9 November, 2009

Over time, a cavernous gap has opened between what parents and teachers know, and what bureaucrats and ministers publicly maintain.

9 November, 2009

Queensland premier Anna Bligh will today unveil the first wave of measures to clean up the state's accountability -

• The role of the state's Integrity Commissioner will be expanded to provide advice to all MPs rather than just ministers.

• There will be changes to the Whistleblower Protection Act.

• An ethical standards branch will be established to provide advice to bureaucrats.

 

And a "second wave of reforms" will be unveiled in the middle of next year.

Monday, 9 November, 2009

Queensland teachers are expected to vote in a fortnight on their new pay deal.

The deal could see the state's beginning teachers as the highest paid in the country in July 2011, with a base salary of $56,900 ( up from $48,829 ).

Classroom teachers who are selected for the new "senior teacher" classification will receive a salary of $83,308 a year in 2011.

 

Notice that it is only classroom teachers whose pay rise will have to be won on "merit".

 

Principals and heads of program, deputy principals and guidance officers will receive an additional 2.5 per cent pay rise in July 2011.

 

No "merit" will be necessary in their case.

But they will judge the "merit" of classroom teachers.

 

"We're sending a clear message to students starting university, enrol in a graduate teaching program and -

Premier Anna Bligh said.

 

Mrs Bligh, Queensland teachers do not have the best working conditions in the world.

You know that.

What have you actually done about the workplace bullying in Queensland schools since 23 June 2002, Mrs Bligh?

Classroom teachers will get the (previously rejected) 4.5 per cent wage increase backdated to July 1 and further increases of 4 per cent in July 2010 and 2011.

But some last-minute sweeteners were thrown in by Premier Anna Bligh :

Teachers with 13 years or more experience can immediately apply for an upgrade.

This promotion and pay rise would not be automatic, but based on "merit".

Principals and other administrators would receive an extra 2.5 per cent pay bonus after the three-year deal.

 

The Queensland Teachers' Union spent $75,000 of members' money during the March election campaign attacking Anna Bligh in a media blitz.

 

As a public servant, the QPSU - Queensland Public Sector Union - has sent out an email stating that all public servants will receive a 4.5% rise this year, backdated to July 1, and 4% over the next two years.

It is an Enterprise Bargain, EB.

This rise for teachers is the same as other government workers, so it isn't like this is a huge win for them.

SBS TV are running a series of programs on whistleblowers in the weeks before the Adelaide conference of Whistleblowers Australia:

 

Andrew Wilkie : Weapons of mass destruction : Wednesday 18 November

Alan Kessing : Airport Security : Wednesday 25 November

Karen Smith : Resident Care Abuse : Wednesday 2 December

The programs will run at 8.00pm or 8:30pm.

 

SBS will also be running a series of short "mini programs" about 6-8 minutes long, to be run online from just before the first documentary on Wednesday 18 November:

Debbie Locke, a former detective in the NSW police,

Phil Vardy, medical researcher and scientist in the Mcbride affair,

Alan Parkinson, talking about the Maralinga clean-up fiasco,

Jill Joliffe, speaking about the Balibo Five, who were murdered in Timor L'Este.

• The Failed State, Nicolas Rothwell, The Australian

October 17, 2009 (and earlier report on 12 October 2009)

Sergeant Robbie Munn is a 30-year veteran police officer who has exposed cronyism and corruption in the police force.

The police force claims that Sergeant Munn requires psychiatric help.

And he has been ordered off work even though his doctor says he is fit for duty.

Queensland Police Union general secretary Mick Barnes said Sgt Munn was a victim of "bastardisation" in the force.

 

I really like the way that the Queensland Police Union stand up for their members when they are bullied at work.

Why don't the Queensland Teachers' Union stand up for bullied members?

 

"When our members are under investigation we get the best lawyers in Queensland ..." said Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers.

 

Queensland teachers who are bullied at work get no legal assistance.

They just get told to "accept the things you cannot change."

 

Police work is very stressful and most police officers will tell you the best therapy they get comes from chatting to their workmates.

16 October, 2009

3.3 Whistleblowing

" ... The Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994 (WPA) ... makes each public sector agency responsible for receiving public interest disclosures about the conduct of its officers, managing the disclosure process, and taking steps to protect its officers from reprisals.

In my view, this current system is seriously flawed.

A decentralised whistleblowing model whereby the recognition, investigation and resolution of a public interest disclosure (PID) can be handled totally within the agency whose officers are the subject of the PID, without any measure of external oversight (unless it involves official misconduct), does not represent best practice in this area and does not provide whistleblowers with an adequate level of protection."

The Ombudsman suggests that -

• When an agency receive a disclosure (PID) they send the disclosures involving official misconduct to the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) and all other disclosures to the Ombudsman.
• Then the Ombudsman would either investigate the disclosure or refer it back to the agency to conduct the investigation. The Ombudsman would be empowered to monitor, take over or review the investigation.

But handing investigations back to agencies and allowing them to investigate themselves is useless.

The ombudsman strongly suspects that there is significant underreporting of PIDs of maladministration.

For example, in the 2007-8 financial year Education Queensland reported that they had received no PID's of maladministration.

They probably "lost" them.

There may be some confusion in agencies about terms such as 'maladministration'.

The Ombudsman recommends that the CMC and the Ombudsman share responsibility for supervising agencies in this manner so that the purposes of the Whistleblower Protection Act are not defeated by -

• misinterpretations
• inconsistent approaches
• inadequate investigations
• or lack of commitment.

