‘Embarrassed and ashamed’: Launceston deputy mayor doctored academic transcript

A mayoral candidate who admitted to forging an important document two decades ago has taken to social media to apologise for the wrongdoing.

Launceston Acting Mayor Danny Gibson connects to the expanded WiFi. Picture: CHRISTOPHER TESTA.

A leading candidate in the Launceston mayoral race says he is “deeply sorry, embarrassed and ashamed” that he forged an academic transcript at age 20 out of fear he would be denied a job opportunity.

Danny Gibson, a former Young Tasmanian of the Year, now 39, pleaded guilty to one charge of forgery and one charge of uttering in 2005 after he was found to have doctored his University of Tasmania academic record two years previously, altering one subject failure to a distinction and two other failures to credits.

Launceston Deputy Mayor Danny Gibson took to social media to apologise for forging an academic transcript. Picture: Facebook

Magistrate Peter Wilson in the Launceston Magistrates Court in March 2005 ultimately dismissed the complaint, deeming the punishment given to Mr Gibson by the university’s Academic Misconduct Committee as sufficient.

Mr Gibson was barred from continuing full-time study until July 2006.

When contacted by the Mercury on Friday afternoon, Mr Gibson, who has been the Deputy Mayor of Launceston since 2018, described the incident as “deeply regrettable” and one for which he had “sincerely apologised at the time”.

“While it is a matter of public record and something I have never hidden from, I’m disappointed some have sought to raise this matter anonymously in the context of a council election,” he said.

Danny Gibson takes to social media to apologise for past mistake. Picture: Facebook

“I am deeply sorry, embarrassed and ashamed about this significant lapse of judgement as a teenager, which I owned up to when I was young. I learned from my mistake and in the 20 years since, I have used that learning and remorse to dedicate myself to serving my community.”

In September 2003, Mr Gibson, who had deferred his Bachelor of Education studies to focus on his obligations as the 2003 Young Tasmanian of the Year, was approached by the principal of the elite Launceston private school Scotch Oakburn College, who asked whether he would like to work there in the 2004 school year.

When an advertisement for the drama teacher position was placed in the local newspaper, Mr Gibson was encouraged to apply.

However, he feared he would not qualify for the job due to the failures on his first-year academic transcript, prompting him to photocopy altered results, which he subsequently sent to the Teachers Registration Board.

The university’s academic registrar detected the forgery in December 2004 and referred the matter to Tasmania Police. Mr Gibson was interviewed by police on January 5, 2005 and fully admitted what he had done.

The Launceston councillor took to social media on Saturday night to address the matter, saying it was “perhaps part of an ongoing attempt to discredit my name”.

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