1 out of 5
| Trustworthy | |
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| Customer Service | |
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| Recommend | |
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I was a member, big supporter & hardcore volunteer for HSBNE for 8 years. After growing tired of being repeatedly mistreated, when I tried to fix the underlying institutional & cultural problems that plagued the organisation I was attacked, punished and abused, because doing so involved challenging the status quo. This abuse got bad enough that members in positions of authority managed to break the Disability Discrimination Act against me. Trying to resolve this amicably with the then-executive went nowhere, with the wrongful punishment continuing to escalate, so I reported their unlawful treatment of me to the Australian Human Rights Commission… And was instantly banned from HSBNE, because the executive slid in a new rule (without a membership vote) that essentially bans you from the organisation if you report crime you experienced within the group, should they deem reporting it is harmful to the club. Meanwhile, in the real world, punishing & silencing someone for reporting human rights violations is, as you’d expect, highly illegal.
Two years of arguing through multiple HSBNE executive terms via the AHRC, giving direct evidence & lines of the law that were broken, and none of them cared. They refused to so much as acknowledge even the most obvious breaches of discrimination law. The illegal rule that lets them ban members who report them for breaking the law remains in place.
I’m now formally diagnosed with cPTSD as a direct result of being repeatedly abused at HSBNE, while the place continues to label itself a “Safe Space” and “LGBTQ-friendly”. But the reality is that abuse is not only acceptable, you will be banned for reporting it to the authorities, and if you openly say that you’ve been abused you can expect to also have lies said about you in retaliation. If you’re someone who is at risk of discrimination due to being a minority or part of a protected category etc, I advise caution when dealing with this organisation, because they have no issue treating a long-term volunteer so badly they not only break the law, he ends up with lasting mental health damage.