Gutless

What's Australia coming to? Perhaps a serious decline in western society in line with other woke, virtue signaling countries of the West.

DEATH THREATS IGNORED BY EMPLOYER

By JanetAlbrechtsen

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‘I’ll kill her’: male heritage adviser’s death threats ignored ‘becausehe’s Aboriginal’

Janet Albrechtsen The Australia Stephen RiceNovember 10, 2023

An Indigenous adviser to Transport for NSW whothreatened to kill a senior female executive has been allowed to stay in hisjob “because he isAboriginal and a cultural knowledge holder”, with the woman’s bosses fearing a $2.2bn infrastructure project might be shut down if he was sacked.

Ian Brown, who was contracted as cultural heritagemanager on the massive Coffs Harbour Bypass project, made the death threatagainst senior Transport for NSW executive Rochelle Hicks during a meeting atthe Coffs Harbour Local Aboriginal Land Council in June, stating: “If I seeRochelle I will kill her.”

Ms Hicks, deputy project director for the CoffsHarbour Bypass, was not present at the meeting but was left terrified anddistraught when informed of the threat.

Her fears were compounded when her bosses refusedto sack or take effective action against Mr Brown, who had previously calledher a “white c..t”.

“When I was told by the managers above me I was notpermitted to terminate Ian Brown’s contract or remove him … because he wasAboriginal and a cultural knowledge holder and it may be a political risk, Ithought it was absolutely ridiculous and I couldn’t believe what I washearing,” she told The Weekend Australian.

A respected executive who has held several seniorproject management roles with the NSW government, Ms Hicks, 43, said she hadbeen “used as a sacrificial lamb” by executives who baulked at taking actionagainst an Aboriginal man over conduct that would never be accepted from awhite man.

“Their response is completely inadequate and myability to lead and my safety, and that of my staff, is being compromised,” shesaid.

“If it was any other contract, it would be animmediate dismissal with no questions asked.”

Mr Brown was the subject of apprehended violenceorders in 2020 made for the protection of two individuals The WeekendAustralian has chosen not to name, requiring that he not assault or threatenthem, stalk, harass or intimidate them, or destroy any property belonging tothem.

In 2018, Mr Brown pleaded guilty to driving with anillegal drug present in his blood and was disqualified from driving for threemonths. Ms Hicks said she now lived in fear and had upgraded the securitysystem at her home.

“I’m frightened. I am hyper-vigilant. I feelanxious when I’m out in public places. I’m constantly looking sideways to seeif Ian Brown is there looking at me.”

Mr Brown was employed on a contract as culturalheritage manager on the Coffs Harbour Bypass project to advise on any adverseimpact on local Aboriginal heritage and salvage any artefacts of significanceto the Indigenous community. But Ms Hicks said that in meetings she was oftenconfronted with a tirade of foul language from Mr Brown, including calling hera “white c..t”.

“He yelled at meetings and they were always talkingabout sovereignty – ‘We’re not going to accept what’s happening’ – and veryrighteous and very vocal, and often confused about what we’re trying to do onthe project with these blanket statements about impacting on Aboriginalheritage,” Ms Hicks said.

Ian Brown. Picture: Facebook

Ian Brown. Picture: Facebook

An Indigenous woman who acted as liaison betweenthe department and the Coffs Harbour & District Local Aboriginal LandCouncil, which contracted Mr Brown, was told “she needs to decide whether shewas black or white”, Ms Hicks said.

Although the previously negotiated salvageoperations on the bypass had been completed, Ms Hicks agreed to a further “walkover”of one site, after representations from the Land Council.

“I said yes to that, and then they decided theywanted to get a mechanical sieve in there and an excavator and the scope grewand I said, ‘No, we’re not doing it – the major works are coming through, thescope is finished’.”

When that decision was relayed to the Land Councilat the meeting on June 21, Mr Brown made his threat to kill Ms Hicks if he sawher. When a departmental staffer told Mr Brown he couldn’t make such threats,he responded: “It’s not athreat, it’s a fact.”

Witnesses said Mr Brown was “very agitated anderratic” at the meeting and made similar threats against the principalarchaeologist on the site, Matthew Kelleher.

Contacted by The Weekend Australian, Mr Brown atfirst denied he had made a death threat.

“It’s all bullshit, mate, she’s nothing but aliar”, he said before hanging up.

In a second phone call, confronted with the threatreported by witnesses, Mr Brown said: “That’s just f..king words, mate … it’sjust bullshit words. I don’t care what they say, this has not got to do withanything.

“She has lied the whole f..king time I was at thatjob. She’s f..king trashed my f..king Aboriginal sites. Listen mate, I’m notgetting involved, don’t ring me again,” he said, before hanging up again.

Ms Hicks wasn’t told about Mr Brown’s threats untilnearly a month after the meeting.

“I don’t know why I wasn’t told straight away,” shesaid. “I think people were scared. I was upset when I heard about it becauseit’s a violent attack but also the fact that I’d been dealing with Ian Brownand sending emails and I didn’t know that there was this risk to my safety.”

Ms Hicks said she was prepared to deal with thethreat herself and informed her immediate boss, project director Greg Nash,that she was going to remove Mr Brown from the project completely with nofurther work as a contractor or as a stakeholder.

“As there were no security controls to restrictpeople entering the site, I was going to inform the workforce about the deaththreats and ask that if they saw Ian Brown on site he was to leave immediately,”she said.

