Former Nine employee reveals Don Burke wasn’t the only sexual harasser
QANTAS has confirmed it placed a ban on Don Burke after complaints he acted inappropriately towards staff. It comes after revelations media mogul Kerry Packer personally called Burke, ordering him to behave.
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MEDIA mogul Kerry Packer personally called TV star Don Burke and ordered him to behave, it was revealed last night.
The late Mr Packer is understood to have called Burke after Olympic swimmer Susie O’Neill lodged a formal complaint against the presenter in 2000.
The champion swimmer said yesterday Burke made lewd, sexual comments towards her while filming a story inside her Brisbane home. That Mr Packer knew of allegations against Burke casts doubt on Channel 9 assertions the network was ignorant of the claims at the time.
It emerged as an insider described how Burke’s TV kingdom was built on a culture of bullying and harassment.
The former Nine employee said abuse was constant, and continued from Monday morning’s production meeting to Friday’s end-of-week party.
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“It would be true to say that he was not the only sexual harasser there,” the former employee told The Daily Telegraph.
“There would be a few people not happy at the moment with all these people speaking out.”
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Her claims have dragged some of Burke’s male employees at his production company CTC (which stands for Cut The Crap) into the sex scandal.
“There was a culture of bullying, of demeaning women, talking about breasts, general workplace harassment,” the woman said.
“I don’t know that any one of them realised what they were doing was bullying because if the top person was acting in that way then that is the level to which you are pitching your behaviour.”
Among Burke’s supporters, one was known as The Rat because he ran to Burke with all the gossip. Another senior employee was nicknamed the Beanbag.
With most of the females young and in their first or second job and the bullying going right to the top, there was nobody to complain to, she said. But she stressed that not all the men were badly behaved. “It was just the culture,” the insider said.
Consultant David Bates from one of the country’s leading sexual harassment legal firms, Harmers Workplace Lawyers, yesterday said he would not rule out a potential class action because of the number of women who claim they were bullied, terrorised and sexually humiliated by the Burke’s Backyard host.
“I can’t see any reason why (victims) wouldn’t potentially want to do that,” Mr Bates said.
Burke was reportedly worth more than $7 million when his show was axed by Nine in 2004. Mr Bates said that the terms of the contracts of Burke’s accusers and the law in the late 1980s and 1990s all needed to be assessed to see whether they would be able to sue Nine as well as Burke’s private company.
“There is a clear obligation on employers to protect employees from bullying, harassment and sexual harassment,” Mr Bates said.
Qantas confirmed A Current Affair reports that the airline had banned Burke for a temporary period in the 1990s after staff complained to management. “Don allegedly conducted himself inappropriately towards members of staff ... He was later told he was no longer welcome to fly with the airline,” ACA reported.
Originally published as Former Nine employee reveals Don Burke wasn’t the only sexual harasser
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