- Nine Entertainment Corporation chief executive Hugh Marks has emailed staff
- He said TV station ‘cannot rewrite history’ in wake of Don Burke sex allegations
- The Nine Network is also offering counselling to staff who want to complain
The Nine Network has sent a memo to its staff telling them it ‘cannot rewrite history’ following a series of sexual harassment allegations against Don Burke.
The TV station’s chief executive Hugh Marks emailed staff on Wednesday assuring them it had ‘zero tolerance’ of degrading treatment, and would offer counselling.
‘Everyone is entitled to come to work at Nine confident that our workplace is safe and that inappropriate behaviour will be dealt with effectively,’ he wrote in an email.
Nine Entertainment Corporation chief executive Hugh Marks said it ‘cannot rewrite history’
The Nine Network has emailed all of its staff following a series of allegations against Don Burke
Mr Marks said current and former staff have access to counselling to report inappropriate behaviour.
‘As much as we might like to, sometimes we unfortunately cannot rewrite history,’ he wrote.
‘But we can and will take steps to ensure that former employees, perhaps with old grievances, are supported.’
The letter from the Nine Entertainment Corporation boss comes on the same day the Senate called on media bosses to show what they’ve done to stamp out any ‘insidious culture’ which may have enabled sexual harassment.
The late Kerry Packer reportedly called Don Burke personally after learning of a complaint
Olympian Susie O’Neill has alleged Don Burke made lewd comments to her in 2000
The Greens motion, which passed the upper house on Wednesday, follows allegations the former Burke’s Backyard host sexually harassed and indecently assaulted at least three women who worked on his top-rating TV gardening program in the 1980s and 1990s.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said he will raise the issue with media executives.
‘I will be discussing with them, and emphasising the importance of having appropriate workplace policies and that there are appropriate responses when these matters are raised,’ Senator Fifield said.
He said a number of media organisations had told him in recent days they took sexual misconduct ‘extremely seriously’.
The Nine Network memo all follows revelations the TV station’s late billionaire owner Kerry Packer called Burke personally after learning Olympian Susie O’Neill had alleged he compared her vagina to a painting when he visited her Brisbane home in 2000.