Hi, it's Gus Walland here, host of Not An Overnight Success, the only podcast in the
world that gives every guest $10,000 to give away to a charity of their choice.
All thanks to our mates at Shaw and Partners Financial Services.
Today it's Ali Langdon, someone who's quite serious, but I'm sure you're going to see
this side of her, the fun country girl who was just so vulnerable, so much fun as well.
I really enjoyed this chat.
Ali Langdon, thanks for joining us on the podcast.
Good to see you, Gus.
You're looking good.
I was like 20 kilos down as of this morning, got onto the scales and went, come on, you
know, because I'd stopped at about 18 and I thought, oh, I'm doing all this hard work.
But yeah, it went over 20.4 down.
You know, because it's always those last couple that are the hardest to shake, right?
Yes, that's what they say.
It's getting a little tougher now, isn't it?
It's getting a little tougher now, definitely.
I'm saying no to way too many things.
Ali, this is a very relaxed chat and it's so nice to see you.
Tell us about Ali as a young child.
Where did you grow up?
What sort of kid were you?
I grew up in country New South Wales, small town called Warhope.
We grew up on a little farm and you know what, as a kid, really focused, really just really
I think I had an older brother who was a total scallywag.
I think he was voted like most likely to end up in jail at high school and he didn't.
I mean, I reckon maybe gone close a couple of times, but no, no, he was fine.
But I think, you know, watching him just and watching my mum and dad tear their hair out,
just, you know, him just being a boy.
I mean, nothing bad, bad, but just being a boy, whatever that means.
Hard work at times.
So I just kind of, you know, went through and I mean, I was the weak, I loved school.
I did ballet before and after school every day.
And so, you know, at school, uni was a different story, but those early days, just really,
really focused on, you know, what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.
And were you good at school?
At the actual like work, were you getting A's and that sort of thing?
And I remember my little sister, who's three years younger, once stole one of my geography
tests in year 10 that I got 98% for.
So she, and it was a teacher who always gave the same exams every year.
So she found mine and just wrote it out in her own handwriting and she only got like
So she always reckons it was rigged and that I'm not as smart as I thought I was.
I've got exactly the same story.
So Hugh Jackman and I, it knocks together.
I got put into the top modern history class because I was a little slower and they thought
that Jacko and another couple of mates would be able to help me through it.
Well, we got Ian Jackman, which is Jacko's brother, who's now, I think, the youngest
QC or judge or something, literally in the last couple of months.
He got a 20 out of 20 modern history, the unification of Germany it was.
So Jacko wrote it out.
I got 12 out of 20.
I'm like, he literally looked at the name Gus Warland.
We'll give him a 12.
Didn't even read it.
Didn't even read it.
You know, so I know that definitely does happen with some teachers.
So you were good at school.
Were you sporty as well?
Yeah, I was sporty, but you know, I love sort of playing whatever we played with PE and,
you know, playing netball and a bit of basketball, but I focused on ballet.
So I finished my ballet exams when I was in high school and then did my teacher's certificate
when I was in year 11 and 12.
And you know what, I look back and growing up in a small country town, it kept me out
You know, I'd be at ballet every sort of Friday night quite late.
I'd be up early Saturday and I'd teach most of Saturdays.
So if I went to a party and we lived out on a farm, I'd drive the little yellow Corolla,
which I had to buy myself.
You know, my parents are like, you want a car, you buy it.
No love from mum and dad?
It didn't throw me a bone.
It threw none of us a bone.
But, you know, I'd saved, I'd been saving since I was 14.
I was also that kid, you know, at Easter time when I have to throw my Easter eggs out because
I'd keep them so long, which was just to annoy my brother and sister.
Can you imagine how annoying I was?
Come home, getting good grades, just doing the right thing and, you know.
Being a ballet teacher, being so nice and not eating your eggs.
That is, yeah, that would annoy me.
Not sure I had a lot of friends.
I was going to ask you that.
Like, did you have mates with ballet or were you so sort of captain sensible that you were
a bit more of a solo?
Always just a small group of pals, close to all the girls that I danced with and they
were like a little bit older, but always enjoyed time on my own.
I was quite happy sort of doing my own thing and all.
And, you know, it's funny too, like you look back and, you know, in your school days and
there's always a little part of you that looks over to that cool crowd.
And then, you know, but I look back now and I've still got those same mates that I had
from school and they're pretty special relationships, actually.
Yeah, they're the best.
They're the ones that know everything and you feel like you can chat about anything
without any fear of judgment.
And you know what?
Doesn't matter where our life has gone or where we're living or how long since we've
seen each other, we're exactly the same when you get back together.
I remember my very first school reunion and, you know, we're sitting in the gutter at
one o'clock in the morning with our shoes off, you know, eating a kebab.
It's like, yeah, none of us have changed.
We're just a bit older.
Just a bit older.
Not really wiser, but just a bit older.
If I had all your sort of best pals in a room, would they be proud of you?
Do you think they'd be proud of turning on the telly in the evenings now and seeing you
I think they're proud that I'm doing something that I love and, you know, they remember even
as a kid that I wanted to be a journalist so that I don't think they care that I'm on
In fact, I know they don't care that I'm on telly, you know, and that's what good friends
They just sort of know you for who you are and know that I'm doing the thing that I always
set out to do and wanted to do.
And luckily, I love it as much as I'd always hoped that I would.
So they're just happy about that.
Yeah, you live in your dream, literally.
Oh, you know, I don't know, I'm just trying to think about when I was trying to get kids
to school the morning.
I mean, is that the dream?
No, I know what you mean, but at the end of the day, you've done really well.
And I know with all friends of mine that have done well, whether they're super famous or
just just good people doing what they wanted to do, it's just really lovely to have that
in your group of mates.
And they know you for who you are, right?
Yeah, that's right.
And that's true friendship.
Were you close to your brother and sister growing up?
And your mum and dad, what were they like as parents?
Oh, my two of the best humans on the planet.
I mean, and to give you a sense of dad, you know, if anything was ever wrong.
I mean, my kids say it now, too.
