One of the most senior producers at Seven has been accused of displaying sexist, aggressive, and inappropriate behavior towards female colleagues at the network.
Matthew McGrane, who has been with Seven for nearly 25 years, most recently held the position of supervising producer on the Sunrise breakfast show, which features hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington.
McGrane is taking legal action against the network in the Federal Court under the Fair Work Act, following a severe injury he sustained after falling from his wheelchair while returning home from the office.
In its defense submitted to the court, Seven disclosed that during McGrane’s absence from work, it received several complaints from employees under his management alleging unprofessional behavior on his part.
According to court documents, junior staff members accused McGrane of regularly demonstrating aggressive conduct, including swearing, shouting, and dismissively rejecting the ideas of others.
Seven’s documents claim that feedback from female employees included allegations that McGrane made comments such as “you look fat, that’s disgusting” and “wear a more low-cut top” when watching television presenters.
McGrane featured prominently in an August 2024 report by Louise Milligan about alleged bullying, harassment and poor treatment of women at Seven titled ‘Don’t Speak’.
‘Everyone knows TV is all smoke and mirrors, but under the surface it can be very dark,’ McGrane told Milligan.
Matthew McGrane, one of Seven’s most senior producers, has been accused of sexist, aggressive and inappropriate behaviour towards women at the network. McGrane is pictured
The television veteran used the program to air some of his grievances with Seven following his accident, saying he was left feeling ‘abandoned, hurt [and] completely in disbelief’.
Daily Mail is not suggesting the claims made by Seven about McGrane are accurate, only that they have been made in documents the network lodged in its defence.
McGrane is paraplegic due to transverse myelitis, a rare inflammatory disorder of the spinal cord, and has required a wheelchair for more than 20 years.
At the time of his accident McGrane reported to Sarah Stinson, who was responsible for Sunrise, Weekend Sunrise and The Morning Show as Seven’s director of morning television.
Seven alleges that in a phone conversation with Stinson after his accident McGrane left his boss unable to speak and reduced her to tears.
McGrane generally worked 2pm to midnight Monday to Thursday and 9am to 7pm on Sundays, according to his statement of claim.
Seven says in its defence McGrane was usually rostered from 2pm to 11pm from Monday to Thursday and 10am to 7pm on Sundays.
When Seven moved its studios from Martin Place to Eveleigh in Sydney’s inner-south in mid 2023, wheelchair-accessible buses on McGrane’s route home to Surry Hills stopped on weeknights at 11pm.
McGrane featured prominently in an August 2024 report by Louise Milligan (above) about alleged bullying, harassment and poor treatment of women at Seven titled ‘Don’t Speak’
Seven also accuses McGrane of breaching his employment obligations by appearing on Four Corners (above) and bringing the network into public disrepute
According to McGrane’s statement of claim, he reached an agreement with Sunrise executive producer Sean Power he could leave the Eveleigh offices about 9.20pm and go home to finish his shift.
McGrane says on October 17, 2023, he left Eveleigh about 9.30pm and while on his way to the bus stop fell out of his wheelchair after losing balance on an uneven section of footpath.
He was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital in ‘excruciating pain’, having suffered a detachment of the triceps muscle from his lower arm and a fractured forearm.
McGrane subsequently lodged a workers compensation claim which was denied after insurer GIO found his injury did not arise in the course of his employment and no formal agreement existed for him to split shifts.
Seven states in its defence no Sunrise employee was rostered to perform split shifts and no arrangement was made with McGrane allowing him to split his.
The network also alleges McGrane belittled other Seven employees and ‘several younger female producers which [he] supervised claimed that [he] often left them in tears’.
It further alleges that during a phone conversation with Stinson about returning to work McGrane spoke to her in an ‘aggressive and inappropriate’ manner’.
That call allegedly left Stinson ‘choked up, unable to speak, brought Ms Stinson to tears, and otherwise caused Ms Stinson to feel extremely distressed’, the documents state.
McGrane’s most recent role at Seven was supervising producer of Sunrise from 2018. Sunrise hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington are pictured
Seven’s defence states female employees, including junior staff members supervised by McGrane, had complained about him.
Some of those employees ‘informed Ms Stinson that they felt unsafe by reason of [McGrane’s] inappropriate behaviour and were extremely concerned at the prospect of [McGrane] returning to work.’
Seven accuses McGrane of repeatedly using expletives including ‘c***’ in emails.
Among the alleged complaints detailed in the documents against McGrane were that he ‘is aggressive all the time, whether that be swearing, shouting, it is all the time’ and that he ‘was so volatile… would yell, scream, freeze’.
McGrane alleges he was passed over for promotion to executive producer of Sunrise and that Seven took adverse action against him because of his workers compensation claim and his physical disability.
Seven also accuses McGrane of breaching his employment obligations by appearing on Four Corners and bringing the network into public disrepute.
‘[McGrane] stated that he considered the Four Corners interview as an ‘insurance policy’, a way to ‘blow things up’ with [Seven] and in turn an opportunity to ‘get millions’ from the respondent,’ it claims.
‘[McGrane] had been in prolonged contact with his friend and former colleague Louise Milligan of the ABC and agreed to appear on the Four Corners program in a segment designed specifically to target and disparage [Seven].’
McGrane (left, with late Seven newsreader Ian Ross) has worked at Seven for almost 25 years
McGrane, who is seeking compensation and civil penalties, claims Seven left him feeling upset, distressed and humiliated by reducing his duties following the accident.
McGrane’s lawyers declined to comment on his behalf about the accusations of sexist, aggressive and inappropriate behaviour towards women.
A spokesperson for Seven previously told the Daily Mail: ‘Seven rejects the claims made by Mr McGrane and will defend its position in this matter.
‘As this is now before the courts, we are unable to comment further.’
The case continues but its next court date has not been set.
