Woman In ‘Tim Paine Sexting Scandal’ Renne Ferguson's Bid To Lodge Harassment Claim Against Cricket Tasmania Dismissed

The bid to file a sexual harassment claim against Cricket Tasmania of the 47-year-old Renne Ferguson, who is the woman at the centre of the Tim Paine sexting scandal, has been dismissed by the federal court due to delay in lodging the claim.

Ferguson was allegedly sexually harassed by four employees of Cricket Tasmania including the former Australia National Cricket Team Test skipper Tim Paine. After this matter, which originally took place in 2017, became public, then-captain Paine stepped down from Australia’s Test captaincy, just half a month before the marquee Ashes 2021-2022 and took a break from cricket.

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Renne Ferguson had even claimed that she had informed other Cricket Tasmania staff about getting sexually harassed by the employees but she was simply ignored. However, Cricket Tasmania has countered her claims by saying that Ferguson’s email search history showed no complaints were made.

Court Rejects Woman In ‘Tim Paine Sexting Scandal’ Renne Ferguson’s Explanation For The Delay In Filing The Case

On Thursday, Justice Mordy Bromberg rejected Ferguson’s justification for the delay in filing the case and refused to grant an extension of time.

The 47-year-old Renee Ferguson, who worked from 2015 to 2017 as a receptionist for the state’s cricket organisation, missed the deadline to file her case against Cricket Tasmania by 34 months.

In 2018, the 47-year-old complained of sexual harassment to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). However, her complaint was terminated in November. She had 60 days to lodge her claim, until January 2019, after it was terminated, but she failed to do so until November 2021.

“I am not satisfied that it is in the interests of the administration of justice to permit Ms Ferguson to make her very late application,” Bromberg wrote.

“Conscious of the significant media attention which has been given to this proceeding, I seek to emphasise that my decision is not a vindication of either Ms Ferguson or TCA’s (Cricket Tasmania) version of events.”

Notably, she had attributed her delay in lodging the case to a sudden decline in her “mental and physical health as well as her economic stability”.