Sacked RMIT professor Andrew Timming wins court battle to refile discrimination claim against uni
An RMIT professor sacked over a social media post about Greta Thunberg has made fresh allegations against the uni, saying he was “discriminated against due to mental disability”.
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A former RMIT professor sacked for controversial tweets has had a request to refile a complaint against the Victorian university approved, amid new claims of discrimination.
Free speech advocate Professor Andrew Timming fronted the Federal Court asking for permission to refile a discrimination claim against RMIT under the Fair Work Act, where he has alleged the university “discriminated against him due to mental disability”.
The court heard Professor Timming had made concurrent claims with Fair Work and the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2023 when he was put on forced extended leave, prior to his termination.
The two complaints were unable to be heard concurrently as parallel litigation was prohibited.
On Thursday, Professor Timming requested the ability to withdraw his complaints from both entities and be able to file a “fresh claim” with Fair Work.
Justice Catherine Symons dismissed the original claims and approved Professor Timming’s request, saying “because there are no jurisdictional impediments to him doing so … he can proceed with all claims against the respondent in a new proceeding”.
The former-deputy dean of research and innovation had his contract terminated at the end of 2023, following a controversial social media post weighing in on an interaction between self-described misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and climate change activist Greta Thunberg.
Tate posted a tweet taunting Thunberg with a picture of himself in front of his Bugatti vehicle, boasting about his 33 cars and asking for her email address so he could send “a complete list of … their respective enormous emissions”.
Thunberg responded: “Yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalld--kenergy@getalife.com”.
Professor Timming questioned why Thunberg had received praise for the remark.
“Demeaning sexual jokes when directed from a woman to a man – smiley face, wink face. Demeaning sexual jokes when directed from a man to a woman – bomb emoji, skull and crossbones emoji,” he tweeted.
Following an unsuccessful appeal of the university’s decision in February last year, Professor Timming argued a Fair Work Commission judge should not hear his case because of the pride and Indigenous flags on the judge’s court email insignia.
He said he should receive an apology for the small flags because they were offensive and “indicated political views contrary to his own”.
The pride flag, Indigenous flag and Torres Strait Islander flags are commonly used by public servants at the end of emails along with a diversity statement, an Acknowledgement of Country and a privacy statement.
The professor argued — as a person with obsessive compulsive disorder — the flags led him to believe Commissioner Scott Connolly, who was assigned to his case, could not be an effective judge.
He also wanted Commissioner Connolly to be excused from hearing the unfair dismissal case against RMIT because of his previous role as assistant secretary of the ACTU.
He was not successful in either action.
Professor Timming has until April 10 to file a new application against RMIT.
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