It's like there's no sooking unless there's blood.
That's the rule in our house.
And, you know, Scout had a really bad fall the other day and she came in and she's four.
And it's like, there's no blood, but it really hurts.
And it's like, OK, you can suck it's fine.
So she got the term out.
And I'm not meant to because there's no blood.
But growing up, dad was always if there was ever a problem or two things that would fix
it, a swim or a poo and typically, I reckon 95 percent of the time he was right.
But it was like it was just lovely just growing up on the farm and dad, he worked casually.
So he didn't really ever take holidays, but we had the farm and throughout Bush all the
And so we didn't, you know, I think I remember going on holidays in the car, Mazda, three
to three all the way to Queensland with a sister who got car sick in the middle to the
And I remember every detail of that holiday.
I remember the smells.
I remember the room where we stayed.
And that was sort of, you know, that was the big holiday when we were 12.
So many adventures on the farm.
Was it a working farm?
Look, not really.
We had those horses and Bush.
So we had, you know, your bikes and horses and every animal we named.
So that makes it hard to, I mean, the calf was meatworks.
Yeah, we did eat meatworks, but we didn't know.
We didn't know until after.
Was he delicious?
No, it was traumatic because I remember my brother knew about it.
He's three years older than me.
And I don't know.
I reckon I would have been 12.
My sister would have been nine.
And mum and dad said, oh, we're sending, you know, meatworks to a bigger farm.
And it made sense to us, even though, you know, it's like 25 acres.
He seemed to have plenty of room.
It seemed to be a lot of room with one freaking calf.
And then my brother dropped it after dinner one night.
Like, you know, how was dinner?
It's like, oh, it was really yum.
It's like, oh, and my sister and I were bawling.
My brother got walloped.
We didn't get hit much.
We didn't get hit much.
Like, I mean, the threat of a smack used to exist, but it didn't happen very much.
But yeah, he did for this one.
And then after that, every time, like, you know, we had chicken for dinner, I'd make
mum show me like the Steggles pack that had it come from the chookshed and, you know,
we'd go and do a head count of all our lambs to make sure that, you know, the roast dinner
on Sunday wasn't little frisky or bambi.
I can just imagine you and your sister doing that.
It was traumatic.
But it sounds like you had a wonderful sort of upbringing, but all the way through it,
you speak about this love for ballet and love for journalism.
So was there any point in your life where you went, you know what, I could be a ballerina?
Look, there was always that thought when I finished school to go and do that for a little
But then when I got into university, you couldn't defer it.
It was at Charles Sturt, which is out in Bathurst.
And they don't take too many journalism students each year.
So I got into that.
And, and look, it was one of those things that would have been lovely to have gone and
You know, as mum says, she talks about how much money went into that, you know, like,
you know, a new pair of pointe shoes every six weeks and, and how much money went into
Stedford's and performances and costumes and lessons and trips to Sydney and what have
It would have been nice to go and do something, but I don't ever feel like I've missed out
Like I was, I loved it, but I wasn't ever going to, you know, be a principal artist
for the Australian Ballet, you know?
You're good, but you weren't like, Oh my God, this is the greatest ballerina Australia's
No, you didn't miss out on that.
Well, I mean, I mean, you haven't seen it.
So I could just say that.
I mean, I may have been Gus.
And given the right tutelage, you might've got there.
I mean, who knows?
But no, it was something I loved and you know, the teaching side of it was great.
But I was, when I think went to uni and I shifted, you know, all my focus to sort of
I say shifted my focus.
I think we did 10 hours face to face and my parents said, keeping in mind how good I was
I think there's a single photo of you at uni without a drink in your hand and it's true.
So you broke out a little.
You found a different you.
Well, I found a diff.
There was probably a bit of freedom that came with it that, you know, that I was so hard
on myself in the final years of school and, you know, and I see mates and their kids going
through year 12 now and, you know, how hard exams are and their anxiety levels.
I still have dreams about turning up to my HSC maths exam and realising I haven't been
to any classes all year.
I still have dreams or nightmares about the HSC.
So you know, it's a tough time for kids.
I made a bit of a boo-boo perhaps, but I'd do it again to my old school.
I was invited in to talk to the guys before the exams and I said to them, it just doesn't
matter at the end of the day.
It's just a number.
Do the best you can.
You can always get in a couple of years.
Go and marry a stranger, kiss a stranger, sleep with a stranger overseas and come back
when you're a bit older.
They'll let you in.
You can see the teachers looking at me going, not really what we're after.
Not what we invited him here to say.
But it is so, so true.
But I also have this thought that my parents, they never pushed us and, you know, whatever
we came home with, it's like, did you work as hard as you could?
Whatever that grade was, they were, they were happy.
And I love that about them.
And they were at Whitsun, they said, you were just a nightmare in year 12.
And like, dad had come in.
Because you're so worried about yourself.
Well, I'm up at one o'clock in the morning eating like straight coffee granules out of,
you know, the Nescafé, sitting there studying.
It was, and it was like, oh man, she said, mum says, you know, you think you're a good
We all wanted to move out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what did you, what did you get?
Like, did you get enough?
Like a 97 something?
But I did, it's one of those things where, it's funny, I can't believe we're talking
about going back to year 12, but like 10 units counted.
And so I did 15, just in case I stuffed some of them up.
So I had this incredible workload, just in case.
That's two and a half subjects more than you needed to.
I'm well aware of how much more it was.
So I did 10 units as well.
I counted, I did 10, solid 10, back myself.
Society and culture was one of the two, and that was literally half the mark was a thing
called a personal interest project where you could write about whatever you wanted to write
about for two years.
See, that's, you're smart and efficient.
Nothing about what I did was efficient, but.
But you got the job done.
But obviously a big, deep breath.
You get to university and you see, okay, perhaps I need a bit more balance.
And I probably went a little bit too far the other way.
So how long did it take?
Because it normally happens you're one way, you swing back too much, and then you come
back to the sensible center.
How long at uni did you come back?
I reckon, yeah, maybe sort of halfway through second year, got a bit more focus again.
