Disgraced TVNZ broadcaster Kamahl Santamaria says mediation with former employer failed

Kamahl Santamaria on the TVNZ Breakfast show.

Disgraced broadcaster Kamahl Santamaria says mediation in his case against former employer TVNZ has failed.

Santamaria stated the Employment Relations Authority had earlier directed him and TVNZ to undertake mediation.

But with the period for this now lapsing “without resolution”, he would be continuing his legal action against the media outlet, he said in a statement on his website.

The Emmy-nominated former Breakfast host last year admitted his exit from TVNZ followed a complaint that he inappropriately touched a colleague in the newsroom.

The 43-year-old lasted just 32 days on Breakfast before leaving the network last year. TVNZ had said his departure was the result of a “family emergency”.

Kamahl Santamaria lasted just 32 days on Breakfast before leaving the network last year.

Santamaria last year told podcast Duncan Garner: Editor-in-Chief he was facing the prospect of having to sell his Auckland home in part to fund the legal action against TVNZ.

He claimed coverage of his departure from TVNZ had been inaccurate and had not been fair to him.

However, he noted he had apologised for behaviour that made any of his former colleagues uncomfortable.

He told Garner last year he had tried to find a new job, but had received only a “generic email back saying not-at-this-time kind of thing”.

He wanted to stay in the media, but acknowledged he faced a challenge: “I do believe I’ve got plenty to offer but in that sense, it’s not up to me.

“This is what I do, I believe I’m still pretty good at it.”

In the statement posted to his website yesterday, Santamaria said the more he had discovered during the process of launching his legal action, “the more I believe this action is necessary”.

“As I’ve always said, I want transparency in respect of TVNZ’s actions after I resigned. I still seek that and believe that it is fair and just,” he said.