Diary can reveal more than a few network staff are outraged after (Rahni) Sadler made her first surprise new hire as the show’s executive producer and welcomed former Sunday Night and ABC producer Nick Farrow back to the network.
To say Sadler’s decision to hire Farrow has gone down like a lead balloon at Seven’s Sydney headquarters would be an understatement given he is the guy who helped produce Louise Milligan’s Four Corners smash-up on the network back in 2024 that described it as a “degrading, soul crushing” place to work.
“We simply can’t believe Rahni could be so tone deaf and dumb,” one senior Seven News source said. “He’s the guy who produced that Four Corners disgrace that literally tried to burn down the place … and now he’s working here.
“If you think staff aren’t happy, wait until (the media giant’s majority shareholder) Kerry Stokes and the clueless management find out about this.”
7NEWS Spotlight: Viral on trial
Major nationwide survey delivers verdict on social media ban
It was a world-leading crackdown designed to protect our kids, a $70 million experiment in which Australia became the first country to ban social media for under 16s.
Five months on, the question is simple: what impact has it had?
Despite the landmark laws making global headlines, serious doubts are emerging about whether tech giants are doing enough to enforce the ban, and whether kids are still slipping through the cracks.
In a 7NEWS Spotlight exclusive, reporter Sarah Greenhalgh reveals the bombshell findings from a nationwide YouGov survey, the largest poll taken since the ban went into place.
The major investigation also exposes explosive internal documents Big Tech never wanted made public, revealing the extent of planning that went into addicting our children.
Has the Federal Government gone far enough? Can the tech companies be held to account? What does the online future hold for the next generation? Find out this Sunday on 7NEWS Spotlight at 8.00pm on Seven and 7plus.
7NEWS Spotlight: Viral on trial This Sunday at 8.00pm on Seven and 7plus
7NEWS Spotlight finds Australia’s social media ban failing first major test
Australia’s social media ban was meant to shut kids out, a $70 million experiment in which Australia became the first country to ban social media for under 16s. Five months on, most are still getting in.
The law came into force on December 10, requiring platforms to enforce strict age checks or face fines of up to $50 million for failing to take “reasonable steps".
Now, the first major test of the ban suggests little has changed.
An exclusive 7NEWS Spotlight investigation tonight revealed the key findings from a nationwide survey, the largest poll taken since the ban.
The 7NEWS Spotlight/YouGov survey of 1,500 Australians aged 13 to 15 shows 85% are still using social media daily. Other key findings:
More than half (52%) say it’s still easy to access platforms
Most (51%) simply lie about their age
51% have reported no change in their social media use
Another 22% say their use has increased
The top platforms they’re on remain unchanged - YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook
But beneath the headline numbers, there are signs of minor progress for those under-16s still on the platforms:
Online bullying is down by 9%
Exposure to inappropriate and violent content has dropped by 18%
30% of kids aged between 13 and 15 have reported an increase in time doing sports activities
27% say their quality of sleep has improved
According to the findings, it’s not the platforms but Australian parents who are driving the improvements:
67% of parents are now monitoring teens use of social media
87% of kids have discussed the ban with their parents
YouGov Director of Public Data and Affairs, Paul Smith, told 7NEWS Spotlight: "I think it’s not surprising that young people would want to be on social media, but it’s clear that the social media companies have not done anywhere near enough to get young people off social media.
“Parents have felt empowered by the ban, and those 67% of Australian parents who are monitoring their children are clearly making a difference in driving that improvement in the life experience of, ‘all right, you’ve been on that long enough, now it’s time to go out and do something else’.”
Despite the landmark laws making global headlines, serious doubts have emerged about whether tech giants are doing enough to enforce the ban, and whether kids are still slipping through the cracks.
For Emma Mason, the issue is deeply personal. Her daughter Tilly died by suicide after relentless bullying. Now, she’s campaigning for stronger protections.
She wants tech giants to do more to remove under-16s from their platforms and told 7NEWS Spotlight: “Success is that parents and teachers and schools are talking about this. Children are talking about this. And the children that are 10 and downwards will end up with a life in Australia where this is not the norm."
“The government wasn’t going to wait to try and get the technology right because technology is constantly changing and it’s like trying to put a fence around a cyclone, trying to get everything right in time to get this law to work perfectly," she said.
“So, I think what it says is there’s a significant work to be done, but the work needs to be done by the social media companies who are continuing to allow this to happen.”
