92.7 Mix FM’s A.B advocates for mums in the workplace

A.B with 92.7 Mix FM co-host Mark Darin at the Australian Audio Awards. Image supplied.

Annabelle ‘A.B’ Brett was on maternity leave, navigating life as a new mum and preparing to return to her radio gig when the rug was pulled out from under her.

After three years of co-hosting Triple M’s The Rush Hour in Queensland with Elliott Lovejoy, in late 2024, the show was suddenly axed.

The thought of having to start all over again sent A.B spiralling.

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As she shared on-air last week: “It was the darkest, most depressive time of my life, when it should have been the happiest.”

But start again she did. Today, not only has A.B happily returned on the airwaves – hosting 92.7 Mix FM Breakfast on the Sunny Coast alongside Mark Darin – the duo won Best Breakfast Show (Medium category) at the recent Australian Audio Awards.

And A.B is a passionate advocate for women who’ve found themselves in a similar position to her, not just in radio – but across all industries.

In Australia, terminating or demoting an employee due to pregnancy or maternity leave is illegal under the Fair Work Act. Women can, however, be made legally redundant if their role is genuinely removed due to operational changes.

“Nearly one in five Australian mothers have reportedly been made redundant, restricted or dismissed or have their contracts not renewed during either pregnancy, maternity leave or just as they return to work,” A.B said.

And whilst the practice is perfectly legal, A.B questions whether that should be the case.

“I can safely say it that it nearly broke me – that this was the darkest time of my life.”

A.B believes that making a woman redundant while she’s on maternity leave leaves a lasting mark on a person’s faith in fairness.

“At a time when she should be focused on bonding with her newborn, recovering from childbirth or adjusting to the biggest transition of her life, she instead receives a message that her professional future has been erased.”

A.B had been in the radio industry for seven years and had moved around the country for work numerous times when she got the tap on the shoulder.

At her most vulnerable, A.B recalls crying in her car after trialling for the Mix Breakfast job. She thought there was no way in hell the company would hire someone with a newborn baby.

“If we are a nation that claims that we want women to return to the workforce, this is a way that we set ourselves back decades.”

A.B paid tribute to her co-host Mark Darin, saying “At no point when I trialled for this job did you consider the fact that I was a new mother as an obstacle. Same with our management.”

Just this month, Melbourne-based Channel 7 reporter Bethan Yeoman was also made redundant whilst on maternity leave – one of up to 300 full-time staffers to lose their jobs in Southern Cross Media Group’s latest round of cuts.

Sharing the news on social media, Yeoman said “Being made redundant on mat leave was not on my 2026 bingo card.”

Christie Hayes – who up until last week had co-hosted the Hit Network’s top-rating Dan & Christie Breakfast show – had only just returned from maternity leave when the show abruptly ended last week.

Whilst Hayes expressed gratitude to SCA for giving her four of the happiest years of her life, she was nevertheless taken aback, revealing to Liam Renton on The Quarter Hour podcast “I won’t lie. I was really shocked. I felt very confident and comfortable in where I was working on our show, because – we were a show that delivered.”

“We were also told ‘Please keep it confidential.’ So that’s always a tough, weird thing, because, you know – how do you not tell people? And I think as well, people forget how close you are to your work friends. Especially when you’re in the same industry. You want to unpack things together.”

When asked her advice for others who suddenly find their position becomes redundant, Hayes says “Don’t try and be pragmatic and say ‘it doesn’t hurt.’ Don’t try and pretend that you’re OK, either. We live in this world where we always have to put on a façade and normalise not having real feelings.”

“As they say … we’re always replaceable at work. You’re never replaceable at home.”

“I’m going to be OK.”

In 2017, former 3pm Pick Up host Katie ‘Monty’ Dimond said she was fired from a rival radio station when they found out she was pregnant with her first child.

“Five years on and I am still really angry because this bullsh*t is still going on. Women are being punished for having children all the time,” Monty wrote in a blog post for Show + Tell Online at the time.

Dimond had said she felt too scared to challenge it, for fear of burning her bridges in the radio industry.

“I felt if I spoke up my whole career would be over.”

That same year, former Weekend Sunrise newsreader Talitha Cummins reached a confidential settlement with Seven after claiming she was sacked unfairly while on maternity leave.

No-one is saying that in the volatile financial world of radio, cost cutting and redundancies won’t happen. They will. As they do in all businesses. It is never fair and people get hurt.

But if radio is to continue to roll out the ‘We are a family here and our people matter,’ back it up with some decisions made with empathy and heart, not all share price and profit margin.

Images: Instagram and supplied.