Apology to govt before CA sacked woman
Before Angela Williamson was sacked by Cricket Australia for criticising Tasmania's abortion policy, the head of the sport in the state called the government to apologise for her comments.
Ms Williamson has taken CA to the Fair Work Commission for unfair dismissal after she was fired for writing tweets with an "inappropriate" and "disparaging" tone.
She had to travel to Victoria for an abortion after the closure of Tasmania's only private provider in January.
Ms Williams criticised the state government on Twitter, calling for greater access to abortion services and was then sacked by CA on June 29.
She has also said she shared her story with a senior state government official to lobby for better abortion services but believes that information, given anonymously, was leaked back to her employer.
Premier Will Hodgman on Thursday revealed Cricket Tasmania CEO Nick Cummins called Health Minister Michael Ferguson to apologise for Ms Williamson's conduct before going to Myanmar she was sacked.
"That apology was received. He (Minister Ferguson) appreciated the call, Mr Hodgman said.
"(He) said he would certainly be more than happy to not only forgive Ms Williamson, so to speak, but not to seek any action from Cricket Australia.
"It was an entirely appropriate thing, I believe, for Mr Cummins to do that."
Mr Hodgman again refuted suggestions his government or Mr Ferguson had tried to pressure CA into firing Ms Williamson.
This is despite the resignation of a senior state government staffer who took screenshots of Ms Williamson's tweets under a fake account and reported them to CA.
"(The staffer was) not doing it as a representative of government or on government's behalf," Mr Hodgman said.
"It was unauthorised and unacceptable behaviour."
Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten believes Ms Williamson's sacking demonstrates the need for a national anti-corruption commission, a call echoed on Thursday by Greens leader Richard di Natale.
The Tasmanian opposition wants an independent investigation into whether the Hodgman government accessed Ms Williamson's private health information.
"It certainly wasn't disclosed to the public that it was Angela who had the termination," Labor leader Rebecca White told reporters in Launceston.
"That was private information that hadn't been shared with anyone outside a select group of people that she had chosen Things to know before going to Myanmar trust."
Meanwhile, an online petition started by Ms Williamson calling for accessible, affordable abortion services had been signed by almost 29,000 people by Thursday afternoon.
Ms Williamson's legal proceedings before the Fair Work Commission are expected to begin later in August.
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