How did you feel taking over hosting 7.30 from Kerry O'Brien in 2010?
"I do distinctly remember thinking that I had to come at it as my own person and not feel that I was in the shadow of Kerry.
"I thought the only way to tackle it was to be myself and to be at ease with that and not second-guess everything I did.
"I knew that I cared passionately about national and international affairs and that I had a solid grounding in journalism and live television from my years as a news reporter and anchoring Lateline, which was a very intellectually demanding program. It was daunting though, no doubt.
"I wanted the job because it's the best job in Australian journalism. It has a huge impact on Australian public life.
"The challenge of a live 20-minute interview with a prime minister pushes you right to the edge of your capacity like nothing else.
"It's a huge responsibility but it's also very fun. I have met the most amazing people in the world, people I would never have dreamed of meeting."
What has it meant to you to host the program for the past 12 years and what do you think you've achieved?
"It's meant so much to anchor a program that has such an influence and is so widely watched and respected.
"I think two things have had the most meaning for me personally. One is the way that viewers treat me, when they see me in real life or write to me, as if I'm a friend that they trust and respect.
"During the pandemic, I would get letters from people who lived alone that moved me so much. They would say I was the person they had seen the most of during lockdown because they could count on me being in their living room every night at 7.30pm, helping them make sense of what was going on.
"I took that responsibility very seriously. People are beautiful and kind when they approach me in public, which happens every day. A man came up to me recently while I was waiting for a coffee and said: 'Excuse me, I hope it's OK for me to say to you that you've done a brilliant job and I will miss you.'
"And then he moved on without taking any more of my time. So lovely and respectful.
"The second thing that's meant most to me is the chance to help people who have found themselves unwittingly in the news, when they've experienced terrible tragedy and trauma.
"I have always tried to help them to tell their stories the way they've wanted to. I've tried really hard with people in awful situations to help them feel as if they have control of the interview.
"Before we roll, I will ask them why they want to speak, what they hope to achieve, what they want to say, what they don't want to talk about and so on, so I can structure the questions to be as helpful to them as possible.
"If I make them feel at the end as if telling their story has been worthwhile, whether it's been to effect change so other people don't have to go through what they've been through, or whether it's been to honour the memory of a loved one, I feel that I've done my job.
"It means a lot to me when I can help people who are suffering feel as if they've made some good come from it.
"As for what I've achieved, that's for others to judge. The show is in a very strong position in terms of ratings, influence and quality, but that is the achievement of the entire team, not my achievement. If my colleagues think I've been good to work with and they miss me, I'd be very happy with that achievement."
What have been the memorable interviews or stories for you?
"In terms of the memorable moments, the two roughest were having to report on the ABC helicopter crash that killed three of my close colleagues, and having to report that my dear friend Mark Colvin had died.
"Some stories have really stuck with me too, for years and years. There was a story we ran a very long time ago about a child with a disability who had been sexually abused and filmed on the special bus that took him to school.
"His parents thought they had been doing the right thing, organising for him to be picked up in that bus rather than the regular school one. They thought it would be a safe space for him.
"They were so lovely and they were so devastated. I could barely make it through the rest of the program after I watched them. I was still crying the next day. It's made me cry now to even write it down.
"I often think of Matthew Low, whose wife died in the Dreamworld rollercoaster accident. I did an interview with him during the coronial inquest.
"That was such an awful, awful tragedy. He and I did a silly mock Hard Talk interview before our serious interview that he could show his kids to give them a laugh.
"I remember my first line after saying 'Let's talk … HARD!' was accusing him of showing up for our interview in a pyjama shirt. It's those moments that make you remember that joy and tragedy can exist in the same space, that life keeps going on.
"As for happier memorable moments, meeting Paul McCartney is obviously right up there. I've never had more people come up to me to chat about an interview than after that.
"For months after, people would still come up to me and want to talk about it! It was like every Beatles fan in the country felt like they had got to meet him too. He makes people so happy.
"I'm a huge Dave Grohl fan, so getting to interview him was a thrill, same with Elton John and Neil Finn. I always love interviewing musicians because I love music.
"Interviewing Shane Warne is one of the absolute highlights for me of my time hosting 7.30, he was fantastic. I've never spoken to somebody who gave so much in an interview. He was real and authentic. I could not have liked him more."
What have been the challenges?
"The biggest challenge for me by far is not getting emotionally overwhelmed by the content of the show when I'm live on air, and that's become harder over the years.
"The producers know to warn me if something is very sad or hard terrain so I can either brace myself for it or distract myself.
"If I get hooked into a story that upsets me unexpectedly, I find it hard to keep my equilibrium and to stop thinking about it. I cannot bear seeing people who've worked hard their whole lives losing everything because they've been screwed over by some person in power in whom they put their trust.
"Families ruined because they trusted the local priest or scout master with their children – very hard to take and very hard to find the composure to remain professional and carry on with the rest of the program.
"The sheer volume of material I have to be across and the fact that I can be called on to do an interview on a complex topic at short notice is a challenge. The pressure to never make a mistake is huge.
"There's no space to be human: any mistake is treated as bias, incompetence or as if it were deliberate. The enemies of impartial journalism simply invent narratives about imagined bias as well to attempt to discredit and bully objective reporters.
"I've seen it over many years from extremists on the right, driven by their hatred of the ABC, and now from left-wing zealots on Twitter, driven by what seems to be a desire to stop their side of politics from facing a shred of scrutiny."
How are you feeling about finishing up and what's next for you?
"I feel both excited and a bit scared but in a good way. When I said I wanted to step down, my bosses up the line were all very kind and said variations of, are you sure, is there anything we can do to change your mind and so on.
"I appreciated that but right from the start, I always knew I wouldn't do it forever. I think all programs benefit from renewal and freshness.
"I turn 50 next year and there are so many new things I want to learn and attempt, I'm just ready for the next challenge. The end of an election cycle is also a good moment to hand over. I know it's time and I want to leave on a high.
"I will miss my colleagues very much, though. You work so closely with people when you produce TV and you really bond over the challenges of doing it. I suspect that around 7:30pm on weeknights for a while, I will feel a bit weird.
"I'm taking six months of leave, a real break and I'll switch off. I plan to turn my phone off a lot and to check email as little as possible.
"After close to 30 years of waking up every day and having to check what's happening, I am going to stop watching news and current affairs during my break. I will be really curious to see what effect it has on me."
Leigh Sales will present her final 7.30 program on June 30 and Sarah Ferguson will take over as host on July 4.