The CMC and the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commission ( PCMC ) support this idea.

In the 7th PCMC's Three Year Review of the CMC ( tabled 20 April 2009), the PCMC called for the Queensland government to undertake a complete review of the Whistleblower Protection Act.

(In about 2006) a Directive was issued requiring all agencies under the Public Service Act to implement internal complaints systems that complied with recognised standards for complaint handling.

Education Queensland must have lost their Directive.

The Ombudsman then developed a State-wide project to provide training to agencies on understanding and applying the principles of effective complaints management.

But I have seen no evidence of any change.

They attend your training courses and nothing changes.

The Ombudsman wants to develop a training program designed to assist agency staff to understand the principles of whistleblowing.

Training is a cop-out.

It is easier and nicer to "train" people than to actually deal with their corruption.

Training is not the answer.

Nobody cares.

Accountability is the answer.

Show corrupt public servants that you are willing to hold them accountable.

Train and test and hold accountable.

 

Apologies

The Ombudsman is another enthusiast for Claytons apologies - the apology you get when nothing actually changes.

He suggests that any type of Departmental apology be "protected".

At the conclusion of an investigation the Ombudsman often recommends that the relevant head of a department apologise to a complainant who has suffered some detriment as a result of the agency's defective administrative action.

The CMC chair supports the Ombudsman's idea that legislative change should provide that an apology by an agency regaring a decision or action affecting an individual does not constitute an admission of liability and will not be relevant to a determination of fault or liability.

So the Government department that has harmed you will say that they are sorry that they have harmed you - because they know that if they say "sorry" it will calm you down - but their "sorry" is a "protected sorry" - they are not going to do anything to correct the harm that they have done you.

What kind of Claytons sorry is that?

If you are really sorry, you want to correct the harm that you have done.

For example, if a "decision" to punish a teacher was made in breach of several Departmental policies - and if this abusive document was then placed on the teachers' official record - this document will continue to damage that teachers' professional reputation long after your Claytons "sorry".

There is a need to correct the document - to annotate all copies of the document to say that the decision was made in breach of Departmental policies and it has been withdrawn.

http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/community-issues/open-transparent-gov/submissions/submissions-181-200/qld-ombudsman.aspx

4 October, 2009

Scott Patterson is a former senior Queensland state government policy adviser.

In late 2000 Mr Patterson told senior figures that he would not lie to the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission ( CMC ).

Mr Patterson said that he was the only office member not interviewed by the CMC during a "probe".

Mr Patterson claims that he was then sidelined and sacked in late 2001.

"I didn't trust the CMC then and I don't trust them now," the former Labor Party member said.

"It seems there is an intimate connection between the CMC and the government."

Mr Patterson said that his experience was not an isolated incident among ministerial staff.

Another former ministerial staffer, Jacqueline King, recently claimed that she was sacked after raising concerns about jailed former minister Gordon Nuttall in 2002.

• Ministerial adviser sacked after 'refusing to lie' to CMC, Steven Wardill, The Courier-Mail

1 October, 2009

Recommendation # 4 - Ethics education

The CMC recommends that ethics education programs include adequate attention to ... conflicts of interest which disadvantage or cause a detriment. ...

Recommendation # 25 - Codes of Conduct

The CMC recommends that all agencies seek to find ways to improve the working effectiveness of their codes, through training, regular updates, effective consultation and public commitment to ethical conduct.

Recommendation # 26 - Role of the Public Service Commission

The CMC recommends that the Public Service Commission take a more active role in the oversight of the conduct and actions of government agencies.

 

The CMC seem to be lobbying for the Public Service Commission to take over responsibility for investigating Queensland public service corruption.

 

Transparency.

... when an official's actions and decisions are open to scrutiny, not only by their superiors, peers and official oversight agencies, but also by the media and the general public, ... opportunity is severely limited and the risk of detection rises.

Accordingly, to minimise the risk of corruption, every strategy to increase the transparency of government should be explored and, wherever practicable, implemented without delay.

The principle of transparency applies to all aspects of public administration, and relies upon :

1. systems and processes which can be understood by the uninitiated
2. communication in plain language and using the minimum of jargon and obscure expression
3. ...
4. independent, merit based and and evidence-based processes for making decisions
5. publication of sound, fair and eqitable reasons for decisions which are made
6. ...
7. ...
8. rigorous processes at all levels to ensure that and conflict of interest, pecuniary or non-pecuniary, is openly declared and appropriately managed.

 

Prevention is undoubtedly better than cure. Effective management of misconduct and complaints alleging misconduct shows both employees and the community that such matters are dealt with honestly, fairly and openly. Openness about the way inappropriate conduct is addressed and managed can be an effective deterrent.

The CMC's devolution strategy is a key change-maker. It is targeted towards an evolution of management attitude,

I have seen no evidence of any such evolution of management attitude.

"Devolution" - i.e. allowing Queensland Public Service Departments to investigate themselves -  does not seem to be working.

 

... and the changes to organisational culture which flow from it.

Organisations come to appreciate that complaints, and even identified instances of misconduct, are learning experiences, opportunities to discover ways to do the job better.

At the moment they seem to be learning that they can delay an investigation for years and then produce a report full of absolute gibberish.

And that the gibberish will be "accepted" by the CMC.

 

Agencies are encouraged in the development and monitoring of processes which ensure that misconduct is effectively prevented.

