A review of the Whistle While They Work Reports by Griffith University was presented to the National Conference of Whistleblowers Australia by Greg McMahon, Whistleblowers Action Group National Director, in Adelaide last weekend.
‘The Griffith study fails to address systemic wrongdoing’, Greg McMahon explained.
The performance of "watchdogs" such as the Ombudsmen and the Crime Commissions needs to be included in any bona fide research into whistleblowing, Solicitor Gordon Harris concluded.
Thirteen (13) of the fourteen (14) organisations steering the Griffith study were these "watchdogs".
9 December 2009
Gary Long SC has been appointed as the Queensland Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner.
He replaces Alan MacSporran, who, we are now told, has been doing the job for the past five years.
Who knew that?
Who knew anything about Alan MacSporran?
What exactly has Alan MacSporran been doing for the past five years?
When I complained to the PCMC about the CMC / Education Queensland faux "investigation process", what exactly did Alan MacSporran do?
Gary Long will assume the part-time position on January 10.
PCMC chairman Paul Hoolihan, the member for Keppel, said Mr Long was unanimously supported by the bipartisan committee.
The parliamentary commissioner is a focal figure in the review and oversight of the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
The parliamentary commissioner is charged with the responsibility of handling and investigating complaints against the alleged actions of the corruption watchdog and its officials.
Now they tell us.
They have been keeping this a big secret.
Complaints are referred to the commissioner by the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee.
This is not exactly true, according to my understanding of the situation.
The PCMC do not actually read complaints about the CMC.
Their office staff send complaints about the CMC directly to the CMC.
The PCMC allow the CMC to investigate themselves.
Then, based on the CMC's investigation into the CMC, the PCMC make their decision to do something about your complaint or to do nothing about your complaint.
At every stage of the CMC / Education Queensland faux "investigation process" the public servants that you have complained about are allowed to investigate themselves.
The Bligh Labor Government holds a 4-3 advantage in that committee room.
But under the Crime and Misconduct Act, the decision to refer a matter onwards for investigation by the commissioner must be made on bipartisan terms, with at least one non-government member acquiescing.
Wait a moment.
What about a decision not to refer a matter onwards for investigation?
If there are only 3 non-Labor members of the PCMC, that means that the 4 Labor members can block an investigation.
Twenty-seven such complaints against the CMC or CMC officers were lodged in the 2008/09 financial year, according to the PCMC annual report released last month.
But how many more complaints about the CMC did the PCMC refuse to send onwards for investigation?
The principal legal officer of the commissioner's office, Mitchell Kunde, has been appointed acting commissioner until Mr Long commences the job on January 10.
- Long time coming for new anti-corruption commissioner, Chris Barrett, The Brisbane Times
8 December 2009
In February 2009, former Bundaberg Hospital nurse Christine Cameron raised over 100 complaints about patient treatment and the manipulation of records at Bundaberg Hospital.
"The Crime and Misconduct Commission ( CMC ) didn't investigate, they handed it back to Queensland Health, and you can't have a department investigate itself and come up with an unbiased report," Ms Cameron said.
"... They don't want anyone to know and they don't want to investigate it and don't want to sort it out."
Mrs Cameron says an interim report provided to her by the Department's ethical standards unit was biased.
"I asked them on the first day would they come back and check things with me and they never did," she said.
"They did just the initial interviews and that was it.
This is why the Queensland CMC "devolution strategy" is a dismal failure.
Queensland government department / CMC "investigations" seem to consist of simply copying down any silly excuse, even if it is obviously untrue.
Then the departmental / CMC"investigation" is declared "finalised" and the complainant is not allowed to tell the "investigator", the Department and the CMC that they have been fooled with lies that could easily be disproved.
The purpose of a Queensland CMC / departmental investigation seems to be to find no evidence of the corruption / misconduct and to declare the investigation "finalised".
"They've never come back to me to check things so I could say, 'well, that's wrong - I've got documented evidence against it'."
But Queensland Health District director Kevin Hegarty says the Queensland Health did "act on the allegations".
- Qld Health accused of Bundaberg hospital cover-up, Kallee Buchanan, ABC News
7 December 2009
Mr Moynihan was appointed to the Supreme Court by Joh Bjelke-Petersen's Nationals in 1984.
He is married to former state bureaucrat Marg O'Donnell, who ran a number of government departments for Anna Bligh's predecessor as Queensland premier, Peter Beattie.
I know nothing about Marg O'Donnell, good or bad, but I am sick to the bone of Queensland being run by a small group of powerful husbands and wives.
In 2005, then Justice Moynihan effectively scuttled a $5.6 million commission of inquiry by barrister Tony Morris into a series of patient deaths linked to Indian-born surgeon Jayant Patel, ruling that the proceedings had been biased against two key witnesses.
