BEN ROBINSON
In January 2021 my son Ben raised concerns about the management of Cooks Gap brigade in the Cudgegong district including bullying behavior and breaches to NSWRFS service standards, these concerns were ignored. After hearing no reply within 21 days Ben again reaffirmed his concerns and requested that the brigade secretary call a meeting to address them. In accordance with the brigade constitution (NSWRFS service standard 2.1.2, section 6.13) the names of 8 other members who had requested the same were supplied.
A meeting was called and held in February 2021, but not at our No 1 shed as we normally do. Instead, it was held at the Cudgegong Fire Control Centre, and was chaired by Area Commander Western, Chief Superintendent Tim Butcher. It was held mid-week and midafternoon which was designed to intimidate and restrict attendance for working people. To attend the meeting people had to travel between 70 and 100 plus kilometers, while it would have been easier for the Salaried staff to travel to our shed in their RFS supplied and fueled vehicle.
During this meeting Area Commander Butcher dismissed Ben’s concerns with no explanation as to why NSWRFS service standards were being ignored. This included the unconstitutional formation of Cooks Gap brigade rule 16 (authority to sign cheques and authorize payments from brigade bank accounts) which had been approved by Cudgegong District Manager, Superintendent Troy Porter, and Chief Superintendent Butcher, without the Brigade knowledge. During this meeting the Executive was dismissed by a Brigade vote.
Following this meeting an “independent” investigator was appointed by Area Commander Butcher to investigate allegations of inappropriate behavior between members and allegations of financial misconduct of Cooks Gap brigade. Ben assumed he would be contacted by the investigator in due course regarding his concerns, this did not happen.
Following the investigation Ben was contacted by Area Commander Butcher to inform him that allegation had been made against him for engaging in bullying behavior. It is alleged that Ben made threats to burn down another members’ house after a Cooks Gap brigade general meeting in 2018. This complaint was made by the former Brigade Secretary and her de facto partner just weeks after she stood down from her position because of the complaint made by Ben and supported by seven other members.
Upon receiving this documentation Ben contacted Area Commander Butcher’s office to request further information like a date of his alleged offence so that he could prepare an appropriate defense against these vexatious allegations. This information was not forthcoming, to date this information has never been provided. The only information given was that it was sometime in 2018 some three years ago. The Secretary stated that two additional members had heard the statement but when contacted they declined to confirm her allegation, one of these members attended the hearing and supported Ben.
Approximately 3 days after Area Commander Butcher commenced disciplinary action Ben was stood down from the NSWRFS because AC Butcher was “made aware” that Ben had a previous criminal conviction from 2016. Ben appealed this decision to the Commissioner’s office and the decision to remove him from service for the criminal conviction was put on hold pending the outcome of the disciplinary action against him. Ben was informed of this decision by Executive Director People and Strategy, Trina Schmidt.
The fact is that the charge was not supported by Service Standards. Service Standard 1.1.42 Respectful and Inclusive Workplace Section3.17 “A single incident of behavior is not considered bullying”. The fact is that the charge against Ben only covers one incident and as such does not allow the charge to be laid.
Ben then provided his version of events to AC Butcher as requested and was found by AC Butcher to have a case to answer and was referred to a disciplinary hearing with an appointed ADA (appropriate disciplinary authority, Chief Superintendent Heath Stimson).
It is obvious to all that the original allegation was made so that the previous conviction criminal conviction could be introduced and Ben would be removed from the RFS. When the facts surrounding the conviction were made known and the decision was held in abeyance this left AC Butcher with a very large problem. To his discredit he decided to proceed with the disciplinary action instead of finding insufficient evidence to proceed.
After determining that Ben had a case to answer AC Butcher provided him with the evidence, he used to make that decision. The only evidence collected by the “independent” investigator and considered by AC Butcher included a statement from the Cooks Gap brigade ex-secretary who Ben had accused of bullying behavior in his management concerns, a statement from the ex-secretary’s de-facto partner and the investigator’s own input that can only be described as wrong. It was at this time that we learned that the person Ben was supposed to have threatened only learned of the bullying the day Ben was charged some 3 years after the alleged incident. How can this be deemed Bullying when the supposed victim was unaware of the bullying?
