Peter van Onselen denies ‘woman problem’ after Tegan George bullying allegations

Political editor Peter van Onselen has been questioned over his involvement in a court case against Network 10 that alleges bullying and sexism.

Network 10 political editor Peter van Onselen has denied he has a woman problem, after being named in court documents in a case between political reporter Tegan George and the journalists’ employer.

According to a statement of claim, seen by The Guardian, van Onselen undermined and humiliated George, including by backgrounding other journalists against her.

Van Onselen appeared on ABC radio Melbourne on Wednesday morning to speak about scathing text messages from a cabinet minister he exposed at the National Press Club on Tuesday that were critical of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Van Onselen had confronted Mr Morrison with the texts between the unidentified minister and former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, where he said the minister described the Prime Minister as a “fraud” and “a complete psycho”.

Stream more entertainment news live & on demand with Flash, a dedicated news streaming service. New to Flash? Try 14 days free now >

Peter van Onselen confronted Prime Minister Scott Morrison with scathing text messages about him at the National Press Club. Picture: Rohan Thomson/Getty Images

Host Virginia Trioli took the opportunity to also question van Onselen about the Network 10 court case.

“Well Peter van Onselen according to those text messages he is a complete psycho but according to a statement of claim that has been filed against Channel 10 in the federal court you’re batsh*t crazy,” Trioli said, prompting a short laugh from van Onselen.

“So do you and the Prime Minister have this in common?”

Van Onselen responded by saying he was unable to talk about the case, and claimed the statement of claim had been leaked.

Trioli cut him off saying if it was filed in the federal court it was a public document, to which Van Onselen clarified it wasn’t released publicly “yet” and only the parties to the case had the documents.

“I’m looking forward to Channel 10 defending it, which they are doing but I just can’t speak publicly about it unfortunately,” he said.

ABC radio host Virginia Trioli asked van Onselen if he had a woman problem. Picture: David Geraghty/The Australian

Political reporter Tegan George who is taking her employer Network 10 to court.

Trioli did not drop the subject asking van Onselen specifically “did you do those things?” in regard to his alleged bullying, sexism, undermining and belittling.

“No, no. Absolutely not,” van Onselen said, again repeating that he couldn’t talk about it because it was a legal matter.

Trioli simply replied: “We know that’s not true.

“If it’s not being heard in front of a jury you are free to say whatever you want. That’s entirely your choice, but I do need to ask you this, which doesn’t go to the substance: If we put these claims against you, together with your firm support of an old friend Christian Porter in the face of serious allegations, which he vehemently denies, and then we add to that the criticism you made of Grace Tame that you then said you shouldn’t have written, if the PM has a woman problem, do you as well?”

Van Onselen went on to use an example from the statement of claim that he said proved otherwise.

“Well actually on this statement which has been leaked publicly one of the complaints is that I didn’t tolerate if you like noncooperation with an incident that involved alleged sexual harassment within the office,” he said.

“So there was an alleged witnessing of sexual harassment within the office according to the complaint which I wanted to be dealt with and handled, and part of the complaint as I’ve read in the papers is that I was, if you like, demanding that (something) happen about that which would suggest the exact opposite to the notion I’ve got a woman problem.”

Trioli asked again “So you’re saying you don’t have a woman problem?”, to which van Onselen replied “No, no. Absolutely not.”

A Network 10 spokesperson told news.com.au on Tuesday the case was an “employee matter” and that it will not be commenting.

Originally published as Peter van Onselen denies ‘woman problem’ after Tegan George bullying allegations