|
Lack of Compassion within DET
Speech : Tuesday 19th June 2007
Death of Lawrence Dix - Adjournment Debate
HON PETER COLLIER (North Metropolitan) [10.10 pm]: I stand tonight because I have been asked to make some comments on behalf of Stephen and Annette Dix. On 1 April 2007, their 19-year-old son Lawrence Dix was murdered in his home in front of two of his brothers, Jonathan, who is 14, and Robert, who is 12. The impact that Lawrence’s death has had on his three brothers - Michael being the third - and his parents, Stephen and Annette, has been devastating. Unfortunately, the despair that has consumed the lives of the Dix family since Lawrence’s death has been compounded by the complete lack of compassion on the part of the Department of Education and Training. Mr Dix has been an employee of DET for 25 years. Last week, to his credit, the Minister for Education and Training acknowledged that DET has some serious management problems. The response of DET to the death of Lawrence reflects this serious mismanagement. On 21 May 2007, I received a copy of a letter that Stephen Dix sent to the then Acting Director General of DET, Sharyn O’Neill. It states -
The Director General WA Department of Education and Training 151 Royal St, East Perth WA 6004
Dear Ms O’Neill,
I am writing to express my complete disgust with the Department of Education and Training for the lack of care, support and compassion that should have been provided to myself and my family.
My son Lawrence Dix was murdered on the 1st April 2007 in front of his two younger brothers Jonathan (Aged 14) and Robert (Aged 12) in our family home in Dalyellup. Lawrence was aged 19 years and 5 months.
My family and I have been utterly devastated by Lawrence’s death and have been struggling to come to terms with this senseless act. We are experiencing incredible difficulty coping with life on a day to day basis.
I am expressing this grievance because I am a departmental employee on Long Service Leave who as yet have not been contacted by any DET representative to be offered any support whatsoever. It has been seven weeks since Lawrence’s murder and I feel totally abandoned and ashamed to belong to your department which seems to care so little for me as its employee. I have received a sympathy card from the Bunbury District Education Office which is very kind but is cold comfort for me at this time.
I find this lack of Duty of Care to me - a long standing employee of 25 years - completely outrageous. I have not been in any fit emotional or psychological state to be proactive in this horrible and debilitating situation, and would have appreciated some type of support from the many professionals employed by your department. I find it amazing that the Department has excellent strategies to support school students in these situations but has not engaged any such process to support me at this time.
My family and I would benefit from services such as grief counseling, knowing that these services are available. I would also like to be advised on how I can preserve my Long Service Leave to take sick or other more appropriate leave of which I have in excess of 180 days of leave accrued.
He provides some personal contact details. The letter concludes -
I have spoken with Stephen and Annette Dix. It is difficult to describe the helplessness I felt when discussing the loss of their son with them, suffice to say that nothing that I, nor anyone for that matter, could possibly provide to them would even remotely ease their pain. At that time both Stephen and Annette were legitimately angry with DET and urged me to publicly air their situation and accompanying frustration. After several discussions we collectively agreed to wait in anticipation of a response from DET. None was forthcoming. However, on 1 June 2007, they received a letter from the office of the Minister for Education and Training, which states -
I will not provide the address -
Dear Mr Dix
Thank for your correspondence received in this office on 22 May 2007, regarding the lack of Duty of Care by the Department after the death of your son Lawrence.
We would like to express our sympathy and condolences to you and your family during this sad time.
Your correspondence has been forwarded to the Department of Education and Training for a direct response.
Yours sincerely
ANNE POLSKI EXECUTIVE OFFICER
It could be safely assumed that after Mr Dix received this letter, DET would act with regard to the request from Stephen. However, that was not the case. Consequently, 10 days later, after having received no reply, Stephen sent another letter to Sharyn O’Neill, which states -
The Director General WA Department of Education and Training 151 Royal St, East Perth WA 6004
Dear Ms O’Neill,
It’s been 3 weeks since I sent you my last letter and 10 weeks since the murder of our eldest son Lawrence Dix. I still have not been contacted by a representative from the Department of Education and Training, and I’m extremely disappointed by this inaction.
Despite this, I have sought grief counselling for myself and my family at my own expense. The counselor has drawn a physical analogy to describe our psychological trauma which I would like to share: She equates what we’ve been through as having a 1 full and 3 partial amputations! The full amputation being the murder of our son Lawrence, two partial amputations because our two youngest boys witnessed the murder, and one partial amputation because it occurred in our home.
In addition, my second son Michael has contemplated suicide, my 2 youngest sons (Jonathan and Robert) are showing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and my wife and I are heading for nervous breakdowns.
We have decided to sell our home. We thought we might be able to adjust to the events that occurred in our home but we find living here harder and harder to cope with. We have to leave our home because our family won’t heal if we don’t.
I find the lack of Duty of Care towards me completely outrageous and baffling. I continue to feel abandoned by your department and am unable to approach this issue without feeling sick to the stomach and ashamed to think I committed 25 years of my life to an employer who does not care. I am however very proud of the support and assistance I have provided to students and the community during this time.
I would appreciate some support from the many professionals employed or contracted by the department. Please do not ask staff from the Bunbury District to make contact as I fear they would get an extremely hostile reception from me given they have been aware of my circumstances since 1 April 2007.
I have enclosed a doctors certificate for sick/bereavement leave for 6 weeks. I request that you approve this leave and make the necessary arrangements to postpone then re-instate my Long Service Leave until after this sick leave (and any subsequent leave) expires.
He then provides some personal contact details. It concludes -
This is obviously a desperate cry for help from a devastated father. Why on earth can the Department of Education and Training not show some semblance of compassion? Why can it not provide a grain of understanding or loyalty to an employee who has given 25 years of service? Has our education department become so dysfunctional that it has no humanitarian substance whatsoever? This tragic circumstance is a sad indictment on the Department of Education and Training. Having said that, I plead to the government to address this as a matter of urgency. Please show some compassion and support Stephen, Annette, Michael, Jonathan and Robert Dix.
|
 |
 |
|