Darren Philp: Pimpama teacher suspended after child sexual charges fights to keep pay
A Gold Coast teacher who was charged with child sexual offences has fought to overturn a departmental decision to cut off his pay while he remains suspended. Find out whether he was successful.
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A Gold Coast teacher who was charged with child sexual offending has fought to overturn a departmental decision cutting off his pay while he remains suspended.
Former Pimpama State Primary College teacher Darren Alan Philp, 52, was charged in January 2023 with indecent treatment of a child under the age of 12, leading to his teacher’s registration being suspended the following day.
An indictment charging him with two counts of the offence has been presented in the Southport District Court, following Mr Philp’s committal last May, but no future dates have been listed at the time of writing.
A complaint had originally been made against Mr Philp back in 2021, leading to his suspension with pay on February 11 of that year.
The Department of Education first tried to stop his remuneration from February 28, 2023 onwards – after he was charged – but this was overturned by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission on July 28 of that year.
However, according to a decision by the commission delivered on Monday, the department has now successfully stripped Mr Philp of his remuneration while he remains suspended.
On June 20 last year, the department wrote to Mr Philp informing him it was considering taking away his pay, to which Mr Philp responded a month later, Industrial Commissioner Peter O’Neill said in his written decision.
The defendant’s remuneration ceased on September 18.
Mr Philp appealed to the commission on December 11, by which point the 21-day statutory limitation on appealing the decision had long lapsed.
According to Commissioner O’Neill, Mr Philp said the reason for the inordinate delay was that he incorrectly filed his appeal material in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, not the commission, and that once he was made aware of the error, he swiftly rectified it.
Commissioner O’Neill said he accepted the delay was due to the material being filed in the tribunal rather than with the commission, but ruled Mr Philp had not adequately explained why the material was incorrectly filed.
He pointed out that Mr Philp had already successfully appealed a decision to strip him of pay once – in February 2023 – so he should have been aware of the process, and also cited the materials provided to Mr Philp stating clearly he had right of appeal in the commission, not the tribunal.
Commissioner O’Neill therefore refused Mr Philp’s application to grant him leave to appeal the decision.
He noted that the department would be required to write periodically to Mr Philp to either extend the period of suspension without remuneration or alternatively reinstate his remuneration, and if it was the former, Mr Philp would have the opportunity to appeal that new extension to the commission should he choose.
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Originally published as Darren Philp: Pimpama teacher suspended after child sexual charges fights to keep pay
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