The major 7NEWS Spotlight investigation also exposed explosive internal documents Big Tech never wanted made public, revealing the extent of planning that goes into addicting children to social platforms.
Emma Mason commented to 7NEWS Spotlight: “It’s the disconnect between these documents that show the truth of what’s going on in these companies. And then the face of Antigone Davis, head of safety for Meta, who stands in front of our government and says, ‘I don’t think social media has done harm to our children’.
“I mean, it riles me so much… because I just think, how can you as a company with that face say those things in circumstances where you well know the truth of the way you are functioning as a company?
“I think it’s such a disconnect. It’s a slap in the face to parents.”
Watch 7NEWS Spotlight: Viral on Trial on 7plus
7NEWS Spotlight: The Man who Made Elon
Plus, the Princess and P Diddy scandal dragging the Duchess of York back into the spotlight
For years Elon Musk, on path to become the world’s first trillionaire, has shocked, amused and startled us with his extreme opinions and bizarre behaviours.
To trace the roots of the enigmatic entrepreneur, 7NEWS Spotlight’s Liam Bartlett travels to a remote coastal town in South Africa.
In an interview unlike anything you’ve seen, set to air this Sunday at 8.00pm on Seven and 7plus, the unfiltered and unapologetic Errol Musk takes credit for Elon’s success, speaks candidly about claims he psychologically tortured Elon and his siblings, and defends his harsh parenting style as a measure to avoid “raising sissies”.
While Elon Musk has fathered at least fourteen children with four women, his thrice-married father is not quite as prolific but proudly boasts of his own large brood including children, stepchildren and the two small kids he recently fathered with his former stepdaughter, forty years his junior.
On a scale of family dramas, few rival the Musks.
7NEWS Spotlight ’s Liam Bartlett said: “Spending time with the father of the world’s richest man does make you reassess everything you ever thought about nurture v nature.
“What is fascinating is the way this Musk patriarch views his family and, in particular, his role in the incredible achievements of his eldest son, Elon”
“One thing is sure, when you hear Errol, you’ll never listen to Elon the same way again.”
Also on 7NEWS Spotlight, Sarah Ferguson has spent decades surviving scandal.
Following revelations of her association with Jeffrey Epstein she’s now facing revelations linking her to jailed music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
7NEWS Spotlight ’s Ashlee Mullany investigates the fallen royal’s descent from palace insider to embattled exile, and the latest mounting revelations that some think will see her behind bars.
7NEWS Spotlight: The Man who Made Elon
This Sunday at 8.00pm on Seven and 7plus
7NEWS Spotlight Presents – Second Class Treatment: time to even the odds
Liz Hayes puts her body on the line for women’s health
This week on 7NEWS Spotlight at 8.00pm on Seven and 7plus, Liz Hayes returns for her first major investigation of the season, taking on an issue that affects half the population, but for too long hasn’t been treated that way.
For about 14 million Australian women and girls, health advice has often been built on incomplete, and at times flawed and even harmful research and information, based on results taken only from men. The consequences have been significant, with experts warning women have been suffering and even dying unnecessarily for decades.
Now, in a deeply personal major investigation – coinciding with a significant milestone of her own – Liz puts herself through a series of confronting medical tests to understand what it all means, and what women can do about it.
From uncomfortable truths to cutting-edge breakthroughs, 7NEWS Spotlight examines how women’s bodies have been misunderstood for centuries, and why change is finally underway.
Along the way, Liz meets the doctors, researchers and health experts working to close the gap, exploring new approaches that could help women live better, healthier and longer lives.
Liz said: “This story was a bit of a reckoning for me. I was aghast to learn that for decades much of women’s health has been based on the research of men. I was shocked by what that has meant and how far women have fallen behind.
“But I am buoyed by the amazing efforts to remedy that – some of it life changing. And suffice to say I’m hoping it’s not too late for me to make some critical changes.”
Join Liz Hayes for this revealing investigation that every woman needs to see.
7NEWS Spotlight Presents – Bad Treatment: Changing Women’s Healthcare
This Sunday at 8.00pm on Seven and 7plus
Former swimming champion Libby Trickett also appeared in tonight’s episode.
The Lady Vanishes
Sunday 31 May
What has prompted the new $1 million reward in the world famous cold case of Gold Coast teacher Marion Barter?
Iced Coffer Killer
Sunday 7 June
Could Jessica Wongso the so-called ‘iced coffee killer’ cash in after murdering her best friend?