And did you realize then that you were quite good at this journalism thing and you were
like, I actually do love it as much as I was hoping.
Like at what stage?
I wasn't very good at all.
And I mean, I had, I had in my third year, I had a scholarship with channel seven and
a mate of mine, John had the channel nine scholarship and then I finished and everyone
who ever had the channel seven scholarship got a job with them.
And I didn't, they didn't want me.
I know it was quite.
Was it a straight up meeting face to face like you and I looking at each other now and
Sort of, you know, I was doing a bit of work experience in third year and there was no
interest. And then I ended up doing work experience at channel nine and.
22 years later, still there.
So the seventh thing doesn't work out, you do a bit with nine, nine take you on and what
sort of role are you playing at that stage at nine, like straight out of uni working
What are you doing?
I was a producer on Nightline, which was the late news.
Jim Whaley was the newsreader, Hugh Remington was the reporter and it was this fabulous
team where everyone, you know, it was the early, early days, but, you know, the good
days of TV is they're often referred to now.
And so the six p.m. desk would leave and Brian Henderson would go home and the crew was
only half hour news. And we'd go straight up to the third floor, which was, you know,
the executive level level, go straight to the bar, get, you know, a couple of bottles
of wine, platter of cheese.
And and we'd all put the news to air, you know, writing away and doing our thing.
And it was fantastic.
So just being in this world of adults and sounds and listening to all these oldies
tell, you know, they're all decent, probably my age now.
Seemed old anyway, just telling all their war stories.
And it just just learned so much, so much.
And it was yeah, it was such a great introduction.
And what I loved is they had so much time to share their wisdom.
And so there's so many lessons from from those early days that I've still got in my
mind, like, you know, certain things I don't like when people write like that's lazy
writing, because I remember being told that when I was, you know, in my early 20s.
And it's sort of and it's stuck.
And, you know, you pass that on now.
And yeah, I don't know if they appreciate it or not.
But well, I mean, at the end of the day, it's probably good advice.
So whether you like it or not, take it on board.
Jim Whaley's daughter is now my producer at Triple M on the drive show.
You're kidding, Nikki.
I don't know if you knew Nikki, but Nikki's now.
Yeah, she's been in and around Triple M forever and done wonderful stuff all around
the world, but she's a comeback and now she's our producer and she's absolute legend.
So I hear a lot about her dad.
So you're doing that and you're like, OK, this all seems to be going along nicely.
At what stage do you get the next step?
At what point do you get in front of the camera?
Or was that a moment that came a little later?
I worked on Nightline for a while and then they shifted me to the 6pm news, which is
one of the scariest things in the world, working for Brian Henderson.
I mean, most lovely, beautiful, beautiful man, but just the icon.
Yeah, Brian told me.
Exactly, exactly.
And I mean, he was he was wonderful to work with, too.
And so I think I did that job.
And it's funny even looking back now, like I look at the newsroom and mainly made up
of women, young women, a lot of working mums.
And I went back to that point, there was myself and one other female on that production
desk. Everyone else was all men.
It was just a very, very different environment back then.
So I do love how and no one if anyone had babies, they left.
It was kind of never to be seen again.
It was a bit like that. Yeah, yeah.
But that's you know, that's that's 20 years ago.
And thankfully now, like, you know, they all work rosters and thank goodness that's all
changed. Yeah. But yeah, then I just decided I wanted an adventure.
So I went up to Darwin and I worked up in Darwin as a as a reporter for just under two
years. And, you know, that's that was pretty fun.
Rocking up on a flight right before like two days before Christmas, landing at 11 o'clock
at night. I think it was the night of their Christmas party.
Right. And they were all sideways.
And I was left all my stuff in a car and went to this party and met them all.
I thought, I think I'm going to enjoy this.
I mean, I remember one of the old guys who worked there just came up to me and goes,
mate, I'll lose some of his colorful language.
But he basically effectively said, it's hot.
You don't whinge about the heat.
You'll have a bloody good time with a lot of extra words in between.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was I loved it up there.
And some of my greatest mates now, like three of my closest friends, girls that I met
up there. Oh, that is awesome. Yeah.
So was that a change for you to go from producer to being a reporter on air?
Was that a decision you really wanted?
Or was that did you want to get a bit of a feel for everything before you made your
mind up on where you wanted to, you know, really do the great work?
Yeah, I don't really know.
I mean, I started at uni.
I always thought I wanted to be a print journalist.
And then I think in second year you have to split it.
So you have to either do broadcast or print and broadcast look like fun.
So I'll go down. I'll do that.
I figure I will learn to write there anyway, so I could, you know, shift across.
But yeah, I don't think it was ever it's the storytelling part.
And that's when we have work experience kids who come in and kids, you know, the
young adults, when they come in and it's like, you know, what do you want to do?
I always know the ones that are going to make it.
And because it's all about the job, it's about the storytelling.
And it's not the ones who go, I want to be on TV.
Right. You know, it's it's yes, that that is the job.
But what you've got to love is is the journalism and the story and that and that
connection that you make with people.
Big part of the job is not just how you talk to someone is is how you convince them
or get them to trust you to actually sit down and tell you their story.
That's a big part of it.
I mean, it's a big part of what you do.
It's what you're doing right now.
Yeah, to me, I feel about being on the other side of it.
A minute, I've got some questions for you.
Well, it's sort of being authentic and real.
And I think we've always wanted that.
But COVID made it even like fast forward to it.
Like, I'm just going to put up with it anymore.
Like, I'm just going to hang with people that are real and authentic and have my
life with those sort of people, because as we've been proven it, it can really go
up sideways in a hurry.
Did you strip your life back then during COVID?
Like, who was in your life?
I've got to had the same bunch of mates.
We're called the nonstop gibbers, you know, and someone that you know, Grant
Andrews, is one of those guys.
We've all been best men to each other, groomsmen to each other.
We all love each other.
We're all godfather is 13 of us in total.
And we've known each other.
I've known eight of the 13 for over 50 years.
I'm 55 in December.
So these blokes are like brothers, my chosen brothers.