On the rare occasions that it does occur, the processes and monitoring are desgned to address the issues effectively, and to use each instance constructively for the ongoing improvement of the organisation.

Can the CMC nominate one Queensland government department in which this golden dream has been achieved?

 

An agency which cannot learn from the abuses which sometimes occur is an agency which cannot improve.

So what exactly did Education Queensland learn from their abuse of me?

"We can get away with it if we delay the investigation for years and then all tell the investigator that we can't remember what we did or why we did it?"

 

Ethics education (Green Paper question # 4)

A range of miscellaneous issues ... tend to slip from the forefront of consciousness in the ethical decision-making process ...

1. In identifying possible conflicts of interest, there are a range of non-pecuniary interests which are of considerable relevance. Membership of community groups (eg. branches of certain political parties) ... social networks (family, friends, campaign managers, wives of workmates) - all are susceptible to being perceived as influencing an official position or decision. Education about the perception of these non-pecuniary ties is important to ensure that appropriate conflict of interest declarations are made by officials.
2. Conflict of interest is not limited to an opportunity to seek an advantage for oneself or others. It also includes opportunities to harm, disadvantage or cause a detriment to persons or organisations. Targets of disadvantage can (include people with) ... professional differences, personal disputes and political, professional or cultural rivalries. It is important that all definitions and education programs include this aspect. ...

...

Responsibility for dealing with complaints

The CMC strongly opposes the suggestion that it takes sole responsibility for dealing with complaints, for two principal reasons-

1. external complaint management will not lead to positive cultural or systemic change within the Queensland public sector.
2. it would mean more than doubling the CMC's budget and operational capacity.

Devolution is about strengthening public sector agencies integrity, accountability and misconduct resistance.

In my experience it is about turning a blind eye to the corruption.

It is about accepting "outcomes" that are falsified gibberish.

It does not mean that the CMC ... will stop holding agencies accountable for the way in which they deal with complaints of misconduct.

In my experience, the CMC does not "hold agencies accountable".

The CMC accepts gibberish.

The CMC will also continue to take a lead role in building the capacity of agencies to prevent and deal with misconduct.

In my experience, the CMC have a very, very long way to go with this.

Education Queensland, for example, seems to take no interest in preventing or dealing with misconduct.

Misconduct / corruption/ professional negligence / incompetence / workplace abuse etc. seem to be systemic.

This is the problem.

So long as an agency relies upon the ever-present oversight agency to deal with complaints, it will be unable as an organisation to accept responsibility and embrace accountability in its own right.

Poor performance and misconduct will continue to be perceived as the oversight body's problem, and standards will not improve.

Only when an agency takes responsibility for its own culture of integrity, and extends that responsibility downwards from the senior management to line managers and individual employees, will it fully appreciate that ethical behaviour is integral to its operations.

OK, we understand the theory.

But do the CMC understand that it is not happening?

Leaving public service Departments to investigate themselves is not working!

Because the corruption / negligence / abuse is systemic.

Managers must embrace complaints about misconduct as a positive learning opportunity, a tool for them to address any inappropriate conduct of an employee and any systemic issues, control failures, policy and procedural deficiencies, poor workplace culture and standards ...

But, in my experience, they don't.

Queensland public service Departments "lose" complaints and produce falsified "final outcomes" that are full of gibberish.

How can Departments learn from complaints if the CMC accept their gibberish?

...

Compensation

... in a New South Wales case ... the court awarded $664,270 in damages to a police officer on the grounds that his employer had breached its duty of care to the officer.

In order to encourage public officers to disclose corruption and misconduct of which they become aware, it is necessary not only to promise protection and to take active steps to provide that protection, but also to ensure that there is an adequate system of compensation should that protection, for whatever reason, fail.

...

Offence of misconduct in public office (Green Paper questions # 31, 32)

Effective prevention and minimisation of misconduct depends in aprt on potential offenders knowing that there is a real and potent punishment in store for wrong-doers.

... there is no doubt at all that if there is no penalty for particular misconduct, many people would feel that there is no reason not to engage in it.

...

Deliberate failure and wilful neglect.

... a man was violently assaulted by a number of men who beat and kicked him to death.

(An Engish police) constable took no steps to intevene inthe assault and when it was over merely drove away. He was charged with the common law offence of misconduct in public office. Lord Widgery, in delivering the decision of the Court of Appeal, said :

The allegation made was not of mere non-feasance but of deliberate failure and wilful neglect. This involves an element of culpability which is not restricted to corruption or dishonesty but which must be of such a degree that the misconduct impugned is calculated to injure the public interest so as to call for condemnation and ppunishment. ...

A Queensland public servant was asked to "review" a teacher's complaint that she was being bullied. All but the first page of her complaint had been "lost". But a mass of falsified documents had been placed in  the teacher's official file to create the false impression that they had been discussed with her during the process of her Stage 1 Grievance. The public servant was instructed to base his "review" on the falsified "records" and not to "consider" the teacher's response to the falsified "records".

So what should the "reviewer" do?

...

Apologies

While it is true that an apology does not fix a problem, experience shows that it is a powerful signal that the gravity of the issue is appreciated, and that the feelings of the aggrieved person are accorded proper respect. An apology undoubtedly provides satisfaction to many complainants ...

...complainants quickly (and justly) become resentful of a government culture which denies imperfection and will not genuinely engage with them.

