NATION Burke stands to lose fortune
BESIEGED TV star Don Burke’s millions are under threat as lawyers warn his accusers could sue him as well as the Nine Network.
Consultant David Bates, from one of the nation’s leading sexual harassment legal firms, Harmers Workplace Lawyers, said yesterday he would not rule out a possible class action by a large number of women who have claimed they were bullied, terrorised and sexually humiliated by the Burke’s Backyard host.
“I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t potentially want to do that,” Mr Bates said.
But individual claims could be just as damaging. Most of those harassed at work want acknowledgment and an apology, but that could also cause huge damage to a company’s or an individual’s reputation.
Mr Bates said the terms of the contracts of Burke’s accusers, as well as the law at the relevant time in the late 1980s and 1990s, would have to be assessed to determine whether Nine, as well as Burke’s private company CTC Productions ( which produced the once toprating show), could be sued.
“There is a clear obligation on employers to protect employees from bullying, harassment and sexual harassment,” Mr Bates said.
He said sexual harassment in the workplace was as p r e v a l e n t now as it was 20 or 30 years ago, but these days it was not as overt.
“If ( employers) become aware that someone has been accused of workplace harassment, they can’t sit on it. They have to take action and they have to protect the victim,” Mr Bates said.
Autism Awareness Australia’s Nicole Rogerson condemned Burke’s claim on Monday that his self- diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome contributed to behaviour that had led to the allegations.
“It’s a link he’s trying to use to explain away his behaviour,” she said. “But I’m not having it.
“I see you, Don. You own this behaviour. It has nothing to do with autism.”
Burke made his millions as an apparently genial gardening guru on Burke’s Backyard and from programs it spawned, including Backyard Blitz and Renovation Rescue, which also aired on Nine. He was reportedly worth over $ 7 million when Burke’s Backyard was axed by Nine in 2004.
Nine has opened an internal investigation into the claims against Burke.