Australian man claims 'G'day, sport' is racial abuse

An Australian man claims he was racially abused by colleagues who cracked jokes about barbecues and greeted him with the words “G’day, sport”. Geoff Stephens, who was sacked from his job as community warden after going sick with depression, is now taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights. He said fellow wardens would regularly say “G’day, sport”, ask if his “girlfriend was called Sheila” and urge him to “throw another shrimp on the barbie”.

But the 49-year-old, who has lived in Britain for 22 years, said it wasn’t just the so-called jokes which upset him. He said: “There was another occasion when I was told that I had been excluded from a team meeting because I ‘wasn’t English’. On another occasion a manager told me I should ‘f*** off back to where all the criminals come from’. That’s not what I would consider good-humoured banter.” He claimed the “racism and bullying would eventually have killed him” and that he constantly asked colleagues to stop making jokes about him being an Aussie.



The £21,500-a-year warden who was battling anti-social behaviour in Dymchurch, Kent, went off sick in August 2010. He was later sacked before taking Kent County Council to an employment tribunal last month, where he lost his race discrimination case. However, Adelaide-born Mr Stephens – who lives in Folkestone, Kent, with wife Christine – has revealed that he is taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights. He said he believes Kent County Council chiefs monitored a string of private phone calls to find out if he was “genuinely sick” when he went off work with depression.

He said: “The last few months have been a nightmare and my whole life has been turned upside down. I have transcripts which prove they listened to my private conversations, including one with my doctor to see if I was telling the truth about my health. I thought, ‘Strewth’. It’s a breach of my human rights.” A council spokesman said of the phone call allegations: “That claim was struck out on the grounds it was vexatious. It would be inappropriate for us to comment any further.”