[2023] AATA 2722
General information, not legal advice.
Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia
2023-08-25
Original judgment source is linked above.
The cancellation of Ms Rachelle's teacher registration in New Zealand
(a) On 2 August 2016, Ms Rachelle was convicted of drink driving and sentenced to 50 hours of community work, six months' supervision and disqualification from driving for eight months; and > > (b) On 26 October 2017, Ms Rachelle was convicted of drink driving and sentenced to 100 hours of community work, intensive supervision for one year and indefinite disqualification from driving or holding a driver's licence.
[19] We can briefly recite the facts behind each of the respondent's convictions. Starting with that referred to the Tribunal, the summary of facts records that Mr (sic) Rachelle, at about 5:15pm on 9 June 2017, was stopped on Waenga Drive in Cromwell while driving a Nissan vehicle. The police officer, while speaking to the respondent, noticed "a strong smell of alcoholic liquor" and the respondent "appeared to be affected by alcohol". The respondent underwent breath testing procedures and returned the result described at the beginning of the decision. In light of her high reading, the respondent's vehicle was impounded for 28 days. > > [20] The offending in 2016 was somewhat more serious. The respondent drove to the Cromwell Police Station on Sunday 17 July 2016 "to inquire about an incident". A "strong smell of alcohol filled the Cromwell police station". The respondent left the station, got into her vehicle and "drove a short distance to the Cromwell New World on Murray Terrace, Cromwell". She was stopped by police as she got out of her vehicle and then refused to undergo a breath screening test, "stating that she was not driving on a road and that the officer was not wearing a hat". This was despite the fact that the officer was in full uniform and driving a marked police vehicle. While initially refusing to accompany the officer, the respondent "eventually returned" to the station. A blood sample was requested after Ms Rachelle "was unable to complete two evidential breath screening tests". The summary described the respondent as "very belligerent and obstructive throughout the entire procedure". Analysis of the respondent's blood sample provided the high reading described earlier in this decision. The summary described the respondent as "an Australian national driving on a Victoria driver's licence".
[37] We are of the view that Ms Rachelle's commission of a second drink-driving offence within a year of the first strongly suggests that she has a harmful relationship with alcohol and poor self-regulation. The combination of sentences imposed in the District Court in 2016 and 2017 are instructive in this regard. Supervision and intensive supervision comprise rehabilitative sentencing options. Clearly, on each occasion the Court considered that some form of intervention was required to curtail Ms Rachelle's harmful use of alcohol and to reduce her risk of reoffending. Following her 2017 conviction, the respondent was referred to the Community Alcohol and Drug Services (CADS). We were provided with a letter written by CADS to the Department of Corrections, which was responsible for supervising her sentence. The letter explained that CADS intended to discharge Ms Rachelle from its programme because she declined to accept she has a harmful relationship with alcohol. The letter stated: > > [This] is the second occasion that your client has been referred, by your agency, to CADS. During the interview your client made it fully clear that she did not consider her alcohol use to be a problem, even in light of having a second EBA conviction within an 18 month period. Due to her present unwillingness to work on her alcohol use, there is little that CADS can offer to Ms Rachelle at this stage. > > [38] The respondent's refusal to participate in treatment necessitates a finding that she lacks insight and continues to pose a risk of re-offending. The fact that Ms Rachelle attributed her apprehension in 2017 to an apparent conspiracy between police and a private business indicates a preparedness to deflect responsibility for her actions to others. Ms Rachelle's submission that the Council bears part of the responsibility because of the way it dealt with her registration is a further example of her willingness to blame others for the way she behaved. Whatever degree of frustration it caused her, there is no obvious link between the delay in achieving registration and the respondent's decision to drive while intoxicated. > > [39] Of additional concern is that Ms Rachelle alluded to a preparedness to drive while intoxicated when told us that "if I was the slightest bit over I was pulled up [by police]". This admission gives us little confidence that Ms Rachelle appreciates her responsibility, as a teacher, to model lawful behaviour. This undermines her fitness to teach. > > ... > > [42] ... Ms Rachelle has exhibited a ... complete lack of insight and no ownership of her predicament. Ms Rachelle's challenge to the legitimacy of this proceeding left us with the distinct impression that she has little appreciation why breaking the law is perceived by the profession as a serious matter, which calls into question her ability to model appropriate behaviour for those she might teach in future. > > [43] Given the respondent's lack of insight and poor judgement, we have come to a different view to the CAC regarding penalty. We conclude that censure and cancellation are the only means by which to achieve the purposes of maintaining professional standards and preserving the public's confidence in the teaching profession. Simply put, given the respondent's lack of engagement, there is no viable, less restrictive alternative. > > [44] Our view that no penalty short of cancellation will meet the disciplinary purposes we have identified is amplified by the fact that the respondent conducted herself in an entirely unprofessional way during this proceeding. Ms Rachelle's pre-hearing dealings with the CAC, which we set out earlier in this decision, prompted Ms Mok to submit: > > [The] respondent's conduct in the course of the Committee process and the present Tribunal proceedings is also relevant, and reflects adversely on her fitness to be a teacher. > > ... > > [55] The belligerent and unprofessional way in which the respondent conducted herself in this proceeding cannot be disregarded. It is behaviour of a type that reinforces our conclusion that she lacks professional judgement and is therefore not fit to teach. We emphasise that we have not decided to impose a more severe penalty to punish Ms Rachelle's poor behaviour in this proceeding. Rather, the way in which she behaved had a direct bearing on our assessment of her character. It means that we cannot step back from cancellation.