Ben again requested information from the District Manager to help defend himself against the Vexatious claims. One of the items he requested was attendance records for the four meetings in 2018. After several emails, the District Manager stated that he would get the ex-secretary to chase up the information for him, this despite that this was the person who had made the complaint against him. Ben stated to the District Manager that this was inappropriate. No reply.
After receiving this information Ben contacted the Executive Director People and Strategy, Trina Schmidt, as well as Deputy commissioner Peter McKechnie and provided conclusive irrefutable evidence that the allegations against him were false. Cooks Gap brigade ex-secretary had accused him of threatening to burn down another members’ house following a Cooks Gap brigade meeting in 2018, no specific meeting date provided. 3 firsthand witnesses were identified in this statement; however, original statements collected by the investigator from 2 of these witnesses made no mention of the incident. Later statements received from these two witnesses declined to support the ex-Secretary. The only other statement on this matter was provided by the ex-secretary’s de facto partner. Nonetheless, the evidence Ben provided to senior executives in the NSWRFS was brigade meeting minutes and attendance records for ALL Cooks Gap brigade meetings in 2018. AT NO TIME were the complainants, witnesses and Ben in attendance at the same meeting at the same time in 2018. Ben asked that the disciplinary action against him be immediately ceased considering this evidence and asked who the appropriate authority was to raise concerns about Area Commander Butcher’s investigation, specifically AC Butcher’s disregard of NSWRFS service standards, policies, guidelines and SOP’s during his investigation. Ben was directed to raise his concerns and provide any evidence in the disciplinary hearing, being conducted by Heath Stimson, AC Butcher’s appointee. This is a major conflict of interest
Given that the response received was seriously lacking integrity and accountability, Ben raised his concerns with the NSW Ombudsman and informed them that he had reported his concerns to senior executives, and they were not willing to intervene. Incidentally, this is when Ben was forced to seek mental health assistance because of the injustices he was facing with the NSWRFS.
Eventually, the NSW Ombudsman determined that what Ben had reported did not meet the threshold for a public interest disclosure and outlined the reasons why (Ben has asked the Ombudsman how he would go about appealing their findings, they are reluctant to tell him). The disturbing thing is that Ben was informed of the Ombudsman’s investigation outcome by Trina Schmidt (who was named in his complaint) 5 days before he was informed by the Ombudsman.
In November and December 2021 Ben received the supposed signed witness statements from his accusers.
In January 2022 Ben sent an email to NSWRFS Commissioner Rob Rogers, private and confidential for his eyes only, outlining the bullying/harassment, fraud/corruption and victimization associated with AC Butcher’s investigation, this complaint was ignored by the Commissioner.
In February 2022 Ben was subjected to a disciplinary hearing, Mr. Greg Goode (VFFA) and Mr. Jeff Condren (Justice for RFS Volunteers) were present as friends of the accused. Ben presented his evidence against the complaint as well as allegations against AC Butcher and his appointed investigator for non-compliance to NSWRFS service standards, policies, SOP’s and guidelines during his investigation and disciplinary action. Ben was of course found guilty and recommended for removal from the NSWRFS. Despite the only charge not meeting the threshold of Service Standards.
As his right Ben submitted an appeal against this perversion of the course of natural justice to the Commissioner’s office, this was done at the end of March 2022, and Ben was informed that someone would be delegated to determine the matter. Fast forward to July 2022 and Ben was inadvertently sent an invitation from the Commissioner’s office to attend a memorial garden commemoration ceremony in August at the NSWRFS training academy in Dubbo and saw this as his opportunity to speak to the Commissioner in person after the ceremony. Ben informed the Commissioner that he was under instruction from his mental health professionals to get closure on the appeal matter urgently (now in its 18th week) before further psychological damage was done. Commissioner Rogers informed Ben that he deemed it inappropriate that Ben would raise the issue at an event and strongly suggested that he should leave the premises. Both my husband Bill Robinson and I were present and were witness to the event,
Ben reiterated his concerns with Commissioner Rogers via email correspondence that afternoon and the following morning Commissioner Rogers replied that when he is back in the office on Monday, he would endeavor to find out about the matter and provide a timeline for an outcome.
