Peter Van Onselen, who works for News Corp, Channel 10 and has a history of stalking women online, is now facing the possibility of being charged with contempt of court in journalist Tegan George’s legal proceedings against Channel 10.

Mr van Onselen, who is named adversely in Tegan George’s court documents, has been putting messages on Twitter that are blatantly designed to intimidate and embarrass Tegan George which given there is a court case afoot the messages are clearly an attempt to intimidate a witness which is a criminal offence.

In this article, I’ll quickly recap 2 previous articles, which are a must-read to get the full story, that I have written about Peter Van Onselen’s continued harassment of women online.

But what is new since I last wrote about Mr van Onselen is his attempt to intimidate Tegan George and the support Peter van Onselen has received from old media journalists such as Kate McClymont, Samantha Maiden and the silence of all other old media to cover up his stalking of women online. This is an article the old media will never report as they protect their own when they want to.

In the video below I give an overview of this article and some more information:

Background

March 2021 to present – Peter van Onselen received widespread criticism for defending former federal Attorney-General, and his good friend, Christian Porter against rape allegations made by the now-deceased Katharine Thornton. Mr van Onselen also used his position in the media to attack Katharine Thornton’s credibility based on her mental health issue for which he was also widely criticized and is still regularly criticised to this day.

November 2021 – I published an article on the 6th of November titled “Christian Porter, Andrew Laming and Channel 10 political reporter Peter Van Onselen gang up to threaten and intimidate one woman” which starts off:

Canberra politics has hit a new low with Christian Porter, Andrew Laming and Channel 10 political reporter Peter Van Onselen, who also acts as Porter’s personal publicist, ganging up to threaten and intimidate one woman with defamation. They have used the same grubby lawyer, Rebekah Giles, who sent 3 concerns notices, one from each of them, in one email to Gemma Carey demanding she deletes Twitter messages about them and pay their legal costs. (Click here to read the article)

All the allegations of defamation against Gemma Carey were frivolous and vexatious at best. Peter van Onselen was in a photo with his wife, Christian Porter and a few others from their days at University and Gemma Carey tweeted on Twitter words to the effect “I worry about the safety of the women in the photo”. Hardly defamatory of Peter van Onselen and more than likely a reference toward Christian Porter given the rape allegations against him.  

Peter van Onselen has since implied, in a tweet in April 2022, that Gemma Carey’s alleged defamatory Tweet is what triggered him for his claimed child sexual abuse which he had never mentioned before. He also implied, in the same tweet in April 2022, that Grace Tame helping Gemma Carey raise money via a GoFundMe page for legal fees also triggered him.

On the 2nd of April 2022, I published an article titled “Channel 10 journalist Peter van Onselen falsely claims to be a survivor of child sex abuse while he uses his position to attack female survivors” which starts off:

Channel 10 journalist Peter van Onselen has claimed he was sexually abused as a child not because he wants justice and not because he wants to heal but to try to defend and deflect from his relentless public attacks on female survivors of child sexual abuse and rape such as Gemma Carey, Grace Tame and the deceased Katharine Thornton. Peter van Onselen’s vile attacks on these women can’t be disputed, as they are documented publicly, and nor can the fact that he has done it openly with malice and to benefit himself financially as a journalist.

Mr van Onselen’s claim that he is a CSA survivor was published by him on Twitter on Thursday night (31/3/22) during one of his many attacks on Gemma Carey which ultimately led to Mr van Onselen again attacking Grace Tame for defending Gemma Carey.

Peter van Onselen has been under pressure for almost 12 months now for his continual attacks on the credibility and honesty of survivors and alleged rape victims, so we need to look at that for a true picture of what is happening before we look at his latest fight with Gemma Carey and Grace Tame and his claim to be a CSA survivor.

When looking at Peter van Onselen’s claims and his conduct it should be looked at through the prism of his public attacks, with malice, on the 3 women named above and it needs to be noted that there is a current matter before the Federal Court of Australia where there are untested allegations that Mr van Onselen bullied and harassed fellow Channel 10 journalist Tegan George. Quite a few of the untested allegations made by Tegan George are almost identical to the known facts of Peter van Onselen stalking and harassing the 3 other women I named above.

And:

Gemma Carey apologised and deleted the Tweet, which was trivial at best, and blocked Peter van Onselen on Twitter. But Peter van Onselen has continued to stalk and harass Gemma Carey on Twitter using either a second account or a friend to see what Gemma Carey has written on Twitter and then to use that to harass, bully and intimidate Gemma Carey which is a breach of s 474.17 of the Criminal Code 1995: Using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence. (Click here to read the article)

Peter van Onselen and his supporters Kate McClymont, Neil McMahon and Samantha Maiden

Peter Van Onselen gets back-up from his mates Kate McClymont, Samantha Maiden and Neil McMahon

After I published the article on the 2nd of April 2022 two things happened. Firstly, it became even more obvious that Samantha Maiden was supporting Peter van Onselen as she continued to argue on Twitter with Grace Tame regarding Peter van Onselen. It was an attempt to silence Grace Tame by trying to get Grace Tame to call her to discuss the issue to get the issue offline so the public couldn’t see what was being said.

