Activist Sally Rugg has surrounded herself with a group of powerful media friends in anticipation of a looming multi-million dollar lawsuit with Teal MP Monique Ryan.
Ms. Rugg is a close friend of high-profile ABC journalists Louise Milligan, Annabel Crabb, and Patricia Karvelas, and enjoys other influential media connections, including multi-award-winning reporter Samantha Maiden.
Milligan, an investigative reporter and author of the award-winning book about Cardinal George Pell, regularly hangs out with Ms. Rugg and her partner, ABC comedian Kate McCartney.
An accomplished political reporter, Karvelas currently hosts RN Breakfast, while political journalist and broadcaster Crabb has created a series of ABC TV shows including Kitchen Cabinet, The House and Back In Time For Dinner.
Ms. Rugg is also friends with Jo Chichester, the ABC’s Manager of Screen and Jacqueline Maley, the popular columnist and author of the Nine Newspapers.
If the feud over her $166,000 political job with the MP for Kooyong comes to court as predicted, the former GetUp! and the Change.org campaigner will have many prominent supporters.
Ms. Rugg is suing her former employer in Federal Court over what she claims are “unreasonable” job expectations and a “hostile” workplace.
Ms Rugg, back left, with her partner ABC comedian Kate McCartney, front left, Annabel Crabb, centre, Louise Milligan, back right in October last year
Power posse: Sally Rugg (left) with Louise Milligan, ABC Screen boss Jo Chichester, Jacqueline Maley and Annabel Crabb on a night out at Bart Jr restaurant in Redfern
Ms Rugg claims Dr Ryan sacked her in January after complaints of overwork could be linked to seeds of discontent sown near the start of her tenure as the MP’s chief of staff.
Ms. Rugg started working in the last week of July 2022 as Chief of Staff for Dr. Ryan, a former pediatric neurologist.
It was about the same time that Dr. Ryan and her fellow Teal MPs gave their first speeches to Parliament.
Ms Rugg tweeted it was the ‘best first week of a new job ever’ with a laughing emoji, then on August 13 she tweeted again that ‘I love my new job so much omg’.
But it was only six months before the two women parted ways, with Ms Rugg finalizing in late January and then seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the Commonwealth from terminating her employment.
Ms Rugg’s lawsuit alleged that Dr Ryan took ‘adverse action’ against her ‘to injure’ [Ms Rugg] in her work by behaving hostilely in the workplace’.
Federal Court Judge Debbie Mortimer on Tuesday denied Ms. Rugg’s request to return to work pending a possible trial.
Sally Rugg and Kate McCartney with Patricia Karvelas, the ABC anchorwoman and journalist who currently hosts RN Breakfast
Sally Rugg (right) with, from left, Louise Milligan, Samantha Maiden and, center back, Annabel Crabb in January this year, a few weeks before Ms Rugg says she was sacked by Monique Ryan
Rugg’s first week in Dr. Ryan’s office was featured on Milligan’s Four Corners program entitled Independents’ Day.
The programme, which aired two weeks later, showcased the generous access the ABC received from the Kooyong MP, along with independents Zali Steggall, Zoe Daniel and Dai Le.
At the time, rival outlet Sky News published scathing reviews of it as a “flowing” and “fluffy…puff pastry” to Monique Ryan rather than the “tough” journalism Four Corners is known for.
Sky’s guests, media commentators Daisy Cousens and Sophie Elsworth, attacked Dr. Ryan on.
Cousens said the show was “a parody of itself, if you’re going to do a piece about one of the independents why choose Monique Ryan?”
Sally Rugg, center, is suing her former employer in Federal Court over what she claims are “unreasonable” job expectations
Sally Rugg tweeted last July in the first week of her job as Monique Ryan’s chief of staff as the new Kooyong MP and her fellow Teals made their first speeches to parliament
Sally Rugg retweets Louise Milligan’s Four Corners program about Monique Ryan and the new Teals independents, which rival network Sky dismissed as a ‘flowing puff’
Federal Court Judge Debbie Mortimer on Tuesday denied Ms. Rugg’s request to return to work for Dr. Ryan (pictured) as she awaited a potential trial
Rugg alleged in Federal Court this week that Dr. Ryan fired her for refusing to “work extra hours that were unreasonable.”
Ms. Rugg had told the court she was so concerned about Dr.
In handing down her ruling, Judge Mortimer told the parties to continue working together to resolve the case in hopes of avoiding a costly trial.
Ms Rugg has announced an intention to add fine claims against the Commonwealth, which are broader in scope and cover allegations of systematic tolerance for unreasonable working hours by all parliamentary assistants.