Chef Shannon Bennett was subject of domestic violence order (2025)

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Editor’s Note: This masthead clarifies that the interim Apprehended Violence Order referred to in this article was not supported by NSW Police and was revoked by Court order on 4 August 2020. This masthead also confirms that no court has made a finding to the effect that Mr Bennett committed any acts of domestic violence against Ms West.

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Shannon Bennett, a regular guest on TV ratings blockbuster MasterChef, was the subject of a domestic violence order brought by his then-partner, former Neighbours star Madeleine West.

The existence of the court order was revealed on Monday in a tangentially linked hearing at the Byron Bay Local Court, where West had unsuccessfully challenged a restraining order filed against her on behalf of Bennett’s father.

Chef Shannon Bennett was subject of domestic violence order (1)

In requesting a stay of West’s apprehended domestic violence order until she had a chance to appeal, the actress’s lawyer Bridie Nolan explained to magistrate Karen Stafford that her client understood the significance of such orders because they had provided her security in the past.

“[There has been] an AVO of which Ms West ... have been beneficiaries, where the defendant was ... Shannon Bennett,” Nolan said.

Details of Bennett’s 2020 order, which has since been revoked, are contained in documents accepted as evidence by Stafford because “they may have some relevance”. However, the court has refused this masthead’s requests for access.

Network Ten, citing ongoing court matters, declined to respond to questions about whether management was aware of the orders against Bennett when he was booked for multiple appearances on their flagship reality show, and as West starred in other network programming.

Chef Shannon Bennett was subject of domestic violence order (2)

It is understood Bennett, 47, was employed by EndemolShine Australia, while 45-year-old West, who acted on Neighbours until 2020, worked for Screentime Australia.

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According to entertainment website IMDb, Bennett has appeared in 13 MasterChef episodes since 2018 and many more before that.

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Bennett and West, who both live in Byron Bay, were in a relationship for 16 years. Neither they, nor Bennett’s father, were at court on Monday.

Bennett was not a party in that hearing and did not have legal representation.

Bennett did not respond to phone calls or SMS messages from this masthead. West declined to comment. EndemolShine Australia did not respond to questions.

Bennett has owned a swag of Melbourne eateries since founding his flagship restaurant Vue de monde in 2000.

However, he ceded control of his hospitality empire in 2020, when he sold his final stake in the Vue Group to the Singaporean-based Far East Organisation, owned by billionaires Robert and Philip Ng.

The actress’ AVO, handed down by Stafford on March 28, stemmed from a single incident captured on CCTV in May last year when she was found to have confronted the visiting Benny Clifton Bennett in the doorway of his son’s Byron Bay home and then “barged” past him.

Shannon Bennett was overseas at the time.

The actress, who Stafford described as an unreliable witness, previously told the court she never touched Benny Bennett in the incident.

“Too often for women, their behaviour is conflated with aggression when really it’s frustration and assertion,” Nolan said, adding the order against West was “a notch, metaphorically, on Mr Shannon Bennett’s belt” because it besmirched her character.

Chef Shannon Bennett was subject of domestic violence order (3)

Stafford accepted that the elder Bennett, who lives in Victoria and regularly visits his son in Byron Bay, did not fear for his physical safety. Instead, the order was based on “conduct amounting to intimidation, including harassment,” she said.

“I was satisfied ... that he did have fears ... she would harass him, particularly if his son was absent,” Stafford said.

“Yes, [West] is diminutive in size, but she is a much younger woman and he is a 75-year-old man.”

Nolan said the legislative provision for a stay was intended for cases such as this, when the question of physical safety was not in play. Stafford disagreed.

The lawyer flagged the decision would be open to judicial review in the Supreme Court.

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