South West teacher convicted of possessing MDMA and magic mushrooms deregistered

A South West teacher convicted of possessing MDMA and magic mushrooms that were discovered during a police investigation into drug-laced lollipops has been banned from teaching for two years. Award-winning science teacher Hamish Kane Gibson had his registration cancelled by the State Administrative Tribunal on February 13 and is disqualified from applying for registration until September 12, 2024. Gibson had been a high school teacher at the prestigious Georgiana Molloy Anglican School in Busselton until August 2021, when police seized 11.9g of MDMA and 3.539g of plant material containing psilocin from his family home in Margaret River. The search came after an investigation into drug-laced lollipops that police feared were being distributed among school kids. On September 12, 2022, Gibson appeared before the Busselton District Court where he pleaded guilty to, and was convicted of, the two serious drug offences. He received a two-year suspended imprisonment order for possession of MDMA and psilocin with the intent to sell or supply to others. In her ruling on Monday, Tribunal member Nova Oldfield ruled there was cause for disciplinary action under the Teacher Registration Act 2012. She also noted that the Busselton District Court had found Gibson’s drug activities were “not for profit purposes” but that, nonetheless, “he encouraged the use and distribution of drugs by others”. Ms Oldfield ruled this represented a substantial departure from the standard of behaviour expected from a teacher. “There is a need to maintain public confidence in the teaching profession by reinforcing high professional standards and denouncing transgressions,” Ms Oldfield noted in her ruling. “The teacher’s conduct is likely to bring the teaching profession into disrepute. “There is a need to deter other teachers from similar conduct.” Formerly the head of science at the Busselton school, Mr Gibson was the winner of a national science prize in 2017. He was recognised for his outstanding teaching in the BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards, beating finalists from around Australia.