I've got a brother who I love, but these are my chosen brothers.
And absolutely, we love a little bit of stage three lockdown.
You know, we love that where we could still get together, but not necessarily.
We had to be like a metre or so apart and we had to take away from the cafe.
Didn't bother us at all where we were on the beaches.
We just grabbed our coffee, egg and bacon roll and sat and looked at Colleroy.
It was fantastic.
But we got ourselves through that.
And then we saw the world quickly fasten up again.
And I got involved in it probably quicker than the other guys.
And all before I knew it, I was going quicker than I was before.
And we do talk about that time being a time that was precious.
But I, I think there are two sides to that, right?
Like, you know, you talk about everything had, you had to strip everything back.
So life was simpler, but you could still go to the beach every day.
You could still look at the ocean.
And it just depends where that lockdown was.
My cousin in Victoria, you know, he looks at me, you know, he's got had that five
kilometre radius around his house.
And then they had, you know, really awful time there for a long time.
So everyone had their own experiences.
And in England, a lot of my wife's family and friends, they had an
awful time with it as well.
So everyone had their own stuff, but I'm glad we're out of it.
I just wish we could take a few of the lessons that we learn and just
took a little chill pill.
I think you're right.
And I think that's, that's the one thing like where it is clocking at the moment
is just how to get so fast again.
It just feels really, really fast.
I mean, if we just look at what we've seen over the last couple of weeks.
So obviously, you know, my work site is cycle.
And that's been one of, this has been one of the toughest runs I think we've had in
what we've been exposed to and what we've been talking about and, you know, the
division we've seen and just, just the angst worldwide as to what comes next.
And I look at home, it's just like, how did it just get so full, you know?
And, you know, like now it's just like, okay, like five weeks, we have nothing
in the diary for that weekend.
Let's keep it free.
And it's like, I know, but I mean, no, we will.
But it's like, how is it that like, I don't know, it just.
Well, having kids, you know, and having lives and your husband's got a life, like
you're all busy, so it just happens.
He has too much of a life, by the way.
We'll talk about him in a moment and you have turned it around.
You started asking me stuff.
So you're there, you're up in Darwin, you have a great time.
You meet those three people that are lifelong friends still to today.
How does that girl go to becoming someone who is in war-torn places, who is
literally putting their life at risk to give the story telling that you talk about?
Was it something that you went for, or was it just something you found?
Were you scared when you went to war-torn countries?
Yeah, look, certainly there was definitely a heightened sense of danger.
And so I think coming back from, from Darwin and coming into the newsroom in
Sydney, I'd always wanted 60 minutes.
That was the job I wanted.
And at one point when I came back, it was, they sort of, you know, we're sort of
shifting me into more of like a news reading role and, but that's not what I
wanted to do at that point at all.
I didn't, that wasn't where my interest lied.
60s, the gig I wanted.
And so then I got that.
I was 30, which was pretty young.
And, and I, my first...
Tell us the day they told you, like we, did you get a phone call or did they call
you into the office?
Like, what happened?
I don't remember.
I remember my first day walking in there.
I don't remember how, how I was told the news, but it was one of those holy hell,
And then just feeling like a total fraud, you know, I came to the office and it's
like, hi Liz Hayes, hi Tara.
And I'd known Tara for years and, you know, loved her and she was so extraordinary
when I came in, even to the point of like, if you need help to pack and what to pack.
Cause you go away for six weeks at a time.
It's like, you know, and some half of it might be in freezing cold weather and the
other half hot, you know, she's even if you've just worried about what shoes to
take, you know, nothing's too silly.
If you've got any questions about an interview or something, you know, and I'm
just, I'm always appreciative of that.
But you also look around the room and the producers on the show then were just as
famous as all the reporters, you know, Howard Sakers and Steven Rice and Gareth
Harvey and Nick Greenaway and Steven Taylor.
These are names, if you work with me, nothing to anyone.
But just, yeah, just, and so I was just really, really nervous even working with
And there was a whole bunch of stuff that I didn't sound like 60 minutes and, you
know, I didn't act like 60 minutes, you know, it was, it was tricky at the start,
but it was one particular producer, Nick, who just, he goes, mate, you're you.
We've got you in because you're you and because you're different.
So just ignore the noise.
And he was a bit of a protector.
And just do you, he goes, I'll deal with this bit, you know, and I'm appreciative
of that because, you know, then all of a sudden, you know, in those early days,
like, oh, gee, okay, how do I, how do I do this?
And how do I, how do I sound like Liz?
It's like, well, I don't need another bloody Liz.
And no one can sound like Liz.
Liz does a good job of being Liz.
You know, she's fine there.
We don't need to.
But, you know, that just comes around to confidence about moving from news to 60
where it's like, well, hang on, I can tell any story in a minute, 20.
And now all of a sudden I have 20 minutes.
Like I don't need 20 minutes.
So it's just a whole new skillset to learn.
And I reckon that part, the writing of scripts took me maybe even a couple of years.
So you write your own stuff.
There's no one there to help you with that.
Oh, you'd write on 60, you'd write them together with your producer.
You always write together and people do different things.
But, you know, Liz, Tara and myself always wanted to write, always wrote our own
scripts, you know, because also you write all your interviews, you have an idea how
this story is going to go, you're there on the road, you know, if you hand it over
and someone else does it and then you look at the final product and go, well, that's
not what I wanted or what I thought.
Yeah, that's not my words.
Then, well, tough titties because you didn't, you know, you didn't do the hard yard.
So, yeah, well, you always see your story through because, you know, at the end of
the day, our stories, we feel them and they're important to us and, and you want to
And I think, you know, a lot of that is that you have people often at their most
vulnerable moment trusting you to deliver their story.
And for me, the most important thing is not even what do the bosses think?
Are they going to like this?
Is this what they wanted?
Because that at the end of the day is the most important thing that you do the right
thing by the person who's trusted you to tell their story.
That's a big deal.
That's a big deal for me.
Of course, you can see it in your face as you say it.
Do you ever actually go and sit with those people?