An apology is a good start, but if the Department really regret the error they should "put it right".

For example, if an irrational and unjust decision to put a teacher into a punishment program has been placed on that teacher's official record - in breach of several Departmental policies - that teacher will have to declare that detrimental decision to all future employers.

The unjust decision should be withdrawn.

I understand that the actual document cannot be destroyed, but all copies of the document could be annotated to say that the decision has been withdrawn.

Then the professional harm to the teacher would be minimised.

...

Trade Unions and the QTU in particular.

The CMC also notes that trade unions which have coverage over government employees do not generally have codes of conduct or other ethical frameworks which govern their actions or set standards for their behaviour or provide them with guidance when ethical dilemmas arise.

While the members of these organisations are bound by the relevant agency Code of Conduct, paid officials of the unions are not.

A considerable number of unions have members who are employed in the public sector and the conduct of those unions and the decisions made by them have a considerable impact on the conduct and behaviour of public officials.

It is acknowleged that no power exists or should exist to enable the government to regulate the conduct or action of such bodies.

However, it would be adventageous to the relationship between these bodies and the government and its agencies that the unions should voluntarily develop ethical frameworks.

Voluntary codes or ethical frameworks could provide useful assistance and guidelines, especially in dealing with grievances, disputes and disciplinary matters where the interests of one member may be in conflict with the interests of another, or with the interests of the majority of members in the workplace or in general.

In particular, guidelines are desirable to ensure that the union's duty to support and protect a member accused of misconduct should not lead it to sacrifice the interests of other members affected by the alleged misconduct.

One of the interests commonly endangered in this way is the members' wish to be perceived by the public as honest and ethical.

While support should certainly be provided to members as a right, partisan, energetic and vocal defence of members who are proven to be dishonets or unethical can severely damage the public perception of the ethical conduct of all members.

...

Strengthening Codes (green paper questions # 2, 35)

The CMC, in its regular dealings with agencies, has identified a general need for agencies to place a greater emphasis on training and education.

Staff (and especially senior staff) need to be regularly reminded about their obligations.

It is equally important that the agency be visibly committed to ethical conduct, and placing a high priority on Code updates and awareness is a crucial part of this.

The CMC has recently received information that ministerial staff frequently avoid Code of Conduct training (which is provided to them by Ministerial Services).

Given the key exposure of staff in these positions, coupled with the fact that they are frequently political rather than public service appointees, it is vital that Code of Conduct and ethical decision-making training be compulsory within a short time (no more than three months) of commencement, and that strong measures (suspension of salary, termination of contract) be in place to enforce this.

Similar concerns are heard from time to time from other agencies, especially in regard to senior management and other high level staff, who often claim to be 'too busy' to attend.

This sends a very poor message to less elevated staff about the ethical commitment and standards of management and of the organisation as a whole.

All agencies are encouraged to put in place strict attendance requirements, as the effectiveness of codes of conduct is heavily dependent on the commitment of the agency's senior management.

...

http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/community-issues/open-transparent-gov/submissions/submissions-101-120.aspx

29 September, 2009

The Clerk of the Queensland Parliament - Neil Laurie's - response to Anna Bligh's "integrity review" has been published.

Mr Laurie writes that :

"I believe that the root problem lies in institutional weakness.

This is turn leads inevitably to -

• lack of transparency,
• an absence of fear of detection or enforcement,
• poor leadership in ethics and integrity
• and, most importantly, the growth of a culture that either accepts, ignores or is fearful of reporting unethical conduct.

... I would strongly recommend compulsory, certified ethical training in the public sector, requiring refreshment of certification every few years for every public officer.

The more senior the officer, the more regular the refreshment.

Education should include study of "real life" past unethical conduct.

Hopefully this will not only reinforce ethical behaviour, but provide identifiers as to unethical behaviour and the deterent effect if those case studies include those 'caught in the act'.

... Many self labelled 'whistleblowers' are not in fact whistleblowers,

What evidence do you have to support that statement, Mr Laurie?

... but rather are either opportunists or persons themselves the subject of allegations of misconduct or poor performance ...

Mr Laurie, are you aware that whistleblowers - or even Queensland teachers who try to discuss professional issues such as the unsupervised groups of children who are roaming about the school disrupting the other classes - seem to be put into punishment programs to "pay them back"?

... and who attempt to use the status of whistleblower as protection.

But there are also many genuine people who feel conflicted with knowledge or suspicion that activities are taking place which are not within the public interest.

The amount of courage it takes to stand up and do the right thing in the face of authority and power cannot be understated.

I am not sure that you are right about that, Mr Laurie.

If you have very little experience of corruption it takes very little courage to expose corruption.

You are just doing the obvious thing.

I think that is why 'outsiders' from overseas or interstate are at risk in Queensland.

They have no experience of corruption and so, when 'outsiders' experience corruption in Queensland they try to deal with the corruption in what they think is the normal manner, expecting that they will be supported.

While people who have long experience of corruption - most Queenslanders - just seem to concentrate on 'not knowing'. 'not understanding' and 'losing' evidence.

... The risk, if not the actuality, is that the public service no longer gives full and frank advice or that such advice is 'filtered'.

It is understandable that Ministers will want to work with Directors-Generals that they know and trust.

However, the perception is that as the years progress, the number of officers with political allegiances / connections increases. ...

http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/community-issues/open-transparent-gov/submissions/submissions-81-100/clerk-of-parliament.aspx

25 September, 2009

A.J. Brown is a Griffith University academic.

