On 9 November 2022, I wrote to ACU governance because I couldn’t get the communication, cooperation or action I had been seeking. On 15 November 2022, I followed up with direct questions about the Associate Director of HR, privacy violations, adverse action and ACU’s responsibilities as an employer.
As my story shows, these were not my first attempts to raise concerns. I had reported psychosocial hazards affecting my health and safety on 2 July 2019. By November 2022, I had also provided the Fair Work Ombudsman with a timeline and records. I was asking the people above the Associate Director of HR to examine what had happened and act.
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9 November 2022: I asked governance to intervene
In my first email, I told governance that I had gone elsewhere to be heard. I questioned why ACU’s policies for complaints about serious misconduct by executive staff didn’t appear to be protecting me. As I put it:
“Policies like complaints about serious misconduct of executive staff are not required only for show. They are meant to be applied and enforced.”
I raised the conduct I had reported within HR, the privacy violations that had occurred, and my concerns about the actions of ACU and Catholic Church Insurance. I told governance that payments and support were being withheld while I was trying to recover safely and return to the job I had performed for twenty years.
I also explained that an insurer case manager had provided an injury management plan to me and my health professionals. After she left, I couldn’t obtain the communication and cooperation needed to put that plan into effect. I had repeatedly tried to get the employer and insurer to work with me. Why did it seem that I was the only party expected to keep trying?
Meanwhile, I was using my personal, annual and long service leave. I had a mortgage and bills to pay. I was frightened about what would happen to me and my family if those with the power to act continued to leave these matters unresolved.
I addressed Professor Zlatko Skrbis and Professor Ramsay by name. I asked them to listen. I also asked that my friend and colleague in the Directorate of Identity and Mission be “allowed” to call me. It should not have required permission. The forced isolation I am STILL experiencing is causing me SERIOUS HARM. It’s forseeable harm that’s continuing by those governing the university! I wrote:
“I’m alone and I’m frightened and governance are responsible for this.”
That was a direct appeal for human contact as well as action. I needed a safe path back to my workplace and the community I still belonged to.
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15 November 2022: Questions I asked again
Six days later, I wrote to governance again. I asked whether its leaders were aware of the privacy violations, discrimination and adverse action I had reported concerning the Associate Director of HR. I said that I had raised these concerns within ACU and with the Fair Work Ombudsman, providing a timeline and records.
I asked:
“How is this aligned to the mission and values of ACU?”
I also asked how tolerating the psychosocial hazards and financial harm I was reporting could be reconciled with being a responsible employer.
I questioned what ACU’s staff code of conduct and commitments to dignity and ethics meant if governance did not examine serious complaints about its own executive staff.
My email asked:
“Where is the zero tolerance regarding discrimination and serious privacy breaches?”
And I described the isolation I was experiencing:
“Stop the psychological abuse of workplace mobbing. It’s like forcing someone to be in solitary confinement.”
I’ve worked honourably for the university community for twenty years. I was seeking protection for my health and safety, and cooperation with an injury management plan. I’ve continually pleaded to remain connected to my workplace.
ACU senior leaders had legal obligations. Their lack of due diligence has caused harm that was foreseeable.
And it’s continuing. ACU governance have been fully aware for years.
——
What did ACU governance do with these warnings?
The sequence matters. On 9 November 2022, I gave governance a detailed account of the injury management plan, my efforts to obtain cooperation, the loss of leave and my fear. On 15 November 2022, I pressed it again with questions about the Associate Director of HR and the standards ACU says it upholds.
What did Vice Chancellor Professor Skrbis, DVC Professor Ramsay and ACU governance do with those emails?
Who examined the timeline and records I had provided?
Who investigated the privacy and adverse action concerns?
Who checked whether ACU and its insurer were cooperating to implement the injury management plan?
Who considered the harm of leaving me isolated while I was asking for help?
I asked for a safe work environment. I asked for the injury management plan to be implemented. I asked for human contact and a way to recover in the university community I’ve been part of and served for twenty years.
Those requests deserved a serious, accountable response.
Why was no response forthcoming yet again?
See also posts like:
http://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-decision-maker-now-vice-chancellor.html
http://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2026/04/vice-chancellor-on-notice-delivered.html
http://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2026/05/on-noticeagain-what-leadership-knew.html
Source: contemporaneous record of events - Documents 557-558.
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