Ten’s political reporter Tegan George has launched legal action in the Federal Court against her employer

Ten Network reporter Tegan ­George has launched legal ­action against her employer and has named multiple staff members in claims relating to bullying.

Ten Network reporter Tegan ­George has launched legal ­action against her employer and has named multiple staff ­members in claims relating to bullying.

The reporter, who was working in the network’s Canberra bureau until she took extended leave in the middle of 2021, has launched action in the Federal Court against colleagues, including the network’s political editor Peter van Onselen, who is also a co-host of The Project and contributing editor at The Australian.

A statement of claim was lodged in the Federal Court this week after George claimed she suffered stress and humiliation, outlining examples of mistreatment by colleagues, including van Onselen.

However, the documents have not been able to be accessed by journalists. It is understood a member of the Federal Court media team requested that a ­decision for journalists to access the documents be made by a ­registrar because the documents contained “sensitive ­information”.

Ordinarily, such documents are “unrestricted” and would usually be released to journalists within a matter of hours of being submitted.

George, who is being represented by employment law firm Maurice Blackburn, was a regular user of social media platform Twitter while in her role as a journalist, but last year shut down her account after taking extended leave from the ­network.

George not only delivered political news reports on Ten News First, she also appeared on The Project as a guest.

Among her claims is that van Onselen sent parts of a script she had put together for an on-air report to Health Minister Greg Hunt to check the accuracy of her story.

The reporter has made claims about treatment by fellow staff in her office and said she felt she was unsupported by her ­employer.

According to George’s LinkedIn profile, she has worked as a journalist since 2007 and began her latest role as federal political reporter at Ten in ­November 2019.

A Ten spokeswoman said: “As this is an employee matter, we will not be commenting.”

George and van Onselen were contacted and would not comment on the proceedings.