He has written a report to the Queensland state government which proposes the establishment of a "Whistleblower" protection system that would go beyond federal Whistleblower reforms being considered by Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig.

A.J. Brown's proposed changes would give Queensland public servants better legal protection when revealing maladministration or corruption.

Queensland public servants would also have legal protection if they went to the media in some situations - for example, if public service agencies failed to act on a disclosure within a reasonable time.

But Senator Ludwig's scheme - drawn up by a committee of the House of Representatives - only offers protection to public servants whose disclosure concerns an immediate and serious threat to public safety.

Public servants who told the media about maladministration and corruption in general would face criminal penalties.

2 September, 2009

Barry Welch said teachers had been brought before Queensland's Education Department just for separating two students who were fighting.

“The current guidelines are very unfair for teachers,” Mr Welch said.

“There have been teachers in Ipswich who have simply pressed on a student's chest to move them away from another kid and the student will complain about inappropriate touching.

“The teacher then has a mark on their record - even though all other evidence showed they did nothing wrong.”

Wednesday 26 August, 2009

Queensland Emergency Medical Service Protection Association (EMPSA) president Prebs Sathiaseelan said he had received numerous complaints from his members about some form of harassment and bullying.

"It isn't improving," Mr Sathiaseelan said.

Mr Sathiaseelan said Queensland paramedics and emergency workers operate in a "culture of fear".

"When you stick your hand up and say anything nowadays, you just get smashed and told to shut up," a senior officer told The Courier-Mail.

7 August 2009

The Queensland government has announced the appointment of Julie Kinross as its new Information Commissioner.

Ms Kinross, who has acted in the position since April 2008, has been appointed to the job for the next three years.

 

Oh no!

-  does that mean that I am going to have to wait till 2012 for the Freedom Of Information documents I have been waiting for since September 2003?

 

Ken Smith, would you please tell Ms Kinross that she can give me those documents.

Or are my FOI applications still being blocked at the Cairns District Office of Education Queensland?

 

"The Information Commissioner will be responsible for assisting and training agencies to proactively release information under these new laws, as well as monitoring and enforcing compliance with information and privacy laws," Ms Bligh said.

 

Not in my experience, Anna.

How many times do Anna Bligh, Ken Smith,  David Solomon and Robert Needham need to be told?

They have been told about the public service incompetence and corruption over and over again: http://www.badapplebullies.com/letters.htm

They don't seem to be able to hear the whistles.

31 July, 2009 

Friday 31 July, 2009

David Marriner, veteran developer, told The Courier-Mail yesterday that he felt his money would be safer in South America, which he said had less corrupt processes and procedures than Queensland.

Wed 29 July, 2009

He warned that political leaders who gloss over corruption risk being perceived by their colleagues and the electorate as regarding corruption of little importance.

Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said that Queensland is run by Labor mates, for the benefit of Labor mates.

Today talkback radio has been abuzz with criticism about problems in the political and business culture in Queensland.

A whistleblower group says the problems are evident in that good people leave the bureaucracy after blowing the whistle, while it says those behind the problems often remain.

• Fitzgerald warning puts powerbrokers in a spin, Annie Guest for The World Today, ABC News

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Today -

Robert Needham, Chairman of the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission,

The Honourable Jerrold Cripps QC, Commissioner of the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption

and The Honourable Len Roberts-Smith RDF, QC, Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia

- will meet in Brisbane for the second Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference.

They will discuss contempoary anti-corruption trends and strategies such as -

• not reading disclosures,
• not recording disclosures that are made over the phone
• and accepting ""Final Outcome Advices" that are based on gibberish and faux investigations.

And to network.

The conference will end with a fun interactive drumming session.

The delegates will begin to drum in four different rooms and will follow the drums to converge on each other to enjoy a final cocktail party.

Delegates will almost certainly disregard one teacher whistleblower who would like to tell them about the total failure of the CMC / Education Queensland investigation process.

They will be too busy eating, drinking and congratulating each other on the wonderful living that they are making out of the business of corruption:

http://www.badapplebullies.com/letters.htm 

 

Tony Fitzgerald QC, the famous Queensland corruption reformer, has spoken out after years of silence.

He was particularly critical of ex-premier Peter Beattie.

Mr Fitzgerald said that he had decided to move to New South Wales when Peter Beattie was elected.

He attacked the "ethics" of the current and former Queensland Labor governments.

Mates and supporters were being appointed.

• Queensland has forgotten corruption lessons, Tony Fitzgerald QC says, Tony Koch and Sean Parnell, The Australian

 

Saturday 25 July, 2009

Tony Koch raises some very signifcant issues in The Australian today -

Can Queensland  public servants effectively investigate their own?

There are calls by legal representatives and civil liberties lawyer Terry O'Gorman for the reinstatement of a dedicated investigative team within the CMC to handle all complaints.

At present 98% of complaints to the CMC are handed back to the government department involved.

The system does not work.

It was set up to fail.

That is a serious allegation, but Tony Koch writes that history is undeniable.

The original CJC's brief was to investigate corruption in the public service - and the police and politicians.

But in January 2002, under Premier Peter Beattie, the CJC was amalgamated with the Crime Commission to become the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

Peter Beattie's Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 required the CMC to hand complaints over to the relevant departments to be dealt with if the complaint was not considered to be "serious".

This handing-over process was termed "building the the capacity of agencies to prevent and deal with cases of misconduct effectively and appropriately".

