Warren Tredrea tells court his on-air ‘stumble rate’ as a Channel 9 news presenter did not justify ‘unfair’ termination

Ex-footballer and TV presenter Warren Tredrea says his Nine News colleagues “won media awards off the back of me” – but claims he was still unfairly fired for not getting a Covid vaccine.

Warren Tredrea leaves the Federal Court during his unfair dismissal case against Chanel 9. Picture: Russell Millard

Former footballer Warren Tredrea has told a court he was unfairly fired from his “dream job” with Channel 9 over Covid-19, despite “breaking more stories” than colleagues who won awards “off the back of me”.

On Monday, Tredrea took the stand in the Federal Court to pursue his $5.7m claim against the network, which terminated his contract as its SA sports presenter in January 2022.

During his day-long cross-examination by Nine’s barrister, Brendon Roberts KC, he denied he was “an anti-vaxxer” who had used the movement’s “language” on radio.

Tredrea described online trolling as “debate” and said his decision to download an online “declaration” about declining to be vaccinated was “doing my homework”.

He denied he was dismissed for poor performance, “stumbles” during broadcasts or boosting a yoga business owned by his wife – a supporter of “freedom rallies” – on his social media.

“For someone who’s come from an ad lib background, reading someone else’s scripts (on air) was something I worked constantly to get better at,” he said.

“But my role was very unusual … it also included sourcing content and exclusive stories … (Nine news director) Jeremy Pudney said I ‘broke more stories than anyone else in the newsroom’.

“I was a presenter who presented, found exclusive stories and distributed them to other workers who won media awards off the back of me.”

Mr Roberts replied: “Are you finished? What question of mine did you answer with that long monologue?”

Tredrea told the Federal Court his colleagues had won media awards “off the back of me” and the stories he “distributed”. Picture: Russell Millard

Tredrea has asked the court to award him $5,775,000 – representing 30 years of pay for the missed opportunity of employment – claiming he was wrongfully dismissed.

He claims Nine’s Covid policy was unreasonable, based on his understanding of the virus and vaccines, including the risk of adverse vaccine reactions.

On Monday, Tredrea said he initially struggled with the transition to live TV news and worked with Mr Pudney, to improve on “errors, delivery and stumbles”.

“Over eight years as a presenter I’ve made mistakes, yes … when you start a job you get better with time,” he said.

“I was someone who constantly sought feedback, was very professional and delivered a good product … I’ve given 100 per cent as a live presenter, and every presenter stumbles.”

Mr Roberts reminded Tredrea he had given a sworn affidavit saying he was “never made aware of performance issues”.

He said Tredrea’s annual performance reviews, emails between the network and his manager and discussions over his contract between 2018 and 2020 all mentioned “real concerns” about his “high stumble rate” on-air.

Tredrea said he “retracted” the word “never”, but insisted the issue played no role in his dismissal because Channel 9 offered him a further two-year contract.

He agreed he had used his social media to promote his wife’s yoga studio, but said Mr Pudney had spoken to him afterwards and “let it slide”.

He also agreed his manager had contacted him about his wife’s posts concerning “freedom rallies”, saying “this doesn’t help”.

Mr Roberts suggested that, during the pandemic, Channel 9 employees had the “privilege” of being essential workers whose movements were not strictly controlled.

He suggested it was important that news bulletins have “continuity” of presenters and align with “community sentiment” during periods of crisis.

Tredrea agreed, but said other factors were just as important.

“Fundamentally, it’s a trust business with your audience and comes back to a trusted product,” he said.

“It’s important for a news bulletin to reflect the facts about Covid and what’s going on at the time.”

Tredrea said neither his on-air “stumble rate” nor his social media use justified his “unfair termination” as a TV news presenter. Picture: Russell Millard

Mr Roberts suggested Tredrea had “used the language” of anti-vaxxers when, on talkback radio, he dubbed the vaccine “a trial” that was for “emergency use”.

He suggested Tredrea had sought to be “deliberately inflammatory” – Tredrea said that was not the case.

“I should have said ‘provisional’,” he said.

Online trolling, he said, was “a debate” arising from “elements of people who don’t agree with what’s been reported”.

“Trolling can be on any issue, whether it’s positive or negative … it’s a discussion, people are airing their views publicly,” he said.

“There’s negative trolling, and maybe it’s more negative than positive … I never took either side … I didn’t say get vaccinated or don’t get vaccinated.”

He said Mr Pudney spoke to him afterwards, “took me to task” and said the network “must take the majority view” about the pandemic.

“I said (on radio) that I’m not an anti-vaxxer, and I stand by those comments.”

When Mr Roberts suggested Tredrea had “accrued a reputation as someone who’s anti-vax”, he replied: “Nuh, absolutely not”.

He said he had been “smeared as an anti-vaxxer” and suffered damage to his public profile.

“It couldn’t get worse … I lost employment, lost sponsorships,” he said.

Tredrea said he was not an anti-vaxxer had not used the movement’s language on talkback radio. Picture: Russell Millard

Mr Roberts asked Tredrea how he viewed an internal Channel 9 survey that found 80 per cent of its employees and contractors supported mandatory vaccination in the workplace.

“I took it as if 90 per cent wanted to have one dose (of the vaccine) and 80 per cent wanted to have a say in what other people do,” he said.

Mr Roberts said Tredrea had downloaded a “vaccine declaration”, setting out reasons to refuse the jab, six weeks before Channel 9’s policies came into effect.

“You started planning in advance to refuse the vaccination requirement … you had no intention of complying with any policy, even before it was reduced to writing,” he said.

“You had no intention of getting vaccinated with any approved Covid vaccine irrespective of the language of the policy.”

Tredrea said that was not true, and Mr Roberts asked: “Then why download this some six weeks before?”

“Because I was doing my homework about what I was facing … I’m just looking at my options, aren’t I?” Tredrea replied.

“I’m not someone who sits back, I take very seriously what I put into my body … I always have, since my former career as a professional sportsperson.”

His reluctance to discuss his medical health with Channel 9 was due to the March 2021 cyber attack, he said, not a “strategy to resist disclosing” his vaccination status.

Tredrea said he was also issued with a letter from his doctor, granting him an exemption from the vaccine.

However, he said Mr Pudney did not accept it, as it came from a GP and not through the federal government.

Tredrea said he “never” said he would “never” get vaccinated. Picture: Russell Millard

Tredrea denied a suggestion he told Channel 9 that he would “never” get vaccinated due to a family history of heart issues.

“I never said ‘never’, I did not say I’m not going to get the vaccine, I said I’d been advised by my doctor … I never said ‘I’m not going to get it,” he said.

However, he agreed he had signed up to be part of trials for a rival vaccine being developed by Vaxine Pty Ltd – run by Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, who is due to give evidence in the trial in support of Tredrea.

He denied Mr Roberts’ suggestion that was his attempt to “kick” Channel 9’s requirements “down the road for six months”.

“I wasn’t aware that wasn’t an approved trial, I thought I was going to be having a trial vaccine,” he said.

“In my belief, it was (a vaccine) made, I had read, on different technology, not mRNA, and I thought it would be sufficient to be compliant with Channel 9 and keep my job,” he said.

“I thought it would give me an exemption but also protect me from Covid … that was me trying to keep my dream job alive … I was scrambling.”

The trial continues.