Have you had an opportunity to go back and show them the work before it goes on the
Or do you check in with them after to make sure that they're happy?
How does that always always.
And I mean, there was there was a story I did about 13 years ago on a woman called
Julie Randall, who was pretty much the first person in Australia to survive stage
four advanced melanoma.
I did a story with her at the time and I always talked to her about like, you know
what, if you'd been diagnosed a couple of months either side, we would never have
met. A few months earlier, she wouldn't be here.
A few months later, she wasn't that extraordinary because others were surviving.
And she rang the other day because her daughter, who was in the story and was no
way old enough to be having a baby.
She's got her first grandchild, you know, and there's I stay in contact with, you
know, a lot of the families.
That's great. I love it.
I love the fact that you do that.
So 60 minutes, you're there, you got a little bit of, oh, I'm not quite sure if I'm
good enough. You get through that.
At what stage do you actually walk into that office again and go, I actually I
deserve to be here.
I've proven myself in within yourself because no doubt your colleagues are all
looking at. Oh, yeah, she's great.
Yeah. But for your own mind, how long did it take you to feel that that?
I'm not sure I ever reached that point, but I'm perfectly honest.
Do you feel that now going on to on?
Always. You cannot.
We can always be better.
And I think the day that you that you kind of cruise into the office and I've got
this is the day you stop trying and pushing yourself to be better.
And I'm always really mindful that I might feel really strongly about something,
but not everyone does.
And so it doesn't mean you don't share your opinion, but really respectful in in
the way you deliver that in.
And you always do this really well.
When you would be on the Today Show and I'd be on the Today Show with you, you'd
never shy away from having an opinion about something.
But there's a way to deliver it where you're not sitting there saying something in
the way and meaning I'm right.
And therefore, if you don't agree with me, you must be wrong.
You're wrong. Yeah, yeah.
So I'm always really, really mindful of that.
And, you know, I've got good people in my life that I can bounce ideas off and we
get a good sense of that.
But I don't know what the hell you asked me.
I feel like that went in a totally weird direction.
That's what this podcast is all about.
I mean, for me, it's weird directions.
Yeah, it's it's been curious in life.
Yeah. As soon as I came up with I'm just going to be curious on why they feel that
way. It just took away a little of the edge of what I thought was right.
And it gave me enough of a human feel to go, well, they feel something different.
So why? And then you're curious enough and you're not standing there going, you know,
I'm right and you're wrong.
If you're curious in life, I think it gives you more opportunity to find out all the
facts and then make whatever decision that's right.
And also realizing having having enough guts, like I do the radio show now and, you
know, we're hardly doing hard hitting stuff.
But when we need to, we have a prime minister on or a premier on, we have to ask the
questions that people as if they were asking it, you can't shy away from that.
And I find it difficult. I'm working on it all the time.
Yeah. But I also find that difficult.
But I also find that exhausting.
And it must be exhausting for you to not to be able to walk in and just do your
thing. You always want to be better, to always want to strive and always want to
improve. That's tiring.
Yeah, it is. But there's also that that fabulous feeling you have afterwards when
you know you've done a good job.
When you look at something and then and it depends when you look at what the
feedback is. Like with a political interview, if half of them think you're like
a right leaning loony and then the other half think you're you're a left leaning
loony, then, you know, I was fair and I was down the middle and that's what you
want. You can do that and be respectful.
I mean, sometimes a bit of aji-paji, that's part of the game, right?
Whatever. I mean, I can be fiery.
Yeah, I've been told.
Do you care what people think?
Like living in our world, like in radio lands every six to eight weeks, there's a
ratings, you know, good, bad or indifferent.
You're either off for a celebration or you're off for commiseration.
Yeah. But with you guys, it's like you find out the next morning just after nine
o'clock, right? Roughly.
Is that hard for you to live on that sort of every day?
There's a scoreboard.
I'm OK with it because our scoreboard's been pretty good this year.
So you're winning. So ask me, you know, when when that changes, if that changes and
my answer might be different.
Like you talk about, do I care what people think?
Like I yes, I do.
Like if you don't care what your audience thinks of you, then how utterly
disrespectful and you shouldn't be doing the job.
But what's different to that is what I don't pay any attention to is trolling or
comments on social media that I give absolutely no time to.
And that I feel is very different.
I'll read emails if someone writes in an email.
And I'm happy with criticism.
Criticism is fine.
But, you know, you've seen it, we've all seen it.
When that crosses the line.
And and I often then think of, OK, who's who's that person at home who feels the
need to be so vile, someone whose things ain't going so well in their life right
now. And, you know, I know we all hate it, but talking about COVID and I'm not
talking about that, but I'm talking about that time frame when there was a lot of
angst. And I think, you know, people would see Carl and I going in every morning
doing our jobs. So it looked like our life didn't change that much.
And we're having a laugh because, you know, hell, you got a bloody laugh.
When when when you're going through that, if you can't laugh, then it's all over.
And so I think we're a trigger point for people and some of the stuff that would
come in. But you just I would just go, OK, I don't see it.
But I needed someone else to read it to make sure because, you know, when there's
stuff about your kids and there's stuff about then I don't want something that
happened, it's like, well, hang on, it was there and I didn't see it.
So I just handed that over and it's like, I don't want to see it.
I don't want to be part of it.
And so that I could happily just tune that out really easily.
You just don't read it. You know, you open the comments section about something
about yourself. No, you're not going to typically like everything that's there.
Right. So why do it?
And why wouldn't there be a hundred things saying, Ali, you did such a great
job and somewhere in the middle person and then we focus on that one nasty one
and you're like, it's human nature about the ninety nine goodies.
I remember Mark Gaier, who I was on the radio with in my first gig in radio.
He said to me, just block, delete, block, delete.
Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it.
And people would come along in the car and they might have a crack because my job
on the grill team was to take that on a little bit because I hadn't won a
premiership. I had one state of origin.
So I was sort of that fan guy.
So they gave it to me.
And then so it meant the public thought they could give it to me as well.
And then you would just go, hey, mate, they know who you are.
You don't know who they are. Don't worry about it.