Subsequently, Ben was contacted by Deputy Commissioner Preparedness and Capability Kyle Stewart to inform him that his appeal matter was delegated to him by Commissioner Rogers. While determining Ben’s appeal Deputy Commissioner Stewart requested an in-person meeting to be held at Greater Sydney area command office (Ben is a member of 2 brigades in the NSWRFS, Cooks Gap in the Cudgegong district (Mudgee) and Marsden Park in the Cumberland district (Sydney) and at the time resided in Sydney). My husband also attended as Ben’s support person. During this meeting DC Stewart agreed that the quality of investigation was sub-standard, however, flat out refused to investigate Ben’s allegations against NSWRFS employees and the volunteer members that filed vexatious complaints against him. DC Stewart determined that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation against Ben and completed the disciplinary matter which only left the criminal conviction matter to decide. Given that Ben had raised concerns with the NSW Ombudsman, that included Trina Schmidt, he also raised a conflict of interest with DC Stewart that Ms Schmidt would likely be determining his appeal for the criminal conviction matter, DC Stewart was also delegated by Commissioner Rogers to determine this matter. DC Stewart determined with evidence that Ben had reported the matter to his immediate superiors in NSWRFS at the time of the incident and noted that Ben had not reoffended and was of good standing since the incident in question, therefore, dismissed the matter and found that Ben could be returned to NSWRFS service.
Since Ben has been returned to service, the bullying and discriminatory behavior exhibited by NSWRFS employees has not abated, if anything it has increased. 12 months after being reinstated and Ben is still not receiving operational messages from the Cumberland zone and his station access has not yet been restored, an issue he has raised on multiple occasions. In the Cudgegong zone Superintendent Porter has on numerous occasions excluded Ben from workplace activities and continually withholds information that is vital for effective work performance. Ben has also provided complaints directly to Superintendent Porter regarding fraudulent and corrupt conduct that have been inappropriately handled and ignored. Superintendent Porter did not even have the common decency to confirm he received Ben’s complaint despite being requested several times
Fed up with the ongoing and relentless discriminatory and bullying behavior that has no signs of slowing, Ben recently provided a complaint to acting Area commander Western Superintendent Nicholas Medianik regarding serious and multiple breaches to NSWRFS service standards, policies, guidelines, SOP’s and possibly state and federal legislation perpetrated by Cudgegong district manager Superintendent Troy. Having received a reply from Superintendent Medianik that does not address Superintendent Porters’ misconduct, rather excuses it, Ben has informed me that he intends to make a public interest disclosures to external investigative agencies regarding the systematic bullying of volunteers in the NSWRFS by state government employees as well as maladministration, mismanagement, misappropriation of public funds, increasing risk to the public and property in the Cudgegong district and fraudulent/corrupt conduct.
While Ben was stood down from the NSWRFS defending himself against vexatious allegations, he took the opportunity to study NSWRFS service standards, policies, guidelines and SOP as well as some legislation relevant to his situation. Having previously held executive positions at Marsden Park brigade for 5 years he was already well versed in the service standards, now I can tell you he is able to quote a majority of standards, clauses and subsections relevant to bullying, PID’s, fraudulent and corrupt conduct, discipline as well as code of conduct and ethics.
During the time Ben was stood down he was excluded from his close support group, the Marsden Park Brigade. Due to Covid restrictions, he could not travel outside Sydney to stay with us in the country. I phoned him at least once a day to check up on him. I had to listen to him get progressively more depressed. I became extremely concerned about his mental state and his safety.
Ben has put a claim in to ICARE regarding the psychological injury this whole incident has caused him, ICARE has accepted liability on behalf of the RFS.
I call on the State Government to implement the Recommendations of the 2018 Borsak report into Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination in the Emergency Service’s. Successive Ministers have failed to implement these changes. Implementation of Recommendation would go a long way in cleaning up the Service that I have dedicated over 30 years of service to. There are now 3 generations of my family involved with the RFS. We need to get rid of this toxic culture.
Elaine Robinson AFSM
Ex RFS volunteer (not a fit and proper person)
