13 hours ago
Melbourne street cleaner sacked for objecting to an Acknowledgement of Country wins unfair dismissal claim
A Melbourne street cleaner has won an unfair dismissal claim after being sacked after objecting to an Acknowledgement of Country.
When Shaun Turner asked why the Acknowledgement of Country was being made for the first time at a street cleaning meeting, Darebin City Council let him go.
He told the meeting: 'If you need to be thanking anyone, it's the people who have worn the uniform and fought for our country to keep us free'.
Council officers then investigated his alleged 'serious misconduct', and he doubled down.
'It's getting out of hand and people are losing it, it is now being done at the opening of a postage stamp.
'I don't need to be welcomed into my own country.'
Mr Turner attended the meeting with council managers with an Indigenous support person and shared his view with investigators that the Acknowledgement of Country should be reserved for more formal or international occasions.
Yvette Fuller, Chief People Officer at the council, told Mr Turner that it is a firm expectation for an Acknowledgement of Country to precede all formal meetings.
Mr Turner replied: 'Why didn't we do it in this meeting then?'
'It is getting out of hand and that is why people are losing it, it is now being done at a postage stamp.
'As far as I know half of us are born here, I don't need to be welcomed to my own country. If people don't want to be there, they can leave.
Ms Fuller then asked: 'Are you saying you will continue to disrupt an Acknowledgement of Country?'
Mr Turner replied: 'I won't disrupt it but I want to be asked if I would like you to give me the courtesy to step outside.'
The council's decision to terminate Mr Turner was based on allegations that he questioned the relevance of the Acknowledgement of Country and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people 'do not deserve an acknowledgement at the start of meetings'.
The termination letter stated that during the 21 May 2024 meeting, Mr. Turner confirmed he had said 'The Acknowledgment of Country is not necessary' and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 'do not deserve an acknowledgment at the start of meetings' during the Toolbox Meeting.
But Fair Work Commission's Deputy President, Richard Clancy, found that Mr Turner's statements were not delivered in the manner or tone alleged by the council.
'I am not persuaded that Mr Turner said either 'The Acknowledgment of Country is not necessary' or that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 'do not deserve an acknowledgment at the start of meetings'.'
'I am satisfied, however, that Mr Turner made a comment to the effect that if anyone was to be acknowledged or thanked at a toolbox meeting, it should be the servicemen and women who had fought for this country (i.e. Australia) but I do not consider that expressing such an opinion constitutes a valid reason for dismissal,' Mr Clancy said.
He said Acknowledgement of Country would have caught the members of the Street cleansing team off guard and that Mr Turner's specific question 'are you joking?', together with his reference to the 'opening of a letter', were an articulation of a reaction of surprise.
The Council's submissions indicate that it took particular offence to Mr Turner's use of the word 'courtesy' in the following statement.
'I won't disrupt it [an Acknowledgement of Country], but I want to be asked if I would like you to give me the courtesy to step outside.'
They said it 'displayed contempt to the councils Indigenous employees and community'.
But Mr Clancy disagreed.
'That Mr Turner holds a different point of view when it comes to Acknowledgements of Country does not, of itself, make him contemptuous of the Respondents.'
Mr Clancy noted that both Ms Fuller and Elizabeth Skinner, who was the city works manager at the time, were sufficiently concerned by Mr Turner's conduct that they each contacted his Indigenous support person after the meeting to offer an apology -though there was no evidence the support person felt offended.
Mr Turner's testimony included: 'I believe that I'm being made out to be a racist.
'Well, I've got to say that I was brought up on Broadmeadows. I come from a family of eight. My best friends out at Broadmeadows happen to be Aboriginals, one of them marrying my sister. I have a niece and great-niece and nephews who are all Aboriginals.'
The Fair Work Commission will convene a subsequent hearing to consider Mr Turner's request for reinstatement and determine the remedy for the unfair dismissal.
'I reiterate that even if the reasons for the dismissal relating to the comments about Acknowledgements of Country and Mr Turner's colleague were regarded as valid, the dismissal was harsh because it was disproportionate having regard to context within which his comments were made and Mr Turner's circumstances,' Mr Clancy said.
