Frank Tipping wins discrimination case against Dogs Victoria

A former Dogs Victoria board member who was blocked from standing as vice-president due to a crime committed 60 years earlier has won a discrimination battle.

Dogs Victoria has been ordered to apologise and pay Frank Tipping $18,000 after he won a discrimination battle. Picture: Dogs Victoria Facebook

Dogs Victoria has been ordered to apologise and pay $18,000 to a veteran member who was forced from the board over a crime he committed as a teenager six decades earlier.

Frank Tipping, 83, this week won his discrimination battle using the state’s Spent Convictions Act.

Mr Tipping was deemed ineligible to stand as vice president of Dogs Victoria and stood down from the management committee in 2022.

The decision was based on a car theft he committed with a mate in 1961 when he was just 16 years of age.

His historic conviction was contained on a 2017 national police check he provided on request to Dogs Victoria in 2020.

Realising he was not required to provide the police check, Mr Tipping asked Dogs Victoria to destroy it – but it remained on file and was later used against him.

Court documents state amid the infighting, Dogs Victoria updated its rules in a move that meant Mr Tipping was considered a “disqualified person” and therefore unable to hold a management role due to his criminal record.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week found the rule change was inconsistent with the Equal Opportunities Act as it did not provide exemption for spent convictions.

The Spent Convictions Act of 2020 means some minor convictions are expunged and no longer appear on a police check after 10 years.

VCAT member Stuart Webb found Mr Tipping had been discriminated against and ordered Dogs Victoria pay him $18,000 in damages and publish an apology in the next edition of the Dogs Victoria Magazine.

“Discriminating against a person because of their spent convictions is a serious matter,” he said.

Mr Webb added Mr Tipping had suffered “reputational damage” within the dog breeding and show community, and further victimised by Dogs Victoria for taking legal action.

“Having been involved in the activities of Dogs Victoria for over 50 years, highly active in the public activities of Dogs Victoria, and awarded Life Membership in 2014, a prestigious recognition, Mr Tipping would be well known within this community,” Mr Webb said.

“Mr Tipping has been victimised by Dogs Victoria for taking his action at VCAT. He was stood down from his position on the Management Committee, prior to his removal from the committee, directly because of his application to VCAT.”

Dogs Victoria has more than 8000 members and is the governing body for Victoria’s purebred dog sector.