Do we like Sonia Kruger?
Our score: 2 out of 10. In 2016 she called for Muslim immigration to stop and a tribunal found her remarks vilified Muslims, with little documented good to set against it.
Sonia Kruger has been a fixture of Australian telly for years. She left Nine in late 2019, is now back at Seven hosting The Voice Australia, and took out the Gold Logie in 2023 after four nominations. We couldn't read a full profile of her early life, so that's the arc we can source.
The story she's best known for is from July 2016. On Nine's Today Extra she said Muslim immigration should be stopped for Australians' safety. The next day, emotional on air, she didn't withdraw it, only conceding “I acknowledge my views yesterday may have been extreme.” Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane was among those who criticised her, and Nine defended the segment as free speech.
It didn't end on the day. A complaint went to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and in February 2019 it found her remarks vilified Muslims, calling them a “stereotypical attack on all Muslims in Australia”. It stopped short of racial vilification only because Muslims aren't legally a race. The complainant wanted an apology, not money, and a 2023 opinion piece says she refused to give one.
On the harm check, the LGBTQ+ side is there too. In August 2016 she called a scholarship for LGBTI students “reverse discrimination” on Today Extra. When a co-panellist pointed out it could help trans young people and those rejected by their families, she held her ground. We found nothing on her views about climate or vaccines, and nothing about platforming anyone nasty. The record is mostly those 2016 moments.
Lately the story is about her career, not a scandal. In July 2026 she said on a podcast she'd love to do projects in London and the States, and guest judge on Strictly. She missed a Gold Logie nomination for the first time in five years. Gossip mags are writing her TV obituary, but tabloid territory isn't something we'll build on.
The good stuff is honestly thin on what we could verify. There's the Gold Logie, and by all accounts a long, steady run on screens. When she won in 2023, writers argued her win should be weighed against her past comments about marginalised Australians, and one called it proof of how entrenched racism is in Australian media.