But it took a while. And I'm a softie at heart.
I wear my heart on my sleeve.
And I was just like, he said, never worry about anyone bagging you unless they've
met you and bagged you. Then you can make a decision on whether or not you care.
Otherwise, they're just making it up. They don't know who you are.
Yeah, that takes a little, you know, a little bit of time to get that headspace.
Right. And it takes time and it takes time for us as adults.
Right. And then, yeah.
So, you know, you shave a couple of years off and you're back in high school
and that's all happening.
And that's where it's really rough.
Yeah, that's where it's really rough.
So anyway, we're tough.
We're tough. Yeah, we're toughish.
Yeah. And we've got a village around us to help us.
That's the key. So we've jumped from Darwin.
Sixty minutes. Fantastic.
And we've gone to Crown Affair.
But in the middle there, there's a bit of stuff going on.
Getting up early mornings.
That's where you and I first met. Today's show.
I just remember walking on the Today's show set and it was fun.
You know, you and Kyle got along well.
The crew were always very respectful.
But there was a feeling like you're all in a team.
It was that sort of hierarchy, which I loved.
Did you enjoy your time on the Today's show?
Getting up early? Yeah.
And was it a big decision to have to go to Crown Affair?
Yeah, that was a big decision.
And I'll get to that one.
But those three fantastic years like just.
And I think I was OK with the I'm not much of a sleeper anyway.
And I think my body clock, I naturally wake up at around like the two thirty mark.
So between two and two thirty.
So I was sort of I was never in a deep sleep when my alarm
went off at three a.m. in the morning.
So you just and I just up and roll out.
And because I had I had a new baby.
Oh, she was six months, seven months old and a two year old.
I was used to just, you know, boom, there's a noise up.
You get up here. I mean, you're up and in the car driving before I've even woken up.
Right. Yeah, yeah.
But I do remember the very first morning the alarm went off.
Just and I don't even think it did.
I think I got up before the alarm, but I jumped in the shower.
And I think I've made so much noise that, you know, both kids woke up
and then I just remember like walking out the front door, going like, sorry, sorry, honey.
And leaving you with it.
And it was great after day one that maybe I wouldn't, you know, just up.
Clean your teeth. Slip out.
I went to work in my pajamas every morning. Right.
Which also like, why would you get changed twice? Yeah.
What a waste of time getting up, getting dressed at three.
What about what about when you finish it at the end of the show?
Did you get back in your jammies to get? No, no, no.
You always take a take actual close. OK.
So that's for you for after.
Well, only but not always.
That came about because as you're leaving in the lift, all of a sudden,
you know, you swing past the CEO and you're back in your rug boots and your PJs.
You only do that once. Yeah, you're right.
Yeah. You bring my, you know, my day close.
Yeah. So you had three lots of clothes by the time you sort of 10 o'clock
here every morning. Yeah. You're in your third set. Yeah.
I was also about 10 coffees in. So I mean, whoa.
Well, I remember the the atmosphere was great, as I've said.
You had a nasty knee injury through that as well.
So you had that operation and you're in a, you know, what do they call it?
I was in a I was in a brace for like three different operations.
I think the first brace was a couple of months and then
and then the third op was another big one.
And it was like locked straight in the brace for six weeks.
So I still I was at rehab this morning and I'll be rehab on Thursday.
So so this is just a part of your life now.
Yeah, but you know, it's one of those things, right?
That gave me a great respect and understanding of people who live with chronic pain.
I don't know how they, you know, at least I always knew that I'd reach a point where
and I had bad days with this, but I also have good days.
And so you just have to, you know, rather than kind of mourn
the stuff that you can't do anymore, I just shift it.
So I swim more and laddies and things.
But, you know, I can't go for, you know, I'm not going to go for a run.
But look, I never enjoyed running.
So in some ways, it's fine.
But what I mean, but what I miss is, you know, I can't jump and things.
So I miss not like kicking a footy around with the kids in the backyard.
Yeah, that sort of stuff.
And, you know, and even now, and the kids, you know, jump on me in the lounge.
It's like, which ones you saw like, Mum?
But it's it's in the scheme of things.
And it's fine. You know, some days it hurts.
And now you're just like, I even just use a different language around it.
Like, it feels different today rather than, you know, it hurts.
And look, you know, and my very first day back at work after that accident,
because I think it was the first day ratings that I did it.
And I was off for a month.
It was meant to be six weeks.
How did you do that?
Is it embarrassing the story?
Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
Can you tell? Oh, no, it's just on a hydrofoil.
So Carl and I were racing up on the Gold Coast and I'd even sent him.
I was so cocky because it's like he's going to be shit at this.
So I'd send him into the water like half an hour before me to practice.
And then we had a race and I won the race.
His argument was I had a waste advantage.
And then I was just sort of fooling around on it, you know, afterwards
and and just did a little turn thing on it to bring it back in.
And just I could fall off it a thousand times the same way.
And I wouldn't be able to do the same injury.
You just couldn't.
So I was just bloody unlucky.
And the very first morning I came back to work, Carl came down
to get me out of the car.
Yeah. And because the cameras were there.
And I day two and the cameras weren't there.
Carl wasn't there.
See the studio, see the studio.
But no, I mean, you've seen Carl and I in that studio.
I mean, I love it. I love that whole team.
And that was the hardest thing about leaving the Today Show was that
I loved that team on camera behind the scenes.
Just really, really good people.
So to leave that was it just too good an opportunity?
So you went, I've got to take this.
And I just it's that thought of it does take it out of you.
Getting up at three a.m. every morning.
And I even just found with the kids, I wasn't there in the mornings.
I was there in the afternoon to pick up from school.
But I'm on work conferences at three fifteen, five fifteen.
And, you know, five o'clock, I'm watching the Channel 10 News.
I'm cooking dinner, you know, and then at five thirty,
everyone's phones have to go off and everyone's at the table.
And we're all eating dinner at five thirty because at six o'clock
I got to turn the six p.m. news on and then you're doing briefs.
It was and I think that's what it was like living with me.
And you don't just rock up.
You just don't rock up in the morning.
