Sarah Abo (born 13 November 1985 or 1986)[1] is an Australian television presenter, journalist and reporter.[1] She currently co-hosts breakfast program Today alongside Karl Stefanovic.[2] She is also a reporter on 60 Minutes.
Early life
Abo was born in Damascus, Syria to Fouad and Samia and has two younger sisters.[1] In 1990, when she was four years of age, the family relocated to Melbourne, Australia where she attended Our Lady of Mercy College in Heidelberg.[3][1][4] Abo went on to graduate from Monash University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), majoring in Journalism.[1][5]
Career
Abo commenced her television career in 2008 at Network 10's Adelaide newsroom where she initially worked as an archiving and production assistant before becoming a Ten News reporter.[1][6][5] After two years, Abo moved back to Melbourne where she continued to work as a reporter for Network 10 for another three years.[6]
In 2019, Abo joined the Nine Network as a 60 Minutes reporter.[9] Since joining the network, Abo regularly filled in as co-host of Nine's breakfast show Today including in March 2022 when regular co-host Allison Langdon contracted COVID-19.[10]
Abo was chosen to moderate the second leaders' debate between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese prior to the 2022 Australian federal election which aired on 8 May 2022.[11] After the debate, Abo was the subject of a controversial tweet posted by Mark Latham,[12] the New South Wales state leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, who seemingly used Abo's surname as a racial slur.[13] Criticising Abo's performance as moderator, Latham said "never trust an Abo with something as important as that".[13] The word "Abo" is a highly offensive reference to Aboriginal Australians.[14] The Nine Network said that they intended to report Latham's comments to the authorities while praising Abo's handling of the debate.[15]
^Al Nashar, Nabil; Teece-Johnson, Danny (5 August 2019). "Five mistakes people make in conversation with Aboriginal people". Australia Alyaom radio. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 10 May 2022. ...shortening the term 'Aboriginal' to 'Abo' is highly offensive to Indigenous people due to historical usage and is considered a derogatory term...