A Melbourne street cleaner has won an unfair dismissal claim after being sacked for objecting to an Acknowledgement of Country.
When Shaun Turner asked why the Acknowledgement of Country was being made for the first time at a meeting for the street cleaners, 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.
‘It’s getting out of hand and people are losing it, it is now being done at the opening of a postage stamp.’
Council officers investigated Mr Turner’s alleged ‘serious misconduct’, but the worker doubled down.
‘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,’ Mr Turner told them.
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.
Council Chief People Officer Yvette Fuller told Mr Turner that it is a firm expectation for an Acknowledgement of Country to precede all formal meetings.
A Melbourne street cleaner has won an unfair dismissal claim after being sacked after objecting to an Acknowledgement of Country.
‘Why didn’t we do it in this meeting then?,’ Mr Turner questioned.
Ms Fuller then asked: ‘Are you saying you will continue to disrupt an Acknowledgement of Country?’
‘I won’t disrupt it but I want to be asked if I would like you to give me the courtesy to step outside,’ he replied.
In his termination letter, council alleged during the May 21, 2024 meeting that Mr Turner had said ‘the Acknowledgment of Country is not necessary’.
The council further alleged Mr Turner said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders ‘do not deserve an acknowledgment at the start of meetings’.
But Fair Work Commission’s Deputy President Richard Clancy found 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’,’ Mr Clancy said.
‘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.’
The Fair Work Commission will convene a subsequent hearing to consider Mr Turner’s request for reinstatement (an Aboriginal flag is pictured)
Mr Clancy said the Acknowledgement of Country would have caught the members of the street cleaning team off guard.
He added Mr Turner’s specific question ‘are you joking?’ was the articulation of a reaction of surprise.
‘I regard Mr Turner’s various comments as having been a spontaneous expression of his opinion that Acknowledgements of Country are appropriate on special occasions but one was not necessary at the toolbox meeting,’ Mr Clancy said.
‘His comments were laced with his underlying frustration in relation to the various issues pertaining to his work.
‘I have not been persuaded these particular comments of Mr Turner either rise to the level of having been disrespectful and aggressive in tone, or that they were perceived by anyone to be so.’
Mr Clancy labelled Mr Turner’s dismissal as ‘harsh’ and ‘disproportionate’ to the context within which his comments were made.
‘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,’ Mr Clancy said.
‘It was disproportionate having regard to context within which his comments were made and Mr Turner’s circumstances.’
The Council’s submissions indicate that it took particular offence to Mr Turner’s use of the word ‘courtesy’ when asked if he would be given the option to ‘step outside’ during an Acknowledgement of country.
Council said the use of the word ‘displayed contempt to the councils Indigenous employees and community’.
But Mr Clancy disagreed with the council’s assessment.
‘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.’
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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.
However, during the Fair Work proceedings, there was no evidence given to show the support person felt offended.
In his testimony for the Fair Work claim, Mr Turner said he believed he was ‘being made out to be a racist’.
‘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.
