.

The investigation spans key military sites including Pine Gap, Williamtown RAAF Base, Amberley RAAF Base and Garden Island Naval Base, where billions of dollars in defence assets are housed.

What’s exposed are weaknesses in the protection of critical weapons systems: F-35A stealth fighters stored under shade cloth and naval ships and our most important air bases subject to easy intrusion.

Liam Bartlett said: “We found billion-dollar fighter jets stored under shade cloth, warships exposed to drones, and critical bases protected by little more than cyclone fencing. These are critical gaps in our defence capability at a time when our adversaries and neighbours are investing like never before.”

Speaking to 7NEWS Spotlight, former Chief of Army Peter Leahy, alongside key military experts and industry insiders, warn that Australia’s defence policy may be woefully inadequate for the real-world threats we face.

Lieutenant General (ret) Peter Leahy told Liam Bartlett: “This peace is fast coming to a close, so we better be ready for war. And I don’t think we’re ready.”

Bartlett also travels to the Philippines, to witness how other nations are standing up to China’s military aggression now, while Australia’s defence plan will not see us combat ready until at least 2030.

Liam Bartlett said: “Our investigation shows that while the threats are evolving rapidly, Australia’s response is stuck in slow motion. We’re investing in submarines we won’t see for a decade, while our current defences are exposed and under-equipped.”

In the Philippines, Bartlett catches up with Defence Minister Richard Marles, who has been dodging 7NEW Spotlight’s questions for months, to discuss a policy experts say is all words and no action.

“You don’t want to be known as minister for show bags,” Bartlett said. “There has to be substance to it.”

7NEWS Spotlight: Defending Australia

This Sunday at 8.50pm on Seven and 7plus

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7NEWS Spotlight: Keeping our kids safe

Undercover with the heroes exposing child predators

Hundreds of known child predators are right now roaming free across Australia, despite police having proof they have communicated with and transferred money to one of the world’s most prolific child traffickers.

Why are these known offenders still walking our streets, and what’s being done to address Australia’s worsening child sex offender crisis?

In a special investigation airing this Sunday at 9.00pm on Seven and 7plus, 7NEWS Spotlight exposes a list of 395 Australians suspected of participating in a disturbing new trend: directing the abuse of children overseas from their homes in Australia.

7NEWS Spotlight ’s Liam Bartlett goes undercover with an extraordinary group called Destiny Rescue who track down and expose child sex traffickers.

Made up of former detectives and special forces operatives, the group’s goal is to rescue children sold into sex trafficking. They gave 7NEWS Spotlight’s cameras exclusive access as they orchestrate raids with local enforcement agencies.

Destiny Rescue operative and former homicide detective Matt Valentine said: “I’ve seen more Australians involved in crimes against children than I have of any other nationality.

“It’s in our Australian backyard. We need to be very, very concerned.”

Back home, 7NEWS Spotlight tracks down one of the 395 men on the client list – a grandad and businessman living in regional Australia – who is free and will never spend a day in prison, even after he directed the abuse of a little girl.

Psychologist Peter Ashkar tells 7NEWS Spotlight that offenders who use the internet to commit their crimes overseas are posing a real risk to Australian kids: “That type of offender will almost certainly use whatever opportunity that they have to commit a similar type of sexual offense against a similar type of victim in person, if they have the opportunity to do so.”

Liam Bartlett said: “Australian men are fuelling a global trade in child sexual abuse, and they’re doing it from the comfort of their own homes in suburbs around the country. The experts tell us one in every two will eventually want to have physical contact with a child in their local community and that is truly disturbing.

“Destiny Rescue has done the hard work: identifying offenders, rescuing children, handing over names. But good police work means nothing if it doesn’t lead to jail time. Letting these men walk free sends a chilling message: that child abuse, even directed from afar, is somehow forgivable. It’s not.”

7NEWS Spotlight: Keeping our kids safe This Sunday at 9.00pm on Seven and 7plus

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Is last night’s ep up? I can’t seem to find it

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Last night’s episode is now up on 7plus.

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7NEWS Spotlight: Australia’s ADHD explosion

The experts, families, schools and sceptics: inside the ADHD boom

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder – it’s the most talked about mental health condition in the world, with #ADHD viewed more than 35 billion times on social media.

One in 20 Australians now live with ADHD, and more than half are on medication – including hundreds of thousands of school-aged children.

In a must-watch investigation for every parent and family navigating the ADHD conversation, this Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus, 7NEWS Spotlight examines the disorder that’s dominating schoolyards and workplaces, flooding social media, and redefining the way we think about mental health, parenting and everyday life.

Once seen as a “naughty boy syndrome”, adults are now increasingly being diagnosed with ADHD and young women are the fastest-growing group of patients being medicated.

7NEWS Spotlight speaks with leading experts, families, and educators to unpack the surge in diagnoses, and speaks to doctors and sceptics who are sounding the alarm over prescription rates.

