According to her law firm, political commentator Peter van Onselen is ‘tormenting’ the struggling TV journalist who is suing Network Ten over workplace bullying charges.
Tegan George, 37, has been hospitalized for months with mental health difficulties since launching a lawsuit in February alleging she was driven out of Ten by the station’s Canberra bureau’s ‘toxic atmosphere’.
The acrimonious feud has spilled over onto Twitter, with van Onselen apparently making provocative and pointed remarks about the case on the social media platform.
He’s accused of casting doubt on her accusations, calling her lawsuit ‘frivolous,’ and questioning ‘hospitalized’ people who were ‘backgrounding journalists.’
Ms George’s legal team is now claiming that TV executives “failed to prevent Ten’s political editor from torturing her in social media posts” and is seeking aggravated damages.
Mr van Onselen has continued to target Ms George with social media jabs and erroneous public comments about the subject since the proceedings were issued,’ her attorneys argue.
They allege the TV analyst’s remarks were made “despite a Network Ten guideline prohibiting staff from bullying or harassing people on social media.”
Ms George’s lawsuit claims that Ten failed to establish a safe working environment for her at the bureau, and Van Onselen, 46, is one of several senior employees mentioned in the litigation.
Ms George has been on leave since June after the incident left her sick, unable to sleep, and’stressed to incapacity,’ according to court filings.
Her petition also claims that she was made fun of for taking sick leave.
Ms George is now claiming additional aggravated damages as a result of van Onselen and Ten’s actions, according to Josh Bornstein of Maurice Blackburn.
Mr Bornstein stated, “Ten’s management has been unwilling to rein in Mr van Onselen.”
‘Peter is bats*** insane, but we simply have to get used to it,’ executive editor Anthony Murdoch allegedly told Ms George, according to initial reports.
According to court filings, the television executive said that “the bureau has always been toxic” and that she “ought to learn to live with it.”
According to the lawsuit, Ms George attempted to handle the issues directly with van Onselen, but he escalated the matter to top management.
Van Onselen allegedly informed her later that he ‘didn’t give a s***’ about how she was feeling.
Other alleged statements made by senior executives to or about Ms George, according to court documents:
• ‘What exactly did you do today?’ ‘Do you like to paint your nails and drink herbal tea?’
• ‘No one likes her at all.’
• ‘I’d get my f***ing brain checked if I had that many sick days and headaches.’
Ms. George further alleges that she was shunned and excluded from coffee sessions with van Onselen and other coworkers.
‘After Ms George went to court, he proceeded to publicly criticize her, causing her great grief.’
Van Onselen allegedly fanned the fires of the lawsuit with online remarks shortly after multiple reports on the matter appeared in the Daily Mail Australia, prompting the freshly enlarged legal action.
Van Onselen is claimed to have retaliated on Twitter after the initial facts of the case were released, which included assertions that journalists were under orders to build up his brand.
On March 27, van Onselen allegedly tweeted, ‘Accusations are not always accurate.’
‘They sometimes speak more about who is pointing the finger without providing any evidence.’ ‘Most of us don’t have enough information to make any sort of judgment.’
According to the lawyers, he followed up with another tweet on May 18.
He allegedly tweeted, ‘Frivolous misuses of the federal court truly do need to be wiped out…’ The tweet has vanished from view.
Later that day, van Onselen allegedly ‘publicly humiliated Ms George’ over her hospital stay, which they believe was ‘a result of her treatment,’ according to the legal firm.
‘Have you considered whether the hospitalized person is gathering information for journalists? Getting people’s attention. When claimed Parliament House rape victim Brittany Higgins confronted him over the row, he tweeted, “Very genuine question.”
In an apparent dig at Ms George, he also made several references to coffee.
In light of the recent controversy, her legal statement of claim has been updated to include allegations that Ms George has been further victimized as a result of exercising her right to go to court under the Fair Work Act.
They’ve also added additional allegations that Ms George was forced to work in a hostile workplace, in violation of the Sex Discrimination Act.
She is also seeking a court order to require annual training on victimization, bullying, and gender imbalance at Ten, as well as monitoring.
Mr Bornstein claimed that the Fair Work Act provided crucial protections for employees who report workplace concerns.
‘Ten appears to believe that Mr Van Onselen is more important than other employees and that he is allowed to do anything he wants, no matter the repercussions,’ he added.
‘In this case, the network’s inability to act as a responsible employer is exceptional.’
Ms George began her career with Ten in 2011, and in 2019 she was promoted to the Canberra bureau.
The Statement of Claim alleges that Ms George was subjected to repeated incidents of retaliation after she initially complained to van Onselen in February 2020.
Ms George claims she was told van Onselen wanted an explanation from her for ‘hurting his feelings’ when she met with management a week later.
He allegedly avoided dealing with Ms George after that and told her to work at a separate desk.
‘I very much look forward to completely airing the truth about these extremely vexatious claims as soon as I’m in a position to do so,’ van Onselen told Daily Mail Australia last month.
Ten have denied the allegations and have requested that 20 of the claims be dismissed as ‘vague’ and ’embarrassing.’
The network claims Ms George took text messages out of context and that senior editors, including van Onselen, disregarded, undermined, or ridiculed her.
Ms George’s legal defense also claims that she refused to cooperate with the sexual harassment investigation, but disputes that she was threatened with disciplinary action.
They also dispute the allegations. Ten denies that van Onselen mentioned Ms George in previous tweets from 2021, and claims that van Onselen had provided his support in the form of enhanced working conditions specified in text conversations delivered to her in 2020.
Ten will respond to the additional accusations at a later time.