BROCK ELLIOTT BURSTON V. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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Hi, my name is Brock Burston. I’m asking for your support to raise funds to secure legal representation as I prepare to present my evidence and argument before the Public Service Appeals Board (PSAB 46 OF 2022) at the West Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
I have been an employee with the Department of Education for eighteen years. I’m a vocal advocate for our most disadvantaged and vulnerable school-aged children and believe in holding organisations and government departments accountable for their responsibilities and conduct. For the past nine years, I have worked in the Kimberley education region with at-risk youth and their families who are disengaging or have disengaged from school.
For the past 20 months, my family and I have been publicly defamed, persecuted, harassed and bullied by the Department of Education under the passive-aggressive leadership of the Minister for Education and the Director General. During this time, three West Australian Police Officers and two detectives from Financial Crimes Squad raided and searched my family home. I was treated like a criminal and charged with two offences; I was suspended from work, appeared in the Kununurra Magistrates Court and was cleared of both charges. I have been under internal investigation by the Department of Education and penalised. I have successfully appealed with the West Australian Industrial Relations Commission. I watched as the Minister for Education was forced to apologise in the Parliament of Western Australia.
And to this day, the Department of Education is relentlessly penalising me.
“…this is the worst case of institutionalised bullying that I have experienced or seen in my long career in the public sector. I am not accusing the minister, by the way, of being partisan to this; I want the minister to know that. I think that there is an opportunity here for the minister to actually speak to the director general and resolve this matter. We know what the definition of bullying is. It is the ongoing and deliberate misuse of power through repeated verbal, physical and social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and psychological harm. I could think of nothing worse than a well-meaning officer being put on suspension for almost a year, not knowing the outcome of his career or his future, simply because he was concerned about the future of children in Halls Creek.” (Extract from Hansard - 7 Apr 2022 - p1764d-1768a - Hon Neil Thomson)
I will stand before the Public Service Appeals Board, on behalf of the 225 children and their respective family members, on behalf of every brave Department of Education staff member that has spoken out against malfeasant behaviour only to be silenced and crushed. The department has unlimited access to taxpayer-funded state solicitors. The machinations of this department seem geared to alienate the disenfranchised further.
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
- George Orwell
BACKSTORY
On the 7th of February 2019, State Coroner RVC Fogliani delivered an Inquest into the Deaths of 13 Children and Young Persons in the Kimberley Region. “A 2019 coronial inquest had found poor school attendance to be a common factor in the deaths of the children, who died between 2012 and 2016.” (ABC Kimberley - 25th July 2022)
On the 30th of December 2019, “The Ombudsman made a range of recommendations to address the dire situation – including tasking the WA government with delivering comprehensive school attendance plans for the children in Halls Creek by the end of July of 2020.” (ABC Kimberley 25th July 2022). The Department of Education responded by delivering the Halls Creek Attendance and Family Wrap-Around Strategy. Under this strategy, the Department of Education intended to develop individual attendance plans for every student at Halls Creek District High School in the severe at-risk attendance category enrolled in 2019.
On the 30th of September 2020, upon completing the strategy, the Department of Education provided a detailed report to the Ombudsman and State Coroner.
On the 26th of November 2020, the Kimberley Echo ran a front-page article titled “Truancy Rate No Longer Up the Creek”, in which the “Minister for Education, Sue Ellery, took to parliament to rave about the program and its results being seen throughout the school and wider community”. (Kimberley Echo – 26th Nov 2020)
“By October 2020, the minister had claimed a victory in Parliament. "Out of something as terrible as the coroner's report into suicides, some amazing work has been done in Halls Creek," Ms Ellery told Parliament. "It is a fantastic initiative that effectively created a case management approach to identify the real reasons that those kids were not attending school and working with families to get them to attend." She also visited the school to present plaques recognising efforts to boost attendance”. (ABC Kimberley – 25th July 2022)
I was concerned about the validity of the individual attendance plans. Upon failing to be heard by my superiors, I sent an anonymous letter regarding my concerns to a key stakeholder at the Shire of Halls Creek in December 2020. “The West Australian understands more than 200 attendance plans were prepared for individual Halls Creek students in 2020, but many were incomplete, with sections left blank, and were not seen or signed by families.” (The West Australian – 18th Aug 2022). To avoid further recriminations, I refer you to please view the article links below.