No, well, only only one of us can rock up in the morning.
He is. He always comes to Carl's place.
And he doesn't watch anything.
I wasn't on any of those meetings either.
But no, that goes to what we're talking about me at high school.
Right. That's reverting back to that.
And Carl can come in and just sit comfortably at that desk and just be him.
I can only come in and do that if I've done all this work behind the scenes.
And, you know, Carl, give me a hard time sometimes.
Like, like I read everything and I write notes on everything.
I call my folder and all.
But then every now and again, you do an interview
where someone would just sort of freeze.
I don't know what to say.
And then I just rattle off.
Well, that's because, you know, your neighbor did blah, blah, blah.
And then you did da da da da da da.
And then that's when I turned to Carl and going,
and that's why you read the briefs.
But it was just a team thing that worked really, really well.
And, you know, what he could do in the mornings that I never could.
He'd walk in and he could just like, you know, he's a machine
in that he could flick through four papers in 10 minutes and just go that, that, that.
He understood what a story was and he could spot it straight away.
I don't have that skill set that takes me.
You know, I get bogged down in, you know, in articles that are really interesting.
But he can do that and he can see it and then sort of shape where the show goes.
That's six thirty.
We've been on air for about an hour.
I start to see it, but I can't do that in the morning.
So and I don't need to because he did.
And he didn't need to read his briefs because I did.
You know, perfect combo.
It worked. It worked.
So leaving him and the crew was hard.
A current affair.
You've had good results.
I like I, I love it.
And it's almost like we're doing live interviews many nights.
So I sort of feel that's that element of today's show, which I loved.
And I'm out in the road filming pieces and being able to give it some time.
So that's sort of almost like the combination of, you know, what I missed from 60 days
combined with, you know, the best parts of the today's show.
So and the hours are a shitload better.
Is it better for the, I was going to ask you about the balance with hubby and.
And how that all works and the fact you need to have a village at home.
Like I did 10 years of brekkie radio.
Like Vic's got those kids up and Adam breakfast to the bus or to school every day.
Then I did the Arvos and I love that.
And that was my time, but you definitely need a partnership, a village around you to help you.
What's it like for you guys and your family?
It's so much easier.
I'm present, but present and not tired or distracted.
So I don't even call work until I walk the kids to school in the morning.
And TV doesn't go on in the morning.
I'll sneak like my AirPods and have my phone just so I can watch a bit of the today show
to see what, you know, what they're up to and what the main stories are.
But there's no, that's like the rule in the morning.
So as soon as we're ready, we just play.
And so I have sort of, you know, a solid three hours in the morning with them.
That's real quality time.
You know, where it's, it's your present, your present.
And I'm not having to, you know, and morning's right.
Like everyone's trying to get ready for work and school and rushing around.
And so there's lots of yelling and hurry up and all.
Like I don't, I literally could walk them to school in my pajamas.
You know, I don't, but probably have once or twice.
So I'm not having to, there's nothing that I need to rush for.
And then as soon as I drop them off, we ride scooters and bikes and do the drop off
and talk to the other parents and hopefully see the teachers and say hi.
Then I check in with work and you know, that part sort of goes about that way.
I was saying to someone the other day, it's like, oh, the kids are just at that great age.
They're four and six.
You know, there's not all that squabbling and that real, you know, that real whingey.
And Mike's like, yes, they do.
You're just not around for witching hour.
Like, you know, you just get the delightful little darlings to come in
and curl into bed with us.
Mummy, you know, I just love your cuddles because he deals with bath time and dinner time.
And I'm not eating my vegetables.
So anyway, is he a good dad?
So you got, you got a good one.
He's a better parent than me.
Can't believe I have to say that on the record.
Is that a patience thing?
He would also say, I know.
He wouldn't hesitate.
And all our friends and family would go, yes, that's true.
Did he fall in love with you or did you fall in love with him first?
Was it love at first sight?
Like, how did that relationship start?
We met the old fashioned way, drunk in a pub.
No, he's about, he's 10 years older than me.
He doesn't look it though.
No, he's a good looking rooster.
Yeah, he's a pretty good looking rooster.
You got to go too.
Is he married for 16 years?
Have you got a presi already or?
No, well, see, he was off surfing on a three weekend.
He says two week, I say three weekend surf trip in May.
And he missed Mother's Day and my birthday.
And there was squat.
So I'm just home solo parenting while he's off surfing Indo somewhere.
And there wasn't a card.
It wasn't a present.
Kids woke up didn't even know it was Mother's Day.
So he gets, he gets jacked tomorrow.
That's what he gets.
With a nice, see you later.
As I say, I'm not mad.
Yeah, it's all right.
I'm just disappointed.
Just disappointed.
I was disappointed for the kids.
You denied the kids that.
It's unlike, it's unlike you or my wife to remember things like that either.
And bring it back at the right time.
I'm sure someday soon.
Yeah, I understand.
I mean, the fact that you said he's 10 years older, you meet in a bar.
Did you sort of go, oh, yeah, he's interesting.
Or did you go, oh, I went, oh, okay.
There was an, oh, okay.
And did he feel the same?
Yeah, I think so.
Well, yeah, obviously, come on.
I mean, obviously, but you never know.
10 years younger.
I mean, he should think himself lucky.
So how much after that night in the pub did you think, oh, this bike's like not just going
It could be hubby material.
Well, you know, we chatted a lot.
I was with a bunch of Channel 9 people and because he used to work with quite a few of
So he knew those guys.
But he dropped me home in a taxi that night and he called at like 10 o'clock the next
morning and we went out for lunch that day.
So this whole thing where you wait three days and you do or you play it cool.
Neither of us played it cool.
And then I think we're at a dinner party about six months later and someone asked how we
met and it's like, I just had this, you know, this physical reaction to this guy that he
walked in and he's like black jeans and he's red t-shirt.
And I tell this whole story and Mike just goes, I've never owned a red t-shirt.
So we now laugh that, you know, I met the love of my life that night, but I married
Yeah, that guy's out there somewhere.
One day, I'm sure I'll find him again.