It’s the repeat of May 2025 broadcast, due to the King’s Birthday long weekend in all states except WA, as well as Seven’s live coverage of the AFL match between Essendon and Carlton this Sunday night.
7NEWS Spotlight Presents: Tobacco Wars
Inside Australia’s out of control crime crisis
Firebombings, extortion, murder, and billions of dollars flooding organised crime. Australia’s tobacco wars are spiralling, and the consequences are now playing out in communities right across the country.
In an explosive 7NEWS Spotlight investigation airing this Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus, Michael Usher is on the frontline of the booming illegal tobacco trade – an underground economy now worth an estimated $6 billion, fuelled by tonnes of illicit cigarettes and leaf tobacco entering Australia’s ports every day.
7NEWS Spotlight is embedded with police as they target powerful crime syndicates, revealing the scale of a crisis the nation’s top law enforcement bosses say they are beyond arresting their way out of.
The numbers are staggering. Billions of illegal cigarettes, hundreds of tonnes of smuggled tobacco, an estimated $18 billion in lost government revenue – not because Australians have stopped smoking, but because the market has shifted underground into criminal hands.
As violence intensifies on suburban streets, 7NEWS Spotlight examines how well-intentioned government policies around the smoking tax and vaping have helped create the perfect conditions for organised crime to thrive, and why authorities say urgent change is needed.
From border seizures to raids on tobacconists now dotting our streets, this is a confronting look at how Australia has lost control of its nicotine market and how we might look to examples overseas to stop it becoming worse.
Michael Usher said: “The size and scale of this criminal crisis is staggering. Illegal tobacco has become an uncontainable, multi-billion-dollar crime enterprise.
“The imports of cheap smokes and loose-leaf tobacco have now hit record levels this year. Worse than last year. Law enforcement agencies are deeply frustrated.
“We’ve spent months with them on raids and on our borders. But the government is taking a very slow and bureaucratic approach to a problem it largely created, with poor policy creating a black market. We handed this to the criminals. Something must disrupt this ruthless trade and fast.”
7NEWS Spotlight Presents: Tobacco Wars his Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus
Exclusive first interview with Gus Lamont’s Grandmother Josie Murray
7NEWS Spotlight: Missing – The Gus Lamont Mystery
A four-year-old boy vanishes without a trace in the vast South Australian outback, triggering one of the most intensive missing persons investigations the country has ever seen.
Nine months on, the disappearance of curly-haired Gus Lamont remains a haunting mystery, with more questions than answers and a growing sense of urgency about what really happened.
Now, in a major exclusive to air this Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus, 7NEWS Spotlight goes inside the case that has gripped the nation, featuring an in-depth interview with Gus’s grandmother, Josie Murray – a central figure in the investigation who has never spoken publicly.
Interviewed by police but never arrested, Josie reveals the toll of being identified as a key suspect and the moment that still troubles her about the day Gus disappeared.7NEWS Adelaide crime reporter Hannah Foord, who has tracked the case from day one, joins 7NEWS Spotlight’s Michael Usher for this unmissable investigation, as they piece together one of Australia’s most perplexing missing persons cases. The pair examine critical clues, including tracks and signs investigators say point to something more, and whether vital evidence was missed in the early stages of the search.
Michael Usher said: “This is the interview that could provide answers to the many questions being asked about the disappearance of little Gus. Even the South Australia police still want answers.
“Gus’s grandmother has never spoken before, but in an extraordinary set of circumstances has now given her first interview.”
7NEWS Spotlight: Missing – The Gus Lamont Mystery
This Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus
The promo on 7News Adelaide’s socials features an endboard with Usher and soon-to-depart crime reporter Hannah Foord.
Nice way for Hannah to go out with a big story for Adelaide
‘An array of unsupported claims’: Judge slams Taylor Auerbach legal bid
A bid from Taylor Auerbach to dismiss a cross-claim from Seven has been thrown out by a Federal Court judge, following a hearing in which the former Spotlight producer attempted to subpoena a judge, accused two media companies of collusion, and requested Seven’s lawyers be “struck off” and “witnesses jailed”.
Auerbach himself filed defamation proceedings against his former employer Seven (now Southern Cross Austereo) in March 2025, alleging that public statements made by senior Seven executives regarding dealings with Lehrmann led him to lose his job at Sky News.
