For those who aren't aware, I originally started looking into the Town of Gawler (ToG) after the "support" that the leadership and HR of ToG could provide an employee who lost their house as a result of the Cudlee Creek bushfires was 3 months of leave without pay, IF and ONLY IF the employee could provide medical certificates to cover her for that time... Not paid leave. Not Compassionate leave. Not Medical leave... In order to grant leave without pay to deal with the impact of the bushfire, ToG harassed this employee, and even sent a letter of intended termination should they not provide medical certification by their deadline... For Leave WITHOUT PAY!!

Next, ToG's response to the PM stating “If you can work from home you should" and that only under exceptional circumstances should you leave home was to put in place a significantly complex form and management procedure under which it has been alleged Mr Henry Inat stated only under "exceptional circumstances" should working from home be approved. This is the exact opposite of the advice from the top. I should note that not only does ToG have the IT infrastructure to enable the vast majority of their workforce to work from home with BYO devices, this is not the first time that overly complex procedures have been released by CEO Mr Inat. (see https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger/north-northeast/gawler-mayor-karen-redman-left-embarrassed-by-flowchart-sent-to-media-outlets-outlining-steps-for-processing-questions-from-journalists/news-story/47c505bcb7672b082159d9996268d91a )

I made some comments on the ToG facebook page related to this and whether or not Mr Inat would be reviewing this decision in light of it being the OPPOSITE reaction expected. These comments and queries were never responded to by ToG and promptly deleted on multiple occasions. Not, however, before I was contacted by current and former employees concerned about what they describe as a "toxic culture" within ToG, claiming this to be "coming from the top down".

It doesn't take much digging to see that Mr Inat has some serious self interest and the EB negotiations matter, alongside his own self assessed pay rise and tenure extension lead me to beleive something needed to be done.

I started a petition... not this one... which was removed at the initiations of Mr Henry Inat (one of his Executive team has confirmed it was he that initiated the removal). So I looked deeper. There have been multiple cases of employees seeking compensation payouts for bullying from ToG and other cases still yet to take place. Industrial disputes. Harassment... the evidence for this is not very deep.

So this is why I started the petition. In my next update I will be sending you all links to the publically available resources that I have used for this and the previous petition.

Until then, please share far and wide. This is not just a ToG matter, but a matter of anti-bullying, anti-CEO corruption and simply standing up for what's right.

Stay safe. Be good to one another.