Peter van Onselen has agreed to temporarily refrain from “disparaging” his former employer Network Ten after the network sued him for breach of contract.
Van Onselen, a former host of The Project and Ten’s former political editor, quit the network in March to return full time to his role at the University of Western Australia as a politics and public policy professor.
He is being sued by Ten for breach of contract and the New South Wales supreme court ruled on Monday that Van Onselen and his former employer will have an expedited one-day hearing on 29 June.
For now, Van Onselen has agreed to the court order to “refrain, by himself, his servants or agents, from disparaging or making any statement or publication, or authorising any other person to disparage or make any statement or publication, whether oral or in writing, which may or which does in fact bring into disrepute or ridicule, or which may otherwise adversely affect the respective reputations of [the network, related bodies, and officers and employees]”.
Unfortunately I missed the start of today’s #nba finals game two live because I had another commitment. Watching on catch up now!
— Dr Peter van Onselen (@vanOnselenP) June 5, 2023
However, he has kept his regular column in the Australian newspaper. On 29 May his column was about Paramount, Network Ten’s US parent company.
In it, he referred to Channel Ten as “the minnow of Australian commercial television”.
But he said that, in its favour, the network had the support of Paramount, a big media player. He cited that as one of the reasons he accepted the job as Ten’s political editor.
He pointed out that Paramount’s share price had plummeted more than 50% in a year. Streaming was not yet profitable, he wrote, and major shareholder Warren Buffett said he does not think streaming is “the future”. If Buffett pulled out because of his doubts it would be a “disaster” for Paramount, he wrote.
Network Ten, he wrote “could be fine, limping along”, but there are also doubts about its long-term viability. Unprofitable businesses can get dumped or lose out on investments.
It is not clear from court documents if that column is the direct reason Network Ten sought Monday’s injunction.
In a separate, ongoing matter, Network Ten is defending itself against a court case brought by its federal political reporter, Tegan George, that she suffered “hurt, humiliation and distress” in part because of her alleged treatment by Van Onselen.
He and the network have denied those claims.