Secondly, someone named Neil McMahon, who says he’s a journalist, tweeted: “Share that appalling Kangaroo Court Shane Dowling tweet about PVO in my timeline and you’re being reported and blocked. And just by the by, you might also be sued.” which was in reference to a tweet by me promoting and sharing my article. And SMH journalist Kate McClymont tweeted “There is still a warrant out for the arrest of Shane Dowling.” with a link to her article she wrote in September 2021 about the matter.

(Click here to see the above tweet on Twitter) (Just for the record the fact that I am a fugitive is all over my social media accounts and website so it’s no secret. Ms McClymont must be hard up for clicks to justify her position at the SMH. But I will deal with the above tweet in further detail in another article soon)

Neither Neil McMahon nor Kate McClymont challenged anything I wrote in the article but instead attacked the messenger (me) which is an old routine. The article is 90% fact and 10% opinion about the numerous women that Peter van Onselen has stalked and harassed online etc and Mr McMahon and Ms McClymont could not find one error to criticise. Their attack wasn’t really on me, but it was a defence of Peter van Onselen and therefore an attack on the women I named as being stalked and harassed by Peter van Onselen.

Both Samantha Maiden and Kate McClymont should be ashamed of themselves as they try and make out they are defenders of abused women but they are happy to help cover up Peter van Onselen’s online stalking and harassment of women. As for Neil McMahon, I’ve never heard of him before, and he sounds like some Sky News wannabe.

Peter van Onselen’s treatment of women online is extremely relevant to how he has treated Tegan George and his recent attempt to harass and intimidate her in the middle of her court case against Channel 10. A recap of the court case is below:

Channel 10 journalist Tegan George

It was reported on the 2nd of February 2022 regarding a current matter before the Federal Court of Australia:

Peter van Onselen accused of humiliating and belittling colleague in federal court claim against Network Ten

Network managers said Van Onselen was ‘batshit crazy’ and Canberra bureau ‘toxic’, according to claim filed by reporter Tegan George

Peter van Onselen, the political editor of Network Ten, undermined and humiliated the network’s federal political reporter, Tegan George, including by backgrounding other journalists against her, according to a statement of claim filed against the network in the federal court.

She was allegedly told by the network’s executive editor, Anthony Murdoch, “Peter is batshit crazy but we just have to get used to it” and that Van Onselen expected George to apologise for “hurting his feelings” by raising the issue. The claim says Van Onselen rejected George’s complaint of being “unsupported, disrespected and unwelcome” and news management said the political editor “did not give a shit” about how she was feeling. (Click here to read more)

The court case failed to settle by mediation on the 18th of May and is set for a direction hearing on the 5th of July 2022.

Another issue that Tegan George has raised in her claim against Channel 10 is that “Ms George also claimed van Onselen snubbed her by not inviting her to staff coffee meetings.” (Click here to read more)

Peter van Onselen tweeted on the 15th of May which was 3 days before the mediation meeting:

(Click here to see the above tweet on Twitter)

Saying to Stela Todorovic and Chloe Bouras “would have been good to grab a coffee” and “Hopefully they don’t hold it against me!” was clearly a swipe at Tegan George and given she has reportedly been in hospital for stress for the last 3 months makes it even worse.

Did Channel 10 and/or their lawyers, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, ask Peter van Onselen to tweet that given it was 3 days before the mediation meeting between Channel 10 and Tegan George?

Then on the 18th of May Peter van Onselen tweeted the smoking gun in an exchange with Brittany Higgins as below:

(Click here to see the above exchange between Peter van Onselen and Brittany Higgins on Twitter)

That is dynamite. Peter van Onselen knows there is a court case where he will be a key witness and he is adversely mentioned and then when Brittany Higgins says, “Once someone has been hospitalised, it’s probably time to stop publicly making jokes at their expense.” Peter van Onselen responds “Your thoughts on if the hospitalised person is backgrounding journalists? Stoking attention.” which is an admission by Mr van Onselen that he is publicly targeting Tegan George as payback as he sees it.

Peter van Onselen is warned by someone else on Twitter, but he then plays the victim as per below:

(Click here to see the above tweet on Twitter)

The above tweet is further admission by Peter van Onselen that he is targeting Tegan George and supports her allegations that Peter van Onselen has previously issued Twitter to bully and harass her.

Peter van Onselen is warned again as per below, but the horse had already bolted:

(Click here to see the above tweet on Twitter)

Peter van Onselen saying he is “not a defendant” won’t stack up in court as a defence as he is an experienced journalist and would know better and so would his employer Channel 10 and their lawyers.

It should not be a surprise that Peter van Onselen has a long history of trolling on Twitter and Samantha Maiden can vouch for it as the below tweet from April 2020 shows:

This whole case has the Craig McLachlan feel to it where McLachlan recently withdrew his defamation case the same day 11 women were due to give evidence against him. I can’t see Channel 10 ever allowing Peter van Onselen on the witness stand as he can be cross-examined on all his past tweets if they go to his credibility and Tegan George’s barrister would have a field day.

I did send Peter van Onselen a tweet asking for a response to this article, but he failed to respond. (Click here to see on Twitter)

I have no doubt a court would see Peter van Onselen’s conduct as trying to intimidate a witness and/or interfering in the administration of justice. Add that to Peter van Onselen regularly committing the criminal offence of breaching s 474.17 of the Criminal Code 1995: “Using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence” then he should be facing numerous charges. Channel 10, its CEO and Directors could and should be facing charges as well.

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