The CMC was also given the responsibility to promote public confidence in the integrity of agencies (departments) in the way misconduct was handled.

Does that mean that CMC officers are required to lie?

Before January 2002 the CMC had been expected to fight corruption and misconduct aggressively.

But after January 2002 the CMC was relegated to a benign regime of public service "capacity building".

Obviously, when an in-house investigator reports to a senior manager, the senior manager may not welcome a rigorous investigation that results in adverse findings about their own conduct.

It is now clear that Peter Beattie's post January 2002 public service "capacity building" experiment has failed.

And that Anna Bligh's government must make a sincere effort to root out the corruption in the Queensland public service.

• The secret police, Tony Koch, The Australian

 

Poor management and lack of attention to proper process typify most of the Queensland public sector.

The scale of misbehaviour recently unveiled by the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission ( CMC )  emanated from some random anonymous complaints, rather than from orchestrated detection.

What else lies beneath the surface?

Queensland public servants still seem to believe they can get away with misbehaviour and corruption.

This is hardly surprising, particularly given the broad spread of incompetence now evident in public life.

The Premier should mount a crusade against the incompetence within her Government.

Incompetence and corruption are symbiotic.

Loose systems give crooks room to spread their influence.

Ms Bligh needs to aggressively tackle the incompetence of her Government if we are not to see many more instances of corruption in the Queensland public sector.

• Queensland police cover old ground, Editorial, The Courier-Mail.
  

 

Saturday 18 July, 2009

In an interview to mark his leaving the job, outgoing Integrity Commissioner Gary Crooke, QC, had this to say :

"There is a danger, a very real danger, that . . . an individual is so confident of their own ethical approach to anything that confronts them that they won't heed whatever is thought to be the conflictual aspect.

"But, in fact, they fall into the trap of engaging in a practice that, objectively, is seen to be inappropriate."

• Gordon Nuttall case sparks debate about politics of trust, Craig Johnstone, The Courier-Mail

 

Friday 17 July, 2009

NO MORE BAD APPLES : BLIGH

Was the front page headline in the Courier-Mail today.

• No More Bad Apples : Bligh : Premier forced to defend Labor integrity, Steven Wardill, State Political Reporter, p.1 and p.7, The Courier-Mail.

 

Mark Oberhardt points out in The Courier-Mail today that Gordon Nuttall's legal costs would have been close to $400,000, had he been able to pay.

Noosa barrister John Rivett represented Mr Nuttall pro bono and with no instructing solicitor - Mr Nuttall's solicitors withdrew when he was not able to pay them.

Mark Oberhardt says that this raises the issue of whether the law is now only available to the rich, who can afford private counsel, and the poor, who are eligible for Legal Aid.

• Nuttall trial fans debate, EARSAY, Mark Oberhardt, p. 32, The Courier-Mail.

 

According to Premier Anna Bligh, the Fitzgerald report did not just find "a couple of rotten apples", it demonstrated an entire system of Government that was corrupt to the core.

A system of government in which the accountability mechanisms were either non-existent or had completely broken down.

Deputy opposition leader Lawrence Springborg said that Gordon Nuttall's behaviour was "symptomatic of a Labor government that has been in power for almost all of the last 20 years, where they believe anything goes and its members lack moral compasses and moral judgment".

Four years ago Premier Anna Bligh co-sponsored a motion with Peter Beattie to exonerate Gordon Nuttall of contempt of parliament over evidence he gave to an esimates committee hearing.

Mr Springborg said that this seems to have sent Mr Nuttall a message that "anything would go".

Dr Rae Wear, a political academic from the University of Queensland, said that ministers seemed to get a sense of entitlement that clouded their judgement.

 

Thursday 16 July, 2009

Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said that voters couldn't be sure there weren't "more bad apples" in the Bligh government.

Anna Bligh protested that she would not allow criminals to sit around her cabinet table - but then she admitted that during her time sitting around the cabinet table with Nuttall, she never suspected him of being a criminal.

It was a "nothing is for nothing" moment.

 

There are questions that need to be asked about the Gordon Nuttall conviction -

• Why Gordon Nuttall ?

In an environment where the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) sends 98% of corruption allegations back to the Queensland Government department concerned to be faux "investigated" over a long period of years, while the public servants involved in the corruption promote and celebrate each other, change jobs and destroy the documentation of the abuse -

• Why was Gordon Nuttall held accountable?

and

• Was Gordon Nuttall really allowed justice? - he could not afford legal advice because - before he had been found guilty of any crime - he was not allowed to access his money to employ a solicitor.

In the end Mr Nuttall was given Pro Bono legal support, but in an environment where the Queensland Government have a bottomless pit of taxpayers money to fund the prosecution case, was this really justice?

 

Mr Nuttall seemed to believe in his own innocence.

Which seems a bit hard to believe.

But then Mr Nuttall is considering his own behaviour in a Queensland Government and Public Service context.

Whereas the jury were considering his behaviour in a normal context.

 

You have to wonder if the jury were really Mr Nuttall's peers.

Did any of them have experience of working for the Queensland Public Service?

Did they understand the Queensland public service environment - the pressure to "not know", "not understand", "not find any evidence of", etc.

 

Mr Nuttall told The Australian that he was being persecuted by the CMC.  

"They have turned a good and kind deed into something dirty and nasty, just to suit their egos and justify their existence."

