Published: 1 November 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Federal Court rules University of Sydney lecturer Tim Anderson who visited Bashar al-Assad should not have been fired.
A controversial Sydney academic who superimposed a swastika over an Israeli flag did so under the protection of intellectual freedom and should not have been fired as a result, a federal court judge has found.
Dr Tim Anderson worked at the University of Sydney from February 1988 until he was dismissed in February 2019. At the time he left, he was a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Economy.
During his time at the university, he made a number of statements including that a News Corp journalist was a “traitor” because of a story on the Armenian genocide and that US senator John McCain was a “key US war criminal”.
He also said News had spread “deceitful war propaganda” supporting what he called a terrorist war in Syria and superimposed a swastika over an Israeli flag in a slideshow presentation about media coverage of the Palestine conflict.
Anderson was also part of a delegation that travelled to Syria in 2013, meeting with government and non-government figures including its president, Bashar al-Assad.
In response to his statements, University of Sydney issued two separate warnings to Anderson – in August 2017 and October 2018 – before dismissing him in February 2019.
Federal Court judge Tom Thawley on Thursday found Anderson’s comments were made under the protections of intellectual freedom and that the terms of his employment contract meant he could not be fired for them.
Warnings made over the statements were a breach of contract, as was the university’s decision to dismiss him, Justice Thawley found.
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Sydney academic had ‘intellectual freedom’ to superimpose swastika on Israel flag, judge finds (Guardian)
