Thursday, March 15, 2012

Dear Thief: Please Return My Wife's Pay!

Social networking.

A world where you will never know every single person who reads your Blog, your Tweets, your Facebook rants.

You might know a young plaited-hair mum with a young son who was at the Plaza Wednesday morning.

My wife works at Tea Tree Plaza. Part-time. And since I joined the ranks of the unemployed, the only source of money to pay our rent, put food on the table, and finance all those other things that can make life damn tough.

Yesterday, mid-morning, after taking her pay out off the Credit Union, she stopped by the ladies restroom near the Target store on the way back to work.

She chatted with the mum and the young boy who were at the sinks.

Dear young mum.

Surely you would know that Westfield security can backtrack you on CCTV from the moment you bolted through the fire exit with my wife’s purse. All the way back to when you got out of your car and entered the centre.

Are you that stupid?

I hope you enjoy spending our money, trying out the maxed-out credit cards, maybe even contemplating a shot at identity theft.

I now have to call my landlord and tell him I can’t pay the rent. We live on a weekly budget. Losing a week's pay simply does not compute.

But what a proud mother you must be.

A fine example for that wee fella you dragged along by the arm as you fled into the car park.

Oh. The police called last night. Thanks for dumping the purse in the car park of another shopping centre. There might not be much left in it, but at least we feel ever so slightly less ‘empty’.

You will be caught though. Aren’t licence plates a real bitch? And you did it in front of witnesses!!

I realise on the measuring stick of bad things that can happen to us, having a purse stolen is not right up there.

But, you do feel gutted, violated. And when you are on the bones of your arse, and your pay is nicked, it does have ramifications that are horrible.

Life today is bad enough in Struggle Street without arseholes like that thief.

I must give thanks and praise to the officers from our nearby Golden Grove Police Station. And to the security staff and cleaning staff at Westfield’s Tea Tree Plaza who searched waste bins both inside and outside.

Thank heavens for CCTV technology making it possible to backtrack this thief. Just like in the movies!

Who would have thought?


Friday, March 2, 2012

Where is the Justice? Not in the Justice Dept!

Jerome MaGuire.
CEO of Justice.
A grand poobah scoring over $6500 per WEEK!

What should we expect from these taxpayer funded people.

Honesty? Know what they're talking about?

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

Plaza Room, Parliament House, Adelaide
Friday 13 November 2009 at 2:20pm

With regard to the outcome of the Moss Inquiry, a Disciplinary Hearing where a most senior Public Trustee Executive had been accused and subsequently found guilty of rampant workplace bullying strewn across many years, the Committee Chair, Liberal Party Rob Lucas asked, in part:

7335 The CHAIRPERSON: What penalty, if any, was applied to him? The concern that has been expressed to me is what you have just indicated; that is, your department has negotiated a TVSP with Mr O'Neill. And so, after all the concerns that had been raised about his behaviour within Public Trustee, an inquiry by Mr Moss into his behaviour, found guilty of an offence or offences, there does not appear to have been any penalty, and not only wasn't there a penalty, the department has negotiated a TVSP with him.


Mr MAGUIRE: Perhaps we should come in there. There was a penalty, and I will take a risk here and I will advise the committee that Mr Moss imposed a reprimand upon Mr O'Neill and that went onto his file. That is the maximum penalty that could have been imposed at the conclusion of the disciplinary hearing. That occurred last year. The two are not related—and I want to make that clear to the committee. The penalty imposition in 2008 and a TVSP acceptance by Mr O'Neill in 2009 are not related. The Public Trustee offered the TVSP to Mr O'Neill and funded that TVSP, and Mr O'Neill took that TVSP. He was surplus to requirements in the Public Trustee.

Bounding ahead two years, to questioning about the Cartridgegate Affair, and what could happen to any public servant found to have benefited, by way of gifts, by purchasing over-priced printer cartridges:

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

Plaza Room, Parliament House, Adelaide
Monday 31 October 2011 at 10:35am

6639 The CHAIRPERSON: What would that be—abuse of public office? What would be the nature of the criminal offence?


Mr MAGUIRE: It would obviously depend on what the nature of the offence was. I can't tell you, in law, what those offences would constitute without knowing the details, but if it is a criminal offence, it would be referred to the police. If it was a code of ethics matter, the Public Sector Act outlines the requirements that you are required to undertake. The individual would go through a disciplinary inquiry, and the results of this inquiry have a range of remedies from a reprimand right through to dismissal, but it really does depend on the circumstances of the matter that we are talking about.

As I reported in a previous Post, the Public Sector Act is very clear on this matter:

Section 58(5) of the then Public Sector Management Act 1995:


(5) If, on an inquiry under this section, the Chief Executive is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the employee is liable to disciplinary action, then the Chief Executive may do one or more of the following:

(a) reprimand the employee;

(b) order that the leave entitlement of the employee be reduced by a specified amount;

(c) order that the employee be suspended from duty in the Public Service for a specified period with or without remuneration and, as the Chief Executive thinks fit, with or without accrual of rights in respect of recreation leave and long service leave;

(d) order that the salary of the employee be reduced by a specified amount for a specified period;

(e) recommend to the Governor—


(i) that the employee be transferred to some other position in the Public Service with a lower remuneration level; or

(ii) that the employee's employment in the Public Service be terminated.

The obvious question demands an answer. Is this a case of selective memory, bad memory, ignorance of the Act, or something more nefarious?

Could it be that due to Mr O'Neill's Executive classification that he was handed a get-out-of-jail card? It did take them about 6 years to deal with this man from the day I blew the whistle. At the same time they were very busy firing air-to-surface missiles my way.

The Act has not changed since 2009. Why did he cite it differently last November? Could it be that the public servants responsible for the cartridge purchases live down at the pleb level?

Considering the definition of the word mislead, did Mr MaGuire mislead the Select Committee in 2009?

Takes me back to saying that despite the mountain of corroborating evidence, a letter of reprimand was the paramount punishment on the day, and absolutely a slap in the face to the many who stuck out their necks battling the Public Trustee toxic workplace.

I want to know why the bully got off scott free?

There needs to be an Inquiry into the outcome of the Moss Inquiry. The findings of that Inquiry must be made public, not buried in the 45 Pirie Street basement. Mr MaGuire needs to answer  some hard, direct questions.

And while we're at it, I had a letter from the CEO guaranteeing the safety of my job during the lengthy internal investigations. Why did Mr MaGuire subsequently find me surplus to requirements?

HOW COME THE OTHER TWO BULLIES IDENTIFIED BY THE GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATIONS UNIT WERE NEVER DEALT WITH?

What became of the group of Public Trustee employees sprung on Today Tonight for circulating porn and smut through the government electronic network for many years?

I was fortunate to have a source close to the key players during the many investigations that came out of my whistleblowing. I KNOW what was discussed at some of the 45 Pirie Street meetings. And unless someone digs up a few skeletons, I will spill my guts.

And no doubt, as once before there will be threats to sue. Hey, I lost my job. My health is still buggered. Our home is gone. What you gonna do, have me for dinner? 

Strange though. I threw away years of my life fighting the system, pushing them to address the toxic workplace at Public Trustee. After those many years of government inaction, I took refuge under the Whistleblower's Act and appeared on Channel 7's Today Tonight. Hung the dirty clothes out.

ONE WEEK later I was swooped upon. The Government Investigations Unit was tasked to interview me to determine if I had breached my employment contract. That was when I quit, I felt I had no other option.

Years avoiding the corruption and bullying issues at an Executive level. One week to shaft me, the whistleblower.

I think that says it all!