Professor Jon Jureidini, a psychiatrist and outspoken critic of the ADHD diagnosis, told 7NEWS Spotlight: “ADHD is put forward as a simple explanation for a complex set of problems.

“It’s very easy to become a diagnoser of ADHD, and it’s also very lucrative. So, we have to be a little bit sceptical about the motivations of people who set up specialist practices to diagnose ADHD.”

7NEWS Spotlight Correspondent Ashlee Mullany also takes an exclusive look inside a school unlike any other in Australia, where almost 40% of students have ADHD.

“ADHD doesn’t mean you’re a Martian or anything. You’re still a person,” said one student.

Professor David Coghill, a leading world expert in ADHD, told **7NEWSSpotlight: “**Most of the time the information about ADHD on social media isn’t accurate. Only around 30% of the posts were actually based on facts.”

Ashlee Mullany said: “Among the billions of posts about ADHD on social media, we take a closer look at one psychiatrist who has become an influencer, partnering with a drug manufacturer for paid posts about ADHD.”

Also, on 7NEWS Spotlight, Michael Usher goes inside the Maclean brothers’ record-breaking row across the Pacific Ocean – with exclusive video diaries from their time on board.

For nearly 140 days, Scottish siblings Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan filmed the highs and lows of their 14,000-kilometre journey from Peru to Cairns. From giant waves to sleep deprivation and a few near disasters, cameras caught almost every thrilling moment as they set a new world record for the fastest human powered crossing of the Pacific.

Now back in Sydney, the brothers’ look back on their incredible journey, a raw and unforgettable adventure.

“It’s incredible what your body can do when you put the work in,” said Jamie Maclean.

7NEWS Spotlight: Australia’s ADHD explosion, plus the Maclean brothers

This Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus

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Spotlight is still tagging Sarah Greenhalgh in social media, indicating she is part of the show. A good thing if she is, although I dont think she has had a story in over a year.

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She has only recently returned from mat leave

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7NEWS Spotlight: Croc cowboy – inside the Matt Wright investigation

Explosive new details on how Wright tried to hide the truth

He’s the croc-wrangling TV star, turned convicted criminal, found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after a deadly chopper crash that killed his best mate.

In a special joint investigation with The Nightly, airing Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus, 7NEWS Spotlight goes inside the crash that claimed Chris “Willow” Wilson’s life, revealing the extraordinary lengths to which “Outback Wrangler” Matt Wright went to hide the truth.

7NEWS Spotlight reveals exclusive new details about how Northern Territory Police brought down this croc cowboy and how they exposed the full extent of Wright’s alleged attempts to obstruct investigations by moving interstate, trying to avoid surveillance and attempting to manipulate the destroyed chopper’s flight records.

Speaking exclusively to 7NEWS Spotlight, Northern Territory Police Detective Senior Sergeant, Corey Borton, said: “Mr Wright has his online persona and then there’s the way he acts when he thinks no one else is looking.”

7NEWS Spotlight also exposes an allegation that Wright tried to bribe tourists and reveals exclusive images that appear to show the TV star killing a protected species.

The Nightly ’s investigative reporter Kristin Shorten, who has been covering this case since the start, said: “For the first time, we can reveal the extraordinary story of how Darwin detectives uncovered the criminal conduct of Matt Wright and his associates after the fatal crash that killed one mate and left another paraplegic.

“Following Matt Wright’s guilty verdicts, Northern Territory Police granted us unprecedented access to key investigators and evidence, allowing us to reveal – for the first time – how their covert operation unfolded and the ‘red flags’ that brought the ‘Outback Wrangler’ unstuck.”

7NEWS Spotlight Correspondent Michael Usher said: “He’s been celebrated as an outback hero, but who’s the real Matt Wright?

“What happened in court was only part of the story. In partnership with The Nightly, we’ve obtained new evidence and allegations about Matt Wright’s conduct – details the public has never heard.”

7NEWS Spotlight: Croc Cowboy

This Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus

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Yes I’m aware.

I just wonder how actively she is working on spotlight? Or is the extent of her work sharing social media posts?

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Promo wiped from socials.

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Might be NT only its pulled

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It’s the Matt Wright one, correct?

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Yes

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That is the second time a Spotlight episode is pulled from the schedule in NT. Last time it was related to the trial of a police officer charged with the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker.

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I assume the episode will also be blocked from airing on Imparja. All a bit pointless because anyone in the NT that wants to see it can just jump onto 7plus.

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Seven has promoted it as a special joint investigation with The Nightly. I assume an accompanying article will appear on the digital paper on Monday. Is it even possible to prevent NT readers from seeing the entire paper?

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I guess with other programming, Spotlight will be off for at least 4 weeks.

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According to @blackbox, Spotlight will be renewed for the whole of 2026, with Seven’s upfronts to be held today.

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Did they announce this? I can’t seem to find it.

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Spotlight was mentioned in Seven’s press release from its upfronts, but it did not say it was renewed for the whole of 2026.