One day, one day.
Now we could talk literally forever, but Ali, we've got a thing to end the podcast,
which is called the Fast Five.
And the first one of those is your favourite quote.
Is there a quote that you heard or that you live your life by?
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Do you know that's Eleanor Roosevelt?
She would have seen some stuff.
She a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff.
So look, I don't do something every day that scares me, but I like,
I like that idea.
And I reckon you seem to be the type of person, if you did have a choice of doing that, you
You just may not have that sort of opportunity pop up every day.
When you do, you'll take it on.
Oh, I take it on.
Because I remember one, a story I did for 60 minutes when I went swimming with great
white sharks with no cage.
And Mike said to me, like, I'm just wondering why you want to do it.
And it was like, I can't think of anything that would scare me more where we chum the
water, get sharks around us and then jump in.
And it's like, I can't think of anything to scare me more than that.
So if I can do that, I can do anything.
That was my theory behind it until you're on the boat and they chum the water.
And the guy, Mike Rutson, who we're doing the story with in South Africa, he goes,
okay, we've got good sharks.
And it's like, I don't want to do this anymore.
And, you know, I turned to the camera right before I jumped in because the 60 crew, they
didn't jump in with me.
I went on my own with this guy and I turned around to the camera.
And they thought, oh, she's about to say something really profound.
And I said, tell my husband if I die to mourn me forever and never remarry.
I put my regulator back in and jumped in the water.
And they're all, oh, that's a dick move.
Like, if that's genuinely her last words, that's mean.
So I was confident I was coming back.
How close did those sharks get to you?
Like, shh, he's overhead.
You blow bubbles so they'd, yep.
So would you do that sort of stuff again?
What made you do it?
Just that I couldn't think of anything that scared me more.
So why wouldn't I do that?
And I trusted the guy.
Now you've got kids though, you wouldn't do it.
Is that a good enough excuse now?
And, you know, and before I had kids, I hated that idea of like, well, why wouldn't I just,
and it's like, no, I would never do that now.
No, no, don't put yourself in that.
I'm a little, I'm a lot older and a little bit wiser.
Yes, I'm a bit the same.
Favourite holiday destination?
I mean, I would actually say mum and dad's farm because the kids said that the other
day and it's like, you know, they've gone to Fiji and we take them to Noosa and Port
Douglas and different places in the snow.
And it's like, where's your favourite holiday destination?
Nanny and Poppy's farm.
And it's just, it is just the best.
You just lock in and everything's there and family's there.
They feel safe and trust everyone.
And I know, love that.
Oh, have you got an author that you go, I must read them all?
I love James Michener and we're going back a while now.
So, I mean, The Source is probably one of my favourite books ever.
I was like, he wrote The Drifters, which was a really good book.
And one that I read on the last couple of years that I really liked was A Gentleman
Amore Tales was a great, great read.
Do you read a lot?
So that's if you're on a holiday, you grab a book and you'll get to the end of it by
the end of the week sort of thing.
Well, I start a book at the end and then read it from the start.
What do you mean you start at the end?
I read the end of it.
Otherwise I don't sleep.
I need to know how it ends.
And I read the synopsis of every movie before I ever watch a movie.
So then I know if I know what's going to happen, then I'm fine.
So if your husband nuts.
Oh, so if you're watching a TV series, you need to know what happens at the end so you
can just relax your way through it.
And so I don't like watching TV series because obviously, you know, as each one comes out
and yeah, it's different.
I can't cope with the, when I get all worked up and, and don't know how something's going
to end and it just, and then I can't sleep.
No, I can stay awake all night.
You're not a great sleeper.
So if I just, so if I know how something ends, then I can enjoy it.
Like not like only a book that if it's like a, who done it?
Like I need to know.
So when he comes in, what's the freaking point of reading it?
It's like, well, I can enjoy it now.
And I feel smarter than all of you.
Cause I know the answer.
So at page 10, when Gary the butcher, Gary, we know what you do on page 10.
That is, that's bizarre.
I like the oldies and I love musicals.
So I'd say singing in the rain.
Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds.
And your favorite charity.
So we've got $10,000 here from Shoren Partners and Earl and
our who are just fantastic, generous people.
They want to help.
So is there a charity that you can give $10,000 to that will make a difference?
And what difference would that be?
The most wonderful charity.
It's called the Mirabelle Foundation and it exists on an oily rag and the work that it does.
So basically what it does is it looks after kids who've been
orphaned by their parents' drug use.
And it's trying to keep them in the family unit.
So this might be they've lost mom and dad, they've lost their lives or they're in jail.
And it's keeping them within the family unit and providing that support for the family unit.
So they don't end up in foster care and institutionalized care.
And they've done so much brilliant work.
So we run these camps and you see all these kids come in and they're shy and,
you know, they've got a lot of challenges in life.
And then you see them then at the end of the week or the end of a weekend.
And once they realize that they're not the only kid in this situation,
and they sort of open up to each other and they make friends.
And you see now you go back to these camps and kids who sort of started coming there
when they were little and now who have grown up in their 18 or in their 20s
and now coming back and volunteering at these camps because it made such a big difference to them.
And they are beating the drug cycle within one generation.
And that's really hard to do.
Jane Rose started it.
She's this extraordinary woman with just the biggest heart.
And it's not one of your big charities, but the work they do and the team involved.
So 10K to Mirabelle will make an enormous difference.
Oh, it's a pleasure.
Thank you to Shaw and Partners.
They're quite extraordinary.
Yeah, they really are.
This is the only podcast in the world that gives guests money to give to their chosen charity.
So that's a beautiful spot for that 10,000 to go to.
Ali, thanks so much for just chatting away with us today.
And we can both talk underwater, guys.
We certainly can.
With a mouthful of marbles as well.
Ali, thanks a lot.
I hope you enjoyed that episode with Ali Langdon.
If you're listening to this, you can also watch it.
We've got a YouTube channel because we've filmed the podcast as well.
So hopefully you get a chance to look at that.
Next week, we've got another wonderful guest.
Hope you enjoy the series.