Tegan George said Ten Network’s Canberra bureau was ‘sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive’

Political reporter Tegan George has criticised her employer for an unsafe workplace that left her ‘embarrassed, isolated and unsupported’, court documents claim.

Network Ten journalist Tegan George speaking with former The Project co-host Lisa Wilkinson in 2021. Picture: Twitter

Network Ten political reporter Tegan George was subjected to a “sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive” workplace and was treated less favourably than her male counterparts, court documents claim.

In an updated statement of claim lodged in the Federal Court this week, it states that George was bullied and subjected to workplace gossip, her standing in the workplace was reduced, and she felt “embarrassed, isolated and unsupported”.

The matter, which is before Justice Judith Katzmann, was first taken to court last year, and in the latest documents George’s lawyer, Josh Bornstein, has alleged that George suffered hurt, humiliation and distress, loss of income and has been unable to advance her career because of the problems she suffered in her workplace.

The documents state that the network’s political editor, Peter van Onselen, also a contributing editor at The Australian, has continued to tweet about George despite knowing that she was in hospital for serious mental health issues.

Peter van Onselen. Picture: 10 News

It included a series of tweets in 2022 between van Onselen and former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins after he praised the Canberra bureau for their work and said he would love to catch up with his colleagues for coffee while in Canberra.

Higgins replied, “Honestly, you’ve made your point. Enough with the coffee barbs”.

George claimed van Onselen regularly had informal coffee meetings with her colleagues but did not do so with her, and he also relocated her desk and refused to take her phone calls.

The documents also revealed detailed exchanges George had with her colleagues, including Network Ten’s executive editor Anthony Murdoch, whom she claims she raised concerns with about her workload in February 2020 and he told her, “What, do you need Peter to come down here and hold your hand?”

George’s lawyers said Mr Murdoch’s comments conveyed that she was “incapable of performing her duties” and “lacked the maturity to properly perform her duties”.
George worked in Ten’s Canberra Press Gallery between 2019 and 2021 and has been on leave since June 2021.

In the documents it also alleges that Mr Murdoch asked political reporter Amber Austin-Wright on February 27, 2020, whether George was taking leave because she was pregnant and said to her: “Ms George ‘needs to sort this out and apologise because Peter does not give a shit’ about how Ms George was feeling.”

Network Ten journalist Tegan George said her workplace left her ‘embarrassed, isolated and unsupported’, court documents claim. Picture: Twitter

Ten has previously denied the bullying claims by George and described many of her allegations as “vague and embarrassing and liable to be struck out”.

The amended statement of claims also states that George sought advice from Ten’s national affairs editor Hugh Riminton on how to deal with issues she was facing in the Canberra bureau.

The documents said: “While both men were among his best friends he had seen Mr Murdoch speak inappropriately to women and at times had pulled Mr Murdoch on it.”

Riminton also encouraged George to “just keep her head down and keep doing a good job”.

The documents have also been updated to include Ten’s human resources manager Kathy Fernandez, and state that in mid-February 2020 George and Austin-Wright had a conversation with her about their issues in their workplace and claimed they did not think they were being treated fairly in Canberra.

Ms Fernandez said she was concerned about George being the only woman in the bureau when Austin-Wright took parental leave.

In August 2020, George emailed her colleagues to thank them for their condolences following the stillbirth of her niece and the documents claim that van Onselen asked other employees what George’s intentions were behind sending the email and whether it was a personal attack on him.

George also claims Ten’s network editor of news content, Ross Dagan, in a meeting with her on September 9, 2020, told her she “had taken a lot of sick leave” and he wanted to know where she was “genuinely sick” or “unhappy”.

The documents went on to say, “Ms George said she had a genuine illness that was being treated”.

Ten has been given under March 1 to file an amended defence and would not comment on the matter.