Mr Nuttall intended to attack the CMC if he was acquitted.

He was planning to hold a press conference to demand a judicial inquiry into the CMC.

Mr Nuttall told The Australian that the CMC were "paying him back" because he had regularly and robustly questioned CMC activities behind closed doors while he was deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee (PCMC - the parliamentary committee that is supposed to oversee the activities of the CMC) in the 1990s.

 

Is this correct?

What do the other Local Members who were on the PCMC at that time say?

• Reality strikes 36 times, Andrew Fraser and Michael McKenna, The Australian.

 

Opposition deputy leader Lawrence Springborg last night said that Gordon Nuttall's conviction showed ''the corrupt attitude that some members of the Labor Government now have''.

 

Monday 13 July, 2009

Former Queensland Government Minister Gordon Nuttall is a man "trying to quieten the better angel of his conscience", a Brisbane District Court jury was told today.

Crown prosecutor Ross Martin SC asked the jury to think about Mr Nuttall's mindset, saying it was that of a man who had sold his soul.

This is a bit unfair on Mr Nuttall.

The whole Queensland Government and Queensland Public Service have to sell their souls.

Because anybody who refuses to sell their soul is driven out of work.

• Former MP Gordon Nuttall "in denial" says crown in summing up, Sarah Elks, The Australian

 

4 July, 2009

Outgoing Queensland Integrity Commissioner Gary Crooke, QC, warns that MPs are thumbing their noses at conflict-of-interest criticisms.

 

3 July, 2009

Education graduates in Queensland will be tested on their literacy and numeracy skills.

Thursday 28 May, 2009

I spent three years of my life studying for a Certificate in Education, three years studying part-time for a B.A., two years studying part-time for a B.Ed and three years studying part-time for a Masters' degree in Education.

But when I was bullied at work by an incompetent Education Queensland "acting principal" with all the knowledge of Education Queensland policies that could be contained on a sticky-note, the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission ( CMC ) advised me that they did not have the resources to investigate my complaint.

So, if our government does not have the "resources" to protect Queensland teachers from workplace abuse,  what does our government have the "resources" to do?

What does our government and the Australian community value more highly than the health and welfare of Queensland teachers?

• Dead Australians

As many as 16,000 dead people have received Australian federal government stimulus payments of $900 each.

It is likely that more than $14 million dollars was given to dead people by the federal government.

The tax office admits it does not know where the payments to dead people ultimately finish up.

• Australians who are living overseas

 27,000 expatriate Australians have also received up to $26 million dollars worth of federal government stimulus payments.

• Backpackers

Non- Australians who have lived Australia for six months or more and then returned home will also receive a $900 federal government stimulus.

• Prisoners

Some prisoners will receive the $900 federal government stimulus.

• "marketing"

More than $11 million was spent telling the dead people, backpackers, prisoners and Australians living overseas that they were going to be given a $900 stimulus by the federal government.

99.6 per cent of Australian teachers report that they are being bullied at work.

But the Queensland CMC claims that it does not have the resources to deal with the workplace bullying in Queensland schools.

It isn't good enough, Robert Needham.

It isn't good enough, Anna Bligh.

It isn't good enough, Kevin Rudd.

• 16,000 dead people and 27,000 expats receive payments, AAP , The Brisbane Times

 

Peter Renshaw, from the University of Queensland, said up to 50 per cent of teachers do not see themselves remaining in the profession for longer than 10 years.

Queensland University of Technology researcher Leanne Crosswell said that there was dissatisfaction with the way principals dealt with the unruly behaviour of parents and students.

 

Monday May 18, 2009

The Right to Information Bill will be introduced to Queensland parliament this week.

The Queensland government claims that the law is intended to boost government transparency.

A Privacy Bill will, it is claimed, "enable easier access and the ability to fix mistakes in personal information held by the government".

 

One provision of the new laws seems to be intended to discourage Freedom of Information applicants.

Information released to applicants will be published online within 24 hours of its release to the journalist or outlet that paid for the application.

"It was paid for by the public purse, it's the taxpayer that pays for the collection of records, for the archiving of records, the production of the material and the keeping of the information,"  Premier Anna Bligh said.

"It's public information, and the mere fact that one individual or one organisation asks for it doesn't deny the fact."

 

 

Queensland teachers are being terrorised by their students.

State School students have -

• assaulted their teachers with bricks and furniture.
• threatened them with death.
• spat on them.
• held them hostage.

 

One special school teacher had her jaw broken and multiple teeth knocked out by a student.

Another suffered extensive eye socket and rib damage after being assaulted by a student.

 

There were more than 150 attacks on Education Queensland staff and students from intruders during 2008.

And teachers in prep classes face rising violence.

 

A teacher who specialises in behaviour management contacted The Courier-Mail last week to report that during the past fortnight-

• a brick had been thrown at her
• she had been threatened with dangerous weapons
• a chair had been thrown at her
• a classroom window had been smashed
• she had received specific and detailed death threats.
• she had been told that, after she was dead, her classroom was going to be burned down.

 

An Education Queensland spkeswoman said violence had no place in the sector.

 

It is really annoying the way that "departmental spokespersons" trot out this sort of meaningless gobbledy-gook.

When I was bullied the Director-General wrote to me to tell me that there was no place for workplace abuse in Queensland schools.

Meanwhile, the bully had been given a whopping great promotion.

 

More than 17,000 students were suspended for violence in Queensland state schools in 2007-2008.

