After many years of dealing with FOI and the complaint handling cover up process designed by our Government I have seen a pattern. This is what I have observed in relation to allegations of bias, manipulation of state records and misconduct against Government employees..

1. When you feel something is wrong and you request documents under FOI to shed some light you are never given all the documents upfront. Some crucial documents are always withheld. This is done on purpose so that you do not have complete documents to lodge your complaint.

2. If the documents produced show discrepancies, evidence of bias, misconduct and issues, because there are time limits to lodge a complaint, people tend to lodge their complaint with the documents that they have with the idea that their complaint will assist in getting to the bottom of the matter and that the system will want to investigate and look at the missing documents.

3. However what happens is the complaint is assessed on the basis of the documents received and a determination made that the allegations cannot be substantiated as there is insufficient evidence. The fact that documents show issues and discrepancies and are missing/withheld and/or even destroyed is not considered, nor are these documents looked at . You are told that because you only believe there is misconduct and because you cant prove it to their satisfaction (as they have the documents)the matter is closed. Never to be opened again even after the withheld documents are received and even if they fully support the allegations and even if the allegations involve children.

If you wait to get the documents then you are out of time to lodge your complaint. They have the bases covered.

4. If you continue to complain you get branded vexatious and your communications branded repetitious and you are defamed and ignored. Even fresh allegation involving different instances and children are ignored.

As a result those who are the target of this treatment are not protected.

Education – Keeping them Honest
http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/education/
Our children deserve better

I would just like to add that in my families matter documents were actually destroyed on the day the matter was being put before the Administrative Decisions Tribunal to force the Government Department to produce the documents and this is despite these exact documents being specifically requested to be produced under FOI.

I was then I was told that because I couldn't prove the initial allegations to their satisfaction as the documents were