Let's hope Justice Moynihan has the guts and integrity to tell Anna Bligh that the CMC "devolution strategy" - the practice of letting corrupt Queensland public servants investigate themselves and find no evidence of their own corruption - is an absolute, total, dismal failure.
- Ex-judge to head crime watchdog, Michael Mckenna, The Australian
6 December 2009
39 per cent of Victorian teachers report they have been repeatedly bullied at work.
Parents' groups say the bullying culture among teachers is contributing to the problem among children - because students who see bullying in role models mimic that behaviour.
This is absolutely right.
School principals who are liars and bullies themselves seem to encourage poorly-behaved students to lie and bully.
The Sunday Herald Sun has also found:
Victorian teachers encourage parents to complain about their enemies to school principals.
Staff routinely complain about each other's teaching ability to year leaders, principals and even education authorities.
Difficult students are "palmed off" on unpopular colleagues.
"There is bullying between teachers and teachers, teachers and principals and principals and parents," said Parents Victoria spokeswoman Elaine Crowle.
Mary Bluett, president of the Australian Education Union Victorian branch, said she was not surprised teachers topped the table for workplace bullying.
"Bullying is a problem with some principals."
I really admire the way that Mary Bluett tells the truth about what is going on in Victorian schools.
This is what I would expect of a union leader.
Do the Queensland Teachers' Union admit that Queensland classroom teachers are bullied by school principals?
- Teachers trapped by class bullying, Evonne Barry, Herald Sun
Saturday 5 December, 2009
The 2009 National Conference of Whistleblowers Australia began.
The conference was held at Aquinas College at the University of Adelaide.
The minutes of the Conference will be in the next issue of The Whistle.
Wednesday 2 December, 2009
Karen Smith appeared on SBS TV at 8:30pm in Law and Disorder.
Go Karen! - A real Australian Hero.
Monday 30 November 2009
New figures released by the Queensland Government showed the number of formal complaints of bullying and aggressive behaviour by teachers against other teachers had increased by more than 40 per cent over the past two years.
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In 2007, 26 teachers made formal complaints to the education department about other teachers.
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The number rose to 30 in 2008.
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And there have been 37 complaints so far in 2009.
Opposition education spokesman Bruce Flegg said he had been approached by a number of teachers concerned about being told by other teachers to keep quiet about school problems.
"There's pressure to cover up those sorts of events, but teachers in those schools want the root causes to be addressed," Dr Flegg said.
"I don't think there is any doubt whistleblowers are being bullied.
"The agenda is about controlling the public relations rather than fixing the problems."
Dr Flegg said it was a systemic problem that required government action.
- Teachers bullied to keep quiet on problem schools, AAP (Isn't there any Queensland Newspaper Reporter with the guts to write about this issue under their own name?)
Saturday 28 November 2009
FORMER sport minister Judy Spence told a misconduct hearing yesterday that some public servants would try to second-guess their ministers and not follow due process.
"I think there is a tendency for some public servants, not all, but some public servants to try to second-guess ministers to try to deliver up something that the minister wants without really due regard to process," she said.
If Judy Spence knows that this is the case, did she give instructions that the public servants were not to do this?
Did she instruct them to follow the "due process"?
Some ministerial staffers argued that there was no way senior bureaucrats would be so intimidated by a policy adviser that they would subvert due process.
- Bureaucrats should have said no, says Judy Spence, Craig Johnstone, The Courier-Mail
Friday 27 November 2009
Gillian Sneddon helped police put her former boss, Swansea MP Milton Orkopoulos, in jail for child sex offences.
But New South Wales ( NSW ) Deputy Ombudsman Chris Wheeler has told Ms Sneddon that there is nowhere she can turn for help about her treatment as a whistleblower.
Maitland MP Frank Terenzini has tabled the NSW Government's report into the gaps in the system protecting public service whistleblowers.
No government agency can investigate how Ms Sneddon has been treated.
- Because Ms Sneddon did not report directly to the clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Russell Grove, as required under the Protected Disclosures Act!
Eighteen months after Milton Orkopoulos was jailed, Ms Sneddon remains unemployed.
She is fighting a worker's compensation case against the NSW Government.
NSW Opposition MP Peter Debnam said it was a scandal.
When Mr Orkopoulos's victims sought her help, and when police asked for help, Ms Sneddon took responsibility for helping them.
"At what point is someone going to take responsibility for what's happened to me?" Ms Sneddon said.
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No help for Orkopoulos whistleblower Gillian Sneddon, Joanne McCarthy, The Herald, 21 November 2009
Thursday 26 November, 2009
The Crime and Misconduct Commission is holding an inquiry into the behaviour of Simon Tutt.
Simon Tutt is the ex-advisor to former sports minister Judy Spence.
