Cricket Australia unfair dismissal case: Angela Williamson claims Cricket Tasmania boss said Premier Will Hodgman was ‘lying’
CRICKET Australia has responded to Angela Williamson’s claims in documents lodged with the Federal Court that she was told Premier Will Hodgman was “lying” when he said he had not raised any complaints that contributed to her dismissal.
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TASMANIAN Premier Will Hodgman was “lying” when he told sacked Cricket Australia employee Angela Williamson he had not raised any complaints that contributed to her dismissal, according to sensational new documents lodged with the Federal Court.
Documents filed this morning have revealed for the first time that Ms Williamson claims Cricket Tasmania boss Nick Cummins told her that the Premier “was lying” when he assured her he had not raised concerns because the CEO had also had text conversations with the Premier suggesting he was not happy about her social media posts on abortion.
However a Cricket Australia spokesperson this afternoon said the organisation disputed Ms Williamson’s version of events.
Ms Williamson is suing Cricket Australia in the Federal Court over her dismissal from a $100,000-a-year government relations role in Tasmania over a “social media breach” relating to her posts on a private account calling for abortion reform in Tasmania.
Ms Williamson also claims in the documents that the pro-life Health Minister Michael Ferguson had also complained to Cricket Tasmania that it was “difficult” because Ms Williamson was asking favours for the sport while posting about abortion on her private social media accounts.
Shortly afterwards, she was sacked from her job.
According to the statement of claim lodged with the Federal Court today, Ms Williamson confronted Cricket Tasmania with a text exchange she had with Mr Hodgman in the meeting on June 19.
Mr Hodgman’s text to Ms Williamson, obtained by the Mercury, states: “Angela, I have absolutely not spoken to anyone at Cricket Australia about your employment there. Will.”
After Ms Williamson read out the text from the Premier to Mr Cummins in a meeting over her abortion tweets, he replied “the Premier must be lying to you”, according to the legal documents.
The statement of claim alleges “Mr Cummins said he also received messages from the Premier, which were different to the ones Ms Williamson received.”
At the June 19 meeting, Mr Cummins also claimed that:
THE Board of Cricket Tasmania had unanimously decided that Ms Williamson could no longer perform her role for Cricket Australia.
MR CUMMINS told Ms Williamson she had damaged her relationship with the Tasmanian Government.
MR CUMMINS indicated he had spoken with the Premier by SMS.
MR CUMMINS revealed he had spoken with Health Minister Michael Ferguson by phone.
MR CUMMINS said Mr Ferguson and the Premier were “disappointed in her behaviour”.
The Federal Court documents also reveal that Mr Ferguson said Ms Williamson was “difficult to work with because she asked for favours from the Government on the one hand (for Cricket Australia) and posted tweets pressuring the Government in relation to a personal matter on the other” relating to abortion reform.
However, the documents also claim the Health Minister was not aware of the June 14 tweet on abortion, until Cricket Tasmania informed the government of the tweet.
Angela Williamson has previously accused the Health Minister of revealing her abortion to her boss Mr Cummins during this conversation, a claim that he denies arguing that her termination was “on the public record” after she spoke to media outlets under the condition of anonymity.
Ms Williamson’s lawyers Maurice Blackburn argue she was sacked because of a political opinion using a personal social media account, and that it was a breach of the Fair Work Act.
Cricket Australia responded to the claims, with a spokesperson saying it had withheld comment in the media to date “out of respect for Angela and the legal process”.
“However, these recent allegations cannot go unchallenged,” the spokesperson said.
“Angela’s statement of claim is her version of events, a version we dispute.
“We refute any suggestion of any government interference in Angela’s dismissal.
“Cricket Tasmania CEO, Nick Cummins, refutes Angela’s allegations that have been reported in the media.
“The cessation of Angela’s employment is not because of her personal views, free speech, political speech or government interference.
“We reaffirm the necessity to administer social media policy while respecting people’s rights to publish personal views.
“We stand firm that Angela neglected key requirements of her role as government relations manager to facilitate a strong relationship with the Tasmanian Government.
“While this is a difficult matter with many aspects and layers, it’s important that in our leadership of cricket in this country, we continue to be guided and influenced by our values.