She also told Mr Nash she was going to report thethreat to police.

However, she said Mr Nash told her that removing MrBrown “wouldn’t be an option as it may go political which would cause projectissues”.

When she spoke to Mr Nash’s superior, PeterMcNally, she asked that the threat be reported to police. She explained MrBrown had called her a “white c..t” and a “f..king idiot” previously and hadseveral warnings, so there was a track record of having given him chances. Shesaid Mr McNally told her that was not the answer because “to have the policerock up at his door wouldonly piss off the Aboriginal community and they would go political on the project”.

Ms Hicks said when sheasked if they accepted Mr Brown’s violent behaviour because he was Aboriginal,Mr McNally replied: “Absolutely we do. They are treated differently andabsolutely we put up with the behaviour because he’s Aboriginal.”

“Peter said: ‘They will all band together and no one in government atthis time will support us’,” Ms Hicks said.

Mr McNally yelled at her, saying the project couldnot be stopped for this reason and that it must be “managed differently”.

Shocked and left in tears by this response, MsHicks took her concerns to Mr McNally’s superiors. However, they too refused toremove Mr Brown from the project, saying, “If you don’t feel safe, you don’tneed to attend the site”.

“Management told me I have every right to take itto the police at a personal level. However, Transport won’t be involved withthe police. Now, the(department’s) code of conduct says if there is violence, it will be reportedto the police by Transport. But they just shoved it over to me and said, yourproblem, Rochelle.

“I just feel it’s totally crazy and it goes againsteverything the organisation (Transport for NSW) is supposed to stand for. I’mfeeling quite gaslit – I’ve been called highly charged and emotional by themanagers above me and that’s for simply disagreeing with their approach tokeeping Ian Brown on site as a paid contractor.”

A Safety Investigation report by safety consultantJamie Tough concluded that “threats made during (the) meeting (were) assessedas credible as evidence to rule out credibility was not available”.

The investigation stated that Mr Brown was “irate”due to the sieving methodology being proposed to recover Aboriginal artefactson the Coffs Harbour Bypass site, and that he “believed that the culturespirits of which he represents would negatively impact his life moving into thefuture”.

The report noted that agreed action was for policeto be notified by August 18. Ms Hicks was later told that the department triedto contact the police but couldn’t report the incident because she had alreadydone so.

Transport executive Tammy Hosking, who was at themeeting where Mr Brown made the death threats, emailed Mr Tough, telling him:“At a discussion after the meeting, I was told that this is typical behaviourof Ian Brown.”

The CEO of the CoffsHarbour Local Aboriginal Land Council, Chris Spencer, agreed the behaviour wasunacceptable but advised that Mr Brown was the council’s “most seniorexperienced Aboriginal site officer and holds the ancestors’ knowledge”.

Mr Brown was restricted from entering the main sitecompound but would still be free to access dozens of other sites.

Other members of Ms Hicks’ team expressed safetyconcerns about working with Mr Brown, at least one of whom said she was nothappy to attend sites with him.

Ms Hicks has now made a statement to police andapplied for an Apprehended Personal Violence Order against Mr Brown. The casewill be heard in the Coffs Harbour Local Court on Tuesday.

In a grievance submission against her three bosses,as well as Mr Brown, Ms Hicks accused Transport for NSW of putting the bypassproject before her safety.

“The only answer I have received is that thiscontractor is an Aboriginal senior knowledge holder. His position is moreimportant to Transport for NSW than my safety,” she said.

Ms Hicks’ solicitor wrote to department deputysecretary Camilla Drover on September 19 pointing out that despite repeatedrequests to management to take steps to ensure her protection, no effectivesteps had been taken. Ms Hicks’ solicitors have not received a substantiveresponse in the six weeks since.

Transport for NSW declined to answer a series ofquestions put to it by The Weekend Australian, claiming it “does not comment onindividual employee matters”.

It said the department had “implemented a number ofcontrols in conjunction with the sub-contractor” but did say not what thesewere, or whether they would stop Mr Brown attending sites where Ms Hicks mightbe working.

Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said on Friday shehad instructed her department to provide an urgent briefing on the matter.

Among other questions Transport for NSW failed toaddress were:

• Does Transport for NSW stand by its treatment ofMs Hicks following this incident?

• Does Transport for NSW believe its actions inthis case reflect its stated commitment to “zero tolerance for bullying,harassment, discrimination and inappropriate workplace conduct”?

• Is Transport for NSW aware that other members ofits staff have expressed safety concerns about working with Mr Brown?

• If a death threat found to be credible by the department’s own internalsafety investigation does not constitute conduct that warrants termination, canTransport for NSW provide an example of conduct that does?

“It feels like Transport’s way of dealing with thismatter is to silence me and water it down and hope it goes away,” Ms Hickssaid.

She knows her career with Transport for NSW is overbut, worse, she has lost the sense of safety and community she has treasuredliving in Coffs Harbour for 15 years with her husband and two daughters, aged12 and 13.

“I don’t feel safe,” she said. “We live in a smallregional city and I feel like it’s even smaller now that this has happened. Sowe’re moving our family to a completely new location and starting again.”

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THANKFULLY, THE DEFEAT OF ALBO'S VOICE SCAM HAS SOMEWHAT FURTHER RESTRICTED THE POTENTIAL POWER WEILDED BY SUCH IMBECILES.