Government denies interfering in sacking for abortion tweets

HEALTH Minister Michael Ferguson has denied the State Government lobbied Cricket Australia to sack a critic of its abortion policy. SEE THE TIMELINE OF EVENTS

Angela Williamson appeared on The Project on Monday night to talk about her claims she was fired from Cricket Australia for her tweets about abortion. Picture: TEN

HEALTH Minister Michael Ferguson has denied the State Government lobbied Cricket Australia to sack a critic of its abortion policy.

Labor has called for an inquiry into the dismissal of Angela Williamson as Cricket Tasmania’s government relations manager last month.

Ms Williamson was forced to travel to Victoria for an abortion at her own expense after the state’s only private provider closed in January.

She says she was sacked because of comments she made on social media about the State Government’s failure to make surgical abortions available in Tasmania.

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An emotional Ms Williamson appeared on Ten’s The Project on Monday night, saying: “I believe I was dismissed because of my political opinion.”

Ms Williamson was also the target of pre-election trolling by a senior Liberal Government staffer, who sent screenshots of her tweets to Cricket Australia in February.

Ms Williamson told The Project she texted Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman at the time, advising him about her personal situation.

“I said I want you to fix it,” she said of the trolling.

Within a few weeks, Mr Hodgman’s senior media adviser, Martine Haley, who was identified as the operator of the fake social media accounts, resigned after apologising.

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Mr Ferguson, a conservative opponent of abortion, on Monday denied he or anyone else in the Government lobbied Cricket Australia to have Ms Williamson sacked.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

“This is a matter for Cricket Australia and the Government doesn’t have any responsibility for the human-resources decisions that are taken by Cricket Australia,” he said during a brief press conference.

Mr Ferguson said it was not appropriate to disclose private conversations and not appropriate to comment while legal action was underway.

“The Government hasn’t made any representations in regard to this matter,” Mr Ferguson eventually said.

“The Government hasn’t done anything improper here and I do refute those suggestions.”

Ms Williamson is taking legal action over her dismissal before Fair Work Australia.

She is seeking to be reinstated and for compensation for wrongful dismissal.

Kamal Farouque, a member of Ms Williamson’s legal team told News Corp: “Political opinion is a protected attribute under the Fair Work Act, but in this instance an employer is seeking to constrain that opinion, with a person losing their job as a result”.

Opposition spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said an investigation was needed.

“I think the Tasmanian public will rightfully be shocked and horrified if they find it is determined that a member of the Tasmanian Government is responsible in any way or has played any part in this,” Ms Lovell said.

“It is not what Tasmanians are looking for. It is dirty politics of the worst kind if they are using their position of power to influence the employment of a member of the community and Tasmanians will be rightfully shocked if that is determined to be the case.

Labor health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

“It is very necessary for there to be a full investigation across all officers and all elected members because there are allegations, serious allegations, that have been made around the role that elected members might have played here.

“The Premier must identify whether anyone was involved in this and anybody who played any role in this absolutely disgraceful act should be sacked immediately.”

Opposition leader Rebecca White has come out in support of Ms Williamson, backing her on Twitter.

“Angela spoke up about the lack of access to terminations in Tas because she didn’t want anyone else to go through what she did. She lost her job,” Ms White wrote.

“Public advocacy changes public policy, it changes law and changes lives. This is a distressing story.”

Women’s job network Work180 – which this month endorsed Cricket Australia as a women-friendly workplace – on Monday suspended the organisation’s listings while it investigated the matter.

Cricket Australia said it expected its employees would refrain from making “offensive comments that contravene the organisation’s policies”.

On Monday, Ms Williamson started a Change.org petition calling for “affordable, accessible abortion in Australia” and detailed her personal journey.

“This year I was one of the first women forced to travel interstate to receive an abortion after the procedure was no longer offered in Tasmania.

“I flew to Melbourne, alone and scared.

“I wouldn’t have had to do this if abortion was accessible in Tasmania like it is every other state.”

As of 11pm, the petition had garnered more than 12,000 signatures.

THE TIMELINE OF EVENTS

■ January: Tasmania’s only abortion clinic closes, leaving the state without a provider of surgical terminations except in emergencies. An estimated 1200 to 1500 surgical abortions are performed each year in Tasmania.

■ February: Angela Williamson travels to Melbourne to have an abortion at a cost of $4500. She subsequently comments on social media about the topic and the State Government’s policy. The former adviser to Premier Will Hodgman left that job to work in government relations for Cricket Australia.

■ Late February: Mr Hodgman’s senior media adviser Martine Haley sends screenshots of Ms Williamson’s comments to Cricket Australia in what Ms Williamson described at the time as an attempt to have her sacked. Ms Haley was later found to be operating social media accounts under a false name “Alice Woods-Jones”.

■ February 27: After being identified as the operator of the fake accounts, Ms Haley meets with Ms Williamson, admits her actions and apologises.

■ March 1: Mr Hodgman is made aware of Ms Haley’s actions.

■ March 3: State election held, Liberal government is returned with a reduced majority.

■ March 7: Mr Hodgman announces Ms Haley’s resignation.

■ April 28: Ms Williamson tweets: “IRONY — Premier responds to questions about Tas women flying interstate for surgical terminations due to ZERO State government support at a press conference for an interstate AFL Team that gets over 3 million State government support per year.”

■ May 28: Ms Williamson tweets criticism of the Government for failing to act on abortion services after she shared her personal story.

■ June 7: Ms Williamson meets a “senior member of the Government” to lobby for abortion services to return to Tasmania.

■ June 9: Ms Williamson tweets criticism over the lack of any announcement regarding World Oceans Day. This tweet is one of three cited in her dismissal letter.

■ June 14: Labor motion seeking surgical abortion to be provided in public hospitals defeated in House of Assembly. Ms Williamson tweets, describing the State Government as “irresponsible, gutless and reckless”.

■ June 18: State Government announces $240,000 to boost Cricket Tasmania’s Female Cricket Program. Ms Williamson is understood to have played a critical role in negotiating the grant.

■ June 19: Aware of her employer’s concerns, Ms Williamson contacts the senior Government member she had earlier contact with to apologise for the tweets and offers to remove them.

■ June 29: Cricket Australia sacks Ms Williamson, saying “concerns about your performance on conduct have come to the attention of Cricket Australia”. It cites “offensive comments” as the reason behind her dismissal.

■ July 2: Premier announces Department of Health has reached a five-year agreement for a new private provider to deliver abortions in Tasmania form October.

■ July 17: Cricket Australia endorsed as a preferred employer for women by Work180. That endorsement has since been suspended.