On Tuesday, after Auerbach presented his case, Justice Michael Wheelahan tossed out his entire application, saying he “did not advance any cogent argument”.
Wheelahan ordered Auerbach pay all of Seven’s court costs.
7NEWS Spotlight: Baby Trade
Inside Australia’s baby making black market
Making a family doesn’t come easily for everyone, and for some Australians it’s becoming almost impossible.
As the nation’s donor shortages increase and regulations tighten, hopeful parents are being forced into expensive, complex, and in some cases risky alternatives, in their attempts to conceive.
In this week’s 7NEWS Spotlight to air on Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven and 7plus, correspondent Ashlee Mullany investigates the growing fallout from Australia’s strict sperm donation laws, and the unintended consequences now driving a booming underground market.
With demand far outstripping supply, desperate Australians are turning to private donors operating outside the system – a shadowy underground market with no limits, no oversight and no guarantees.
7NEWS Spotlight reveals the confronting reality of this booming trade, where some black market donors claim to have fathered hundreds of children, raising serious ethical and safety concerns, especially for the children born as a result.
As calls for reform grow louder, this is a powerful look at the cost of the system as it stands, and the deeply personal toll on those who are desperately trying to start a family.
7NEWS Spotlight Presents: Baby Trade
This Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven and 7plus
Poor Taylor, he’s not well. I followed him on insta for a while but he’s clearly not in a good way, hope he gets some help.
Auerbach has since filed an appeal against that judgment, taking umbrage at Wheelahan’s dismissal of his evidence.
“The applicant is an award-winning journalist whose expression and use of the English language has been commended at the highest levels of media and academia. The submissions are plainly logical and objectively easy to follow,” he wrote in his submissions.
This is not the end of it. Auerbach is also suing News Corp and several journalists at The Australian, accusing the paper of defamation and breaching the Racial Discrimination Act.
7NEWS Spotlight investigates next frontier of the “Ozempic” revolution
Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus
It has already transformed the fight against obesity. Now, scientists believe popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro could be unlocking something even bigger.
More than half a million Australians are using GLP-1 medications, with remarkable results. And researchers are now investigating whether these drugs do more than switch off hunger – potentially helping to silence some of the brain’s most powerful addictions.
In this 7NEWS Spotlight special investigation to air on Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus, Michael Usher explores the growing evidence these weight-loss drugs may help curb other addictive disorders like alcohol, smoking, gambling and drugs, opening up what some experts believe could be the next frontier of the “Ozempic” revolution.
The program examines the groundbreaking science behind the drugs and meets Australians who say their relationship with food wasn’t the only thing that changed, describing unexpected effects on long-standing addictions and compulsive behaviours. Plus, the research exploring whether the medications could help fight serious disease beyond obesity, including cancer.
But for all the promise, there are concerns. With health warnings about the potential risk of serious psychological impact and questions remaining about long-term side effects, 7NEWS Spotlight investigates the ups and downs of the weight-loss drugs reshaping modern medicine.
7NEWS Spotlight Investigates: The next frontier of the “Ozempic” revolution
This Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus
7NEWS Spotlight: Inside Australia’s AI Factories
Across the country, giant data centres are springing up in suburbia and regional communities, some just metres from homes – powering every scroll, every search and every AI prompt reshaping our lives.
But the race to build Australia’s AI revolution is also fuelling a growing backlash, with battles intensifying over water and electricity resources, infrastructure, pollution, and the impact on local communities.
In this must-see 7NEWS Spotlight major investigation to air on Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven and 7plus, Sarah Greenhalgh goes inside Australia’s AI factories – vast data centres processing everything from online searches and streaming services to the AI tools millions now use every day.
As governments and tech giants lead the charge to secure Australia’s place in the global AI boom, critics are raising concerns about the hidden costs. These facilities draw on enormous amounts of electricity and water, while communities fear the centres are being built too close to homes and without enough scrutiny.
From the NSW Southern Highlands to Melbourne’s city centre, 7NEWS Spotlight explores the rapid expansion of an industry expected to transform the country’s economy, and meets the residents, experts and industry leaders grappling with the real-world impact of the data centres already on our doorstep.
The question isn’t whether we need them. It’s what we’re prepared to sacrifice to keep them running. And 7NEWS Spotlight heads to Loudoun County, Virginia – the data centre capital of the world – to see what lessons Australia can learn before it’s too late.
7NEWS Spotlight: Inside Australia’s AI Factories
This Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven and 7plus