“Our values focus heavily on demonstrating appropriate behaviours and showing respect to members and stakeholders of our diverse community all the time.
“As a demonstration of our support to employees’ personal views, Cricket Australia has provided training to numerous employees, including Angela, to help balance the requirement between their position and personal views.
“Since becoming aware of Angela’s tweets, a series of previous tweets and posts were identified as a demonstration of clear breach of Cricket Australia’s social media policy.
“In the absence of being able to agree a resolution with Angela, we will continue to follow the legal process she has initiated.”
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the organisation had reflected on Ms Williamson’s dismissal and been empathetic to her personal circumstances and the sensitivity of the underlying issues.
“Over recent weeks, I have personally been involved in discussions with Angela about a return to CA in the role of Communications Manager — Community Cricket. She has informed CA that she will not be taking up the new opportunity, and whilst we are disappointed we fully respect Angela’s decision.
“In our reflections we have also reaffirmed the necessity to administer social media policy while respecting people’s rights to publish personal views. The need to be bipartisan in our government engagement has also been acknowledged.
“While this is a difficult matter with many aspects and layers, it’s important that in our leadership of cricket in this country, we continue to be guided and influenced by our values. Our values focus heavily on demonstrating appropriate behaviours and showing respect to members and stakeholders of our diverse community all the time.”
Ms Williamson’s lawyer, Kamal Farouque, said under the Fair Work Act, it is unlawful for an employer to dismiss an employee because of their political opinion.
“Angela Williamson spoke out about abortion rights because she believes strongly in the reproductive health rights of Tasmanian women,” Mr Farouque said.
“Australian workplace laws clearly prohibit employers from discriminating against an employee because of their political opinion.
“Our claim alleges that Cricket Australia’s dismissal of Angela Williamson for tweeting her political opinion is an adverse action that is in breach of the Fair Work Act.”
As part of the claim, Ms Williamson will be seeking compensation for loss of income, damage to reputation, and distress.
The statement of claim alleges Ms Williamson has suffered loss of income, damage to reputation, humiliation, distress and anxiety and is claiming relief under the Fair Work Act. The maximum penalty for the two breaches outlined alone would be $126,000.
Earlier this year Ms Williamson became one of the first women forced to travel to the mainland for an abortion after the state’s only low cost private provider of surgical abortions closed its doors.
Documents lodged with the Federal Court today assert that Cricket Tasmania formed the view that Ms Williamson’s position was “no longer tenable” because of “the views of Mr Ferguson, Tasmanian Minister for Health, and William Hodgman, Premier of Tasmania” about Ms Williamson’s June 14 tweet.
In that social media posting, Ms Williamson wrote, “Did he forget that his words had impact and actions have impact? Did he forget that ‘vulnerable’ a category assigned to patients of this service are actually f … ing vulnerable? That his words can cause harm? Most irresponsible, gutless and reckless delivery in early ever.”
Health Minister Michael Ferguson has subsequently confirmed he discussed the abortion of Angela Williamson with the boss of Cricket Tasmania Nick Cummins but insists he did not reveal information that was not on the public record.
Ms Williamson insists that she had never publicly disclosed she had an abortion with Cricket Tasmania’s CEO Nick Cummins or disclosed the information on her social media accounts.
She had spoken to media outlets to promote the plight of women being forced to travel to the mainland but had sought a guarantee of anonymity from the journalists to not jeopardise her job.
On August 16, Tasmania Police confirmed they would not investigate Health Minister Michael Ferguson over allegations he revealed Ms Williamson’s ab abortion to her employer, Cricket Australia.
A Tasmania police spokeswoman said no investigation was warranted because there was no criminal offence but Labor is continuing to pursue calls for an investigation into a possible breach of the ministerial code of conduct.
Last month, mediation between Angela Williamson and Cricket Australia failed despite an offer by the sports governing body to reinstate her to another job.
Mr Farouque confirmed that Ms Williamson had rejected the offer because it “wasn’t the same position she was dismissed from.”
Cricket Australia’s dismissal of Ms Williamson has received national and international attention and was covered by the New York Times and BBC.
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