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Evil prospers when good people do nothing : Comments
By Kim Sawyer, published 13/7/2007Whistleblowers and bystanders: in Australia, we have established a culture where public duty is not highly regarded.
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Posted by Jolanda, Sunday, 15 July 2007 10:36:15 AM
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PortoSalvo,
Parents are not totally disenfranchised in their children’s education. They form the largest single group on every school council in the state. They have freedom of choice as to which school they send their children too. The bureaucracy is not capable of crushing anyone who dissents. I have my own experience of being victimised by an acting school principal who had been in the school only one week and decided to make me the scapegoat for the bad decisions of the school administration. I have given a detailed account on the “Farewell” thread on the discussion forum of www.platowa.com, so I will not repeat the details here. The advantages I had were that I was in a strong union school, I had the support of my colleagues, I had the confidence of being a highly experienced school administrator and I am stubborn. I could not allow them to get away with it. When I took my case to the Merit Protection Board, I won. Teachers should not be paranoid. They should be strong. They have a professional obligation to take a stand. To start with, 100 per cent of them should be in the union and they should act as unionists to ensure proper legal procedures are followed in their schools. Of course, it is much harder to take on bullies when you are young, inexperienced, on a short-term contract or in a climate where no one will support you. It is much harder now under the instant dismissal provisions of WorknotcalledChoicesanymore. There is another aspect to whistleblowing, which is not to do with the price pad by the whistleblower, but to do with the absence of anyone to blow the whistle to. Some may wonder at the point in risking their careers when they know that those in authority will not act on the matters they reveal in any case. Posted by Chris C, Sunday, 15 July 2007 11:49:29 AM
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Chris C , Our experience is much different to yours .
Our School Council was threatened and bludgeoned into submission by the Bureaucracy ; They were given four days to consider their options then they were crushed ; Four new schools were to be built under the "Bendigo Education Plan", the four schools had to be built at the same time , one of our existing schools had to close . Golden Square Secondary College was termed demographically challenged and was targeted for closure . The School Council resisted and 900 parents signed a petition that was sent to all the Bracks Gov't ministers involved ...........this petition received not one response . The Bureaucrats held a series of forums ; The Forum at GSSC was salted with Galahs , these Galahs were selected by a mediator ( A Bureaucrat from Melbourne) at question time to ask or answer questions this way no threads were able to develop ........the forum was a sick joke . The School Council continued to resist as did the Parents and Students , On the final deadline where a decision had to be made ; The School Council was threatened like this ; If you don't sign the School off , no new Schools will be built , 80 million dollars will be lost for Bendigo by you ; how sick was that ultimatum ! On that night some Councillors were crying at least three vomited , how sad is that ? Posted by PortoSalvo, Sunday, 15 July 2007 5:45:54 PM
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Chris,
You were very fortunate in your experience. I was also attacked by an acting principal when I tried to discuss the groups of unsupervised children who were roaming about the school. I explain the situation in detail on http://www.badapplebullies.com/investigations.htm Seven teachers spoke up in my support, but the union organiser told me immediately that there was no hope of justice and that I should "accept the things you cannot change". I feel that the union facilitate the abuse of teachers because they passively allow them to be bullied. Their advice was correct - there was no hope of justice, I realise now, but I feel that if the union had supported me in 2000 I would not have been put into a punishment process because of allegations that have never been explained to me. The problem we have in Queensland is that teachers and administrators are in the same union, so when you are bullied the union call it a "member versus member issue" and just advise you that you should "accept the things you cannot change" and to "move on". Workplace bullying is not only a problem for young teachers, older men and women teachers have big problems. I had no rights in 2000. I cannot see any way that I would have fewer rights under WorkChoices. My union told me that I had no rights. And union members in the Queensland public service facilitated the abuse, continually "losing" my letters, "misunderstanding" my complaint, refusing to search for FOI documents, losing FOI documents, etc. etc. It is disgusting that union members earn their wages by destroying the lives of other people in this way. You are right when you say that there is nobody to whistle to. Queensland public servants know they must not "hear" the whistles being blown all around them. It is more than their careers are worth. Posted by Dealing With The Mob, Monday, 16 July 2007 1:34:44 PM
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What a depressing, and yet, challenging thread here!
I have had my run in with the bureaucracy many a time, and having been part of that bureacracy, I expect a lot more of these people! The Ombudsman in NSW reviewed a process that it was expressly prohibited by statute (ie a Court process) and dressed it up as looking a a Uni policy - subject to review. The NSW Electoral Commisioner didn't want to do anything about an improperly enrolled person, so the Administrative Decisions Tribunal was needed to fix this up. A Police officer was reported to the Local Area Commander and the LAC passes the letter of complaint to the officer involved who then uses the Privacy Act (PPIA) against me because the information was 'illegally' gained in my role as a bureaucrat. We are up against it, but, let's keep trying... Posted by Reality Check, Monday, 16 July 2007 2:50:28 PM
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PortoSalvo. The parents on the school council in each state might have access to choose whatever school they want their children to attend but the ordinary person who isn't 'in the know' and who 'doesn't have the right contacts' and/or who has been branded a 'trouble maker' for speaking out does not get to choose. There is no choice in Education in NSW.
The only school that you can choose to go to where they are obligated to accept you is your Local zoned School. For every other school you have to apply and they are the ones that choose. If the Department has defamed you and vilified you and presented you as a troublemaker then no school will accept your children. I know this for a fact. Requests for access to out of area schools made on the basis of extenuating circumstances, two kids in the same year due to acceleration meant that they couldn't go to the same school, were refused at every school applied. Requests to accept students on compassionate grounds as student didnt' have a school to go to and was being homeschooled - refused. These were high achieving students who were polite, respectful, represented the school in sports and should have been students that the schools should have been proud of and supported as they were good role models and leaders. Instead they were treated like dirt and denied access to schools because their mother had made some complaints. There is no real choice in education and best interest of the child does not appear to register as a concern. Posted by Jolanda, Monday, 16 July 2007 3:12:43 PM
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Over three years later, since the people that were targeting my children were not dealt with and/or removed, my children continued to be systematically targeted and victimized. I again requested fresh documents under FOI. Documents showed excessive evidence of new instances of bias, victimization and manipulation and that clearly supported my families allegations including that of a conspiracy to cover up.
I once again presented it to the Ombudsman and to ICAC and asked for the matter to be investigated and impressed on them the fact that these were children that were being targeted. Once again they refused to investigate the matter advising that the matter is closed.
It matters not to them that the targets are children and that is a serious concern!
This failure to investigate sends the message that my family didn’t and doesn’t have a case and supports the Departments presentation of me as a ‘vexatious and a troublemaker' when this is so far from the truth.
I rang the Office of the Ombudsman and Police Integrity Commission this week as, the same Ombudsman Mr Bruce Barbour, who dealt with the matter before in the year 2003 once again reviewed the Ombudsmans Office recent decision not to investigate the new allegations or the matter at all. I advised them that I had already previously complained about Mr. Barbour's handling of my family's matter and that allowing him to review the matter denied my family an impartial and unbiased decision and procedural fairness and natural justice. She said that there was nothing that they could do as Legislation prohibited them from doing anything but that I could try to write and see what happens but the Committee isn’t sitting again until the end of September.
What sort of democracy do we live in when Government officials can CHOOSE to ignore and cover up the issues and complaints of the people and the people have no rights or no power to access Justice and get protection?
This is a dictatorship - not a democracy.