Driver claims Volkswagen threatened his job

In 2010, Mr Kara wanted a Volkswagen to replace his 2007 Golf, which had unexpectedly lost power while driving. Volkswagen had issued a recall in the US related to the automatic transmission, following a safety investigation by American authorities. The fault had affected many Volkswagen owners, and may potentially have contributed to the 2011 death of Melissa Ryan.

Mr Kara's Golf had the same type of transmission. But when he mentioned the recall and threatened to take the company to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Mr Kara says, he began to receive threatening legal letters. 

In particular, Vokswagen's lawyers claimed that Mr Kara, who worked as a government IT contractor, had tried to use his position to intimidate the company, as he had emailed them with his government email address. Volkswagen's lawyers threatened to lodge a formal complaint, saying that the public servant's code of conduct prohibited the use of a person's position for private benefit.

In particular, the APS Code of Conduct, found in Section 13 of the Public Service Act 1999 (Cth), states that "an APS employee must not make improper use of...the employee’s duties, status, power or authority; in order to gain, or seek to gain, a benefit or advantage for the employee or for any other person." (Section 13(10)(b))

Mr Kara took Volkswagen to VCAT but decided to give up when faced with Volkwagen's overwhelming legal clout. He claimed to be worried about his employment and livelihood.

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