On the 18th of May 2021, my family home was raided by two detectives from the Financial Crimes Squad accompanied by three police officers. I was taken to the Kununurra Police Station, where I was accused of committing two offences and charged under the criminal code with, Unlawful Use of a Computer and Disclosing Official Secrets.
In a media statement in June 2021, the Minister for Education and Training, Sue Ellery, mentioned having opened an investigation and, upon finding discrepancies relating to Halls Creek Attendance and Family wrap-around Strategy, provided the Ombudsman and State Coroner with an amended report.
In December 2021, I appeared as a defendant in the Kununurra Magistrates Court. Over the three-day trial, the Magistrate dropped one charge, and I was found not guilty and acquitted of the other charge. However, I remained suspended with pay from the Education Department pending an internal enquiry.
“Sadly, we have a State Government that is so addicted to good news and spin that it seems incapable of dealing with real issues – instead, actively threatens those who speak out with the truth. Take for example, the disgusting action of the Department of Education charging an education worker, a Mr Burston, for the crime of honesty…While the department saw fit to try to criminalise him for doing his job, thankfully, the court disagreed with the department, and he was acquitted”. (National Indigenous Times – 4th January 2022)
The Department of Education made the matter public by taking me to court, drawing the attention of the media and the opposition party. An ABC reporter travelled to Halls Creek to interview families, and the Liberal Party called for an enquiry into attendance in Halls Creek. “The ABC has seen almost 150 of the attendance plans drawn up in 2020, many of which appear incomplete and lacking in detail”. (ABC Kimberley – 26th July 2022)
On the 21st of December 2022, I was notified by the Department of Education that the Director General would be taking disciplinary action against me, resulting in further legal costs. Keep in mind the total duration of the process and the ongoing costs to the taxpayer unwittingly funding the Department of Education, regardless of having been cleared in a court of law. By May 2022, the Director General delivered her outcome and penalty, which called for my family's immediate transfer out of the Kimberley region. I was to be relocated to an unspecified location for an unspecified time in a supernumerary position.
Shortly after, I lodged an appeal with the West Australian Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC) and PSAB 46 of 2022 - BROCK ELLIOTT BURSTON V. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION was actioned. Employing the taxpayer-funded State Solicitor as their representative, the Department of Education responded with a request for mediation. Being reasonable, I agreed to engage in the mediation process. Mediation would proceed over six months and draw to a close in December 2022. During mediation, I represented myself, having exhausted my legal funds. The mediation process failed, and a request to proceed with PSAB 46 of 2022 was lodged in January 2023. A Public Service Appeals Board has recently been formed, and a Directions Hearing has been set for Friday, 3rd March 2023, at 2.15 pm. A directions hearing is a short hearing where orders can be made about what should happen next or how the matter will proceed.
Over the six-month period that I was engaging in the Mediation process, the following vital moments occurred.
In July 2022, due to the mounting media and political pressure, the Minister for Education and Training, Sue Ellery, re-opened the investigation. Again, upon finding discrepancies relating to Halls Creek Attendance and Family wrap-around Strategy, The Department of Education provided the Ombudsman and State Coroner with a second amended report.
A total of three reports when, including the initial report!
On the 18th of August 2022, the Minister for Education, Sue Ellery, was “forced to apologise” in Parliament. Today, under the McGowan Labor Government, Sue Ellery remains in the political sphere as the Minister for Commerce.
Referenced articles as quoted:
(National Indigenous Times – 4th Jan 2022)
(ABC Kimberley – 20th Mar 2022)
(ABC Kimberley - 25th Jul 2022)
(ABC Kimberley - 26th Jul 2022)
(ABC Kimberley – 2nd August 2022)
(The West Australian – 18th Aug 2022)
Articles leading up to and during the court case:
(ABC Kimberley – 14th June 2021)
(ABC Kimberley – 8th December 2021)
(ABC Kimberley – 9th December 2021)
(ABC Kimberley – 10th December 2021)
(ABC Kimberley – 17th December 2021)
Organizer
Brock Burston
Organizer
Western, WA