After Sunday’s news that Peter Van Onselen was being sued by his former employer, Network 10, orders released by the NSW Supreme Court on Monday have given more detail to the case.
Van Onslen – former host of The Project and the network’s former political editor – is being taken to the NSW Supreme Court as Paramount-owned Network 10 asks for an injunction. In Van Onslen’s May 29 column in The Australian, he writes that “Channel 10 has long been the minnow of Australian commercial television,” leading the broadcaster to argue that he broke his agreement with the company.
See Also: Peter Van Onselen sued by Network 10 for alleged breach of contract
Justice David Hammerschlag heard the case on Monday, with Sue Chrysanthou, SC representing van Onselen, while Arthur Moses, SC, appeared for Network 10.
If those names seem familiar, it’s because Chrysanthou has recently represented Lisa Wilkinson, as well as Lachlan Murdoch in his ill-fated fight against Crikey, while Moses is fresh from representing Ben Roberts-Smith.
Ultimately the matter was expedited to June 29, but of the big names in the courtroom that day, Van Onselen won’t be one of them – the court heard that he will be in Italy’s Amalfi Coast at the time.
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]”.
The court order lasts until the court case is over, however if Network 10 is successful, they aim to hand down a permanent ban on Van Onselen making any ‘disparaging’ comments about 10 or Paramount.