The picture emerging from the inqiry is one of a Queensland government bureaucracy which is being denied the opportunity to do what it is supposed to do : to provide "frank and fearless" advice to the government of the day.
Senior Queensland bureaucrats seem to be being bullied and browbeaten into providing advice that reflects a minister's political priorities rather than their own considered views.
CMC chairman Robert Needham is concerned about these revelations.
"I would be interested in ways in which public servants can be empowered to say no," he said.
I can solve your problem, Mr Needham.
You need to employ some good honest whistleblowers in the Queensland public service, Mr Needham.
They would soon sort the corruption out.
Most of the evidence to the inquiry so far suggests that some bureaucrats - some very senior bureaucrats - feel that they do not have the power to say "no".
- Public servants too scared to say no, Craig Johnstone, P.4, The Courier-Mail.
Thursday 26 November, 2009
Respected academic Dr Christine Eastwood claims that -
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senior Queensland police officers are involved in crime
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a senior member of the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission ( CMC ) is involved.
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and that CMC chair Robert Needham has refused to act on her allegations.
Dr Eastwood is the wife of Southport magistrate John Costanzo.
She has made a Statutory Declaration describing a meeting between John Constanzo, Robert Needham and herself in a Coolangatta hotel room in August.
Dr Eastwood alleges that Mr Needham taped their conversation.
But that Mr Needham refused to "accept" her complaint.
And that he refused to take with him any of the documentation that she had prepared in relation to the complaint.
Last night Mr Needham said that Dr Eastwood's allegations appeared to stem from a long-running family dispute.
But CMC officers can sometimes "spin" your allegations to make them sound trivial.
Mr Needham said the allegations were not in his jurisdiction and did not raise "reasonable" suspicion.
But wouldn't a magistrate be able to judge "reasonable" suspicion?
Dr Eastwood wrote to the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commission ( PCMC ) after Mr Needham allegedly refused to act.
She claims that the PCMC informed the CMC of her complaint and asked for a report from the CMC on the issue.
This is what the members of the Queensland PCMC tell you that they have to do.
They don't read your complaint.
Their office staff automatically send all PCMC matters directly to the PCMC.
And the PCMC office staff automatically send complants about the CMC to the CMC.
I have the impression - and it is only an impression - that the members of the PCMC never, ever actually read your complaint.
They simply read the CMC report on your complaint.
So, once again, Queensland public servants are allowed to investigate themselves.
And to find no evidence of their own misconduct, etc.
And this public service process of not actually reading your complaint is called "Natural Justice".
In Queensland.
Attorney-General Cameron Dick promised the matter would be properly investigated.
Mr Dick - Who will conduct this "proper" investigation?
- Parliament told CMC head 'refused to act' on police complaint, Steven Wardill, The Courier-Mail
- CMC boss 'rude, aggressive and insensitive', Daniel Hurst, Brisbane Times
Wednesday 25 November, 2009
8:30 pm Law and Disorder Part 2: Allan Kessing
Former customs official Allan Kessing has fought for years to clear his name after he was convicted of leaking reports to the media that highlighted major security flaws at Sydney Airport.
Wednesday 25 November 2009
The Queensland Labor Government has linked debate on its "Integrity Bill" with the Opposition's legislation for a corruption commission of inquiry.
The Labor Government says that a commission of inquiry into alleged corruption would be a waste of time and money.
Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek told Parliament that the "Integrity Bill" is not enough and that a Royal Commission is needed.
And I agree.
The Integrity Bill does not seem to reflect many of the issues raised in the 200+ submissions to Anna Bligh and her "round table".
"The integrity Bill is a wasted opportunity ... because of its lack of breadth, the superficial way that it attempts to pretend that the Government has developed a newfound interest in accountability and integrity in the way the state is governed," Mr Langbroek said.
Labor MP Grace Grace says an inquiry would be a waste of money.
"All matters can be investigated by the CMC ( Crime and Misconduct Commission ), who has (sic) more than enough powers to carry out investigatory functions," Ms Grace said.
Actually, Grace Grace, in my experience that is not correct.
The CMC do not have the powers - 98 per cent of the CMC's powers have been "devolved" to Queensland government departments - the government departments are being allowed to investigate themselves.
And it is not working.
Grace, I met you when the Queensland Parliament was held in the Cairns Convention Centre.
I told you that, when Queensland teachers were bullied at work, the immediate and only advice of the Queensland Teachers' Union ( QTU ) was to "accept the things you cannot change" because there was no hope of justice.
You said that you found that hard to believe.
I urged you to check the facts with the QTU.
What did the QTU tell you?
I would be interested to know.
- Qld MPs glove up for integrity stoush, Kerrin Binnie, ABC News
Tuesday 24 November, 2009
The Crime and Misconduct Commission has raised concerns of widespread political pressure being placed on "independent" public officials in Queensland.
