Australian television personality Don Burke pictured in 2004 in Sydney. Photo / Getty
Australian television personality Don Burke pictured in 2004 in Sydney. Photo / Getty
One-time TV garden guru Don Burke has been accused of being cowardly for blaming self-diagnosed Asperger's syndrome as he defends a growing number of sexual harassment and misconduct allegations.
Olympic swimmer Susie O'Neill is the latest in a string of women to accuse the former Burke's Backyard host of makingcrude and belittling remarks.
She said the comments were made when the now 70-year-old visited her Brisbane home before the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
The eight-time Olympic medallist told Fairfax Media Burke was looking at a painting of a flower by her husband when he made a sexual remark about her body.
"It was crude and it was belittling," O'Neill said.
Burke has rejected allegations he sexually harassed and indecently assaulted at least three women who worked on his top-rating TV gardening program in the 1980s and 1990s, adding he's "deeply hurt and outraged".
But he conceded that a self-diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome meant he misses the "subtle signs people give to you like, 'back off, that's enough'".
"I suffer from a terrible problem of not seeing (body language) and no-one can understand how you can't see it," Burke told A Current Affair.
His comments attracted widespread criticism including in Victoria's state parliament where opposition autism spectrum disorder spokesman Bernie Finn blasted the TV personality.
"Having Asperger's does not make anyone a filthy, perverted sleazebag, it does not lead to sexual assault, it does not lead to the sorts of activity Mr Burke stands accused of," said the MP, who has a son with autism.
"They've had enough to deal with without having to put up with a feral desperado getting on to national television and slandering them."
Don Burke
Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) (12:30) — I do not know Don Burke. Given everything I have heard about him...
Finn said he's in no position to comment on the allegations against Burke but labelled him "wicked cowardly" for blaming autism.
Autism Awareness Australia CEO Nicole Rogerson said Burke's undiagnosed Asperger's syndrome was a disgusting and outrageous diversion from the serious allegations he faces.
"There's absolutely no link whatsoever between having Asperger's and repeated sexual predatory behaviour over many years," she told AAP.
O'Neill was reluctant to speak out on her experience but was persuaded after hearing Burke's comments defending his behaviour.
"I got quite angry," she said on her Nova radio show in Brisbane.
"What do you do, do you just hang those other women out to dry?"
O'Neill told Fairfax she immediately reported the exchange with Burke to her then-manager Nick Cummins, who in turn called Nine management.