Almost 300 state school students were expelled for violence.

Thursday 14 May, 2009

The biggest threat of corruption is through public sector complacency, Robert Needham, the Chairperson of the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) has said.

Robert Needham said that standards had noticeably slipped.

"While I don't believe systemic corruption exists in Queensland, ..."

• CMC warns of complacency on corruption, Rob O'Brien

 

Wednesday 13 May, 2009

Australian school principals or other school executives are bullying classroom teachers at alarming levels, Professor Deidre Duncan of the Australian Catholic University and Dan Riley of the University of New England have found.

In a national online survey of more than 800 teachers, 99.6 per cent said they had experienced bullying in the workplace.

State school principals received the worst rating for bullying.

"In government schools, the principal receives a significantly higher nomination as a frequent or persistent bully than found in independent or Catholic schools," Professor Duncan said.

Teachers also reported being bullied by parents.

Education Minister Geoff Wilson said the research was a concern and he would ask his department to look into it.

• Teachers are 'worst school bullies', Elizabeth Allen and Tanya Chilcott, The Courier-Mail

 

The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, chaired by Mark Dreyfus, inquired into whistleblowing and reported on February 25, 2009.

The 2009 Dreyfus Report is a regression from the standard set by the 1994 Senate Select Committee on Public Interest Whistleblowing.

The 1994 Senate Committee listened to and recommended for whistleblowers.

The Dreyfus Report is about managing the whistleblowing problem.

It is written for legislators not whistleblowers.

But who regulates the regulators?

This is the problem that Dreyfus ignores.

 

Whistleblowing is best studied longitudinally, namely over a period of time.

A longitudinal study reveals the repeated regulatory failure that whistleblowers on systemic problems typically encounter.

 

The protections for whistleblowers that the Committee recommended are meaningless.

There are no prescribed penalties for those who "payback" or victimise whistleblowers.

There is no suggestion that the career of the whistleblower should be monitored for some time after the whistleblowing.

Discrimination against a whistleblower doesn't end with the whistleblowing; it persists for years afterwards.

 

We have regressed a lot in 18 years.

The 1994 Senate Committee listened to whistleblowers.

They learnt about regulatory failure.

The Dreyfus Committee should have done the same.

• The Dreyfus Report: a regression from 1994, Kim Sawyer, longstanding member of Whistleblowers Australia, pp. 10-11, The Whistle 58, April 2009. You can read this article from The Whistle in full on Brian Martin's website: http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/contacts/au_wba/whistle200904.pdf

 

Wednesday 6 May, 2009

There is an entrenched mindset within Queensland's education bureaucracy that resists drawing attention to academic excellence.

 

Tuesday 5 May, 2009

The maths skills of Queensland school students fell so greatly during the 1970s and 1980s that researchers have likened it to losing two years of learning.

And Geoff Masters said that his recent review of primary education in Queensland was told of underperforming school leaders.

 

Monday 4 May, 2009

A University of New England study has revealed that almost all Australian school teachers have been bullied in the workplace, often by senior staff or the principal.

 

Sunday 3 May, 2009

Premier Anna Bligh will head the Labor Day march in Brisbane tomorrow with -

Thousands of union members would be marching to celebrate more than a century of achievements.

 

Queensland Teachers' Union members, for example, are the lowest paid teachers in Australia.

99.8 per cent of Australian teachers - almost all union members - report that they have been abused at work.

And up to 50 per cent of Queensland teachers leave the profession after five years.

These are the benefits of union membership.

• Job losses a theme of Labour Day march, Natalie Gregg, AAP, The Sydney Morning Herald

 

Saturday 2 May, 2009

John Faulkner, Special Minister of State, unveiled proposed freedom of information law reforms a few weeks ago.

Mr Faulkner promised "a shift from the culture of secrecy to one of openness".

He said that his aim was to encourage "a pro-disclosure" attitude in the Australian public service.

Because "the best safeguard against ill-informed public judgment is not concealment but information".

 

But John Faulkner's grand rhetoric about openness and transparency seems to stop at the FOI laws.

Whistleblower protection laws recommended by a parliamentary committee headed by Labor backbencher Mark Dreyfus, QC, are actually aimed at keeping the lid on public disclosures.

The Dreyfus committee report on whistleblower protection was released only a few weeks before Faulkner's "openness and transparency" speech.

The committee lists the key values that guided it as privacy, confidentiality, procedural fairness, and "the importance for people to make disclosures internally".

The committee would establish an elaborate bureaucratic maze, purportedly to "enable" public servants to report corruption, maladministration and other misbehaviour.

But the reporting would all be internal and secretive.

Public servants who blew the whistle publicly would, in almost all cases, be viewed as breaking the law, and they would risk jail.

• Despite reforms, government accountability still wanting, Laurie Oakes, political editor for the Nine Network, The Courier-Mail

 

Friday 1 May, 2009

Education expert Professor Geoff Masters today handed down a report into improving Queensland students' literacy, numeracy and science levels.

Geoff Masters made five recommendations to improve standards, including - 

 

Student teachers should be required to achieve a basic standard of literacy, numeracy and science before they are accepted into a University Education course.

And Queensland school principals should be required to sit tests to demonstrate -

a) their reading, writing, listening and comprehension skills

b) and their understanding of Education Queensland policies

- before they are promoted.

Because too many Queensland classroom teachers are suffering under illiterate and incompetent school principals.

The readers' comments on this article are interesting.