CMC officer and counsel assisting the inquiry, Russell Pearce, said that public servants who were put in awkward situations by ministerial staffers were generally reluctant to come forward with formal complaints.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests to the CMC that the issue of ministerial staff attempting to influence public services may be prevalent," he told the inquiry.
"Certainly, the CMC is aware of some recent episodes in which public servants have been 'directed' in inappropriate ways."
- Political pressure on officials 'widespread': CMC, Daniel Hurst, The Brisbane Times
Sunday 22 November, 2009
The Queensland Department of Education's 2008 / 2009 report reveals that -
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one education department bureaucrat received a pay rise to between $440,000 and $459,999
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and another received a pay rise to between $460,000 and $479,000
- while Queensland classroom teachers were battling for their miserable pay rise of 12.5 per cent - over three years!
Liberal National Party (LNP) education spokesman Bruce Flegg said that the massive bureaucratic salaries were an insult to Queensland classroom teachers.
And were hard to justify given Queensland was at the bottom of the class in literacy and numeracy standards.
"We pay out (sic) senior public servants consistently with those salaries across the country," Anna Bligh said.
But not your classroom teachers, Mrs Bligh.
"This is the reality of modern public sector employment - the most senior people ... attract these kinds of salaries."
But not the classroom teachers who actually do the work.
Just the "we-know-nothing-and-do-nothing-about-anything" bureaucrats.
- Bureaucrats pay 'a slap in face' to teachers, AAP
Wednesday 18 November, 2009
8.30pm SBS TV Law and Disorder : Andrew Wilkie - The Perfect Whistleblower. Part 1 of 3.
An account of what happens when whistleblowers take on higher powers.
Begins with the story of Andrew Wilkie, a former intelligence analyst for Australia's Office of National Assessments, who spoke out against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Monday 16 November, 2009
Last week, Education Minister Julia Gillard convened a national conference in Canberra involving 150 school leaders from around Australia.
Although her focus was on selling the Government's education revolution, it quickly became apparent that principals had other, more immediate and pressing things on their collective mind.
Foremost was classroom misbehaviour.
The reality is that spending billions on school buildings and trying to attract quality graduates to teaching is useless if teachers cannot teach because of disruptive children who refuse to learn.
The real issue confronting Australian schools, which politicians are ignoring, involves rude, disengaged and violent students.
The result?
New teachers are quitting in droves, older teachers are retiring early and stress-related claims are on the increase.
The Australian Education Union's 2008 survey of new teachers ranks student misbehaviour before concerns about pay and class sizes, and second to workload as the chief source of complaint.
Secondary teachers rank it No.1 at 71.4 per cent.
Primary school teachers rank it second at 66.1 per cent.
- New teachers say classroom violence their biggest concern, Kevin Donnelly, director of the Melbourne-based Education Standards Institute, The Courier-Mail.
16 November, 2009
Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Susan Booth has tabled her annual report to Parliament.
Susan Booth says that human rights laws in Queensland are only effective if complainants can afford a legal process.
Ms Booth also says that other states are more proactive in preventing discrimination.
I complained to the Anti Discrimination Commission of Queensland ( ADCQ ) in 2003.
I was forced to give my complaint to the local ADCQ office.
Which was only a few metres from the local office of Education Queensland.
I had the strong impression that it was just too difficult for these ADCQ officers to deal with a complaint about important people in the local community.
One of the ADCQ officers said to me, "But you can't say that about a school principal!".
That is why I asked the Director of Ethical Standards, Education Queensland to appoint an independent investigator who was not a member of the local community.
But The Director of Ethical Standards, Education Queensland ignored my concerns.
He appointed a local person as the "independent investigator".
And, as I had explained to the Director of Ethical Standards, Education Queensland, it was not possible for a local person to deal "impartially" with a complaint about the wife of one of his workmates, or about important local personalities in their local community.
Maybe that was the point of the "investigation process"?
- Qld anti-discrimination laws not proactive enough, Chris O'Brien, ABC News
Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday launched a strong attack on critics of the government's plans to publish school test results, accusing them of focusing on non-academic skills and wanting to produce "happy, illiterate, innumerate children".
Ms Gillard said "I don't believe our aim is to have schools full of happy, illiterate, innumerate children."
Well said, Julia Gillard.
What is so very sad is that a Queensland teacher who dared to say those words could be put on "Managing Unsatisfactory Performance" by an OP19 acting principal.
"Because we want to change the way that you are thinking".
And, over a period of two years of OP19-torture, the teacher would be driven into ill health and out of work.
In Queensland.
- stronger rules of integrity and accountability,
- a stronger culture of ethical behaviour across the public sector,
- a program of strong scrutiny and stronger enforcement of the rules and regulations.
- Editorial, The Courier-Mail