[54] I consider the driving with excess blood alcohol to be of a moderate to high gravity of offending of its kind. Two convictions within a short space of time indicate that she may have a problem with alcohol, particularly given the lack of insight shown. This type of offending sets a very poor example for children. The convictions and her blasé attitude towards them adversely reflect on her fitness as a teacher.[1]
(a) that the character of the applicant is such that it would not be in the public interest to allow the applicant to teach in a school; > > ...
_(c) that the applicant has engaged in category C conduct and - _
(i) the ability of the applicant to teach in a school is likely to be affected because of the conduct engaged in; or
(ii) it is not in the public interest to allow the applicant to teach in a school because of the conduct engaged in;
(d) that the applicant has previously held a right to teach (being the equivalent of registration as a teacher under this Act), or been employed as a teacher, in a school in another State or Territory or another country and that right or employment has been cancelled or suspended and not restored because of conduct which, if committed within Victoria, would entitle the Institute to suspend or cancel the registration;
...
(f) that the applicant has not produced evidence which satisfies the Institute of his or her suitability to teach.
s 1.1.3C(1)(d) of the ETR Act which provides that Category C conduct includes conduct that forms the basis of a non-conviction charge. There is a helpful analysis of the legal framework relating to Category C conduct in Kardash v Secretary to the Department of Justice and Community Safety (Review and Regulation) [2022] VCAT 60.[2] 2. In considering the weight to be given to Category C conduct I would consider all of the circumstances including whether there is probative evidence that establishes on the balance of probabilities the alleged conduct or any other relevant conduct. 3. The fitness to teach definition in the ETR Act is based on general 'fit and proper' common law principles.[3] The High Court considered the meaning of 'fit and proper person' in Australian Broadcasting Tribunal v Bond (1990) 170 CLR 321 where Toohey and Gaudron JJ said at 380:
The expression "fit and proper person", standing alone, carries no precise meaning. It takes its meaning from its context, from the activities in which the person is or will be engaged and the ends to be served by those activities. The concept of "fit and proper" cannot be entirely divorced from the conduct of the person who is or will be engaging in those activities. However, depending on the nature of the activities, the question may be whether improper conduct has occurred, whether it is likely to occur, whether it can be assumed that it will not occur, or whether the general community will have confidence that it will not occur. The list is not exhaustive but it does indicate that, in certain contexts, character (because it provides indication of likely future conduct) or reputation (because it provides indication of public perception as to likely future conduct) may be sufficient to ground a finding that a person is not fit and proper to undertake the activities in question.
The question whether a person is fit and proper is one of value judgment. In that process the seriousness or otherwise of particular conduct is a matter for evaluation by the decision-maker. So too is the weight, if any, to be given to matters favouring the person whose fitness and propriety are under consideration.[4]
The ground in s 303(1)(f) involves the Tribunal in considerations of a different kind. The ordinary meaning of a person's "integrity" is plain enough. The expression "fit and proper" is one traditionally used with reference to an office or vocation, "fit" being referable to a person's honesty, knowledge and ability.
The drink driving convictions in 2016 and 2017
The behaviour of Ms Rachelle before the New Zealand Tribunal
I certify that the preceding 48 (forty-eight) paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for the decision herein of Deputy President Britten-Jones
.......................[sgd].................................................
[3] Explanatory Memorandum, Education and Training Reform Amendment Bill 2009 (Vic) cl 11.
[4] Australian Broadcasting Tribunal v Bond (1990) 170 CLR 321 at 388.
[5] Shi v Migration Agents Registration Authority [2008] HCA 31 at [148]- [149].
[6] Shi v Migration Agents Registration Authority [2008] HCA 31 at [96] to [98].
Australian Broadcasting Tribunal
Bond
Kardash v Secretary to the Department of Justice and Community Safety (Review and Regulation) [2022] VCAT 60
Shi v Migration Agents Registration Authority [2008] HCA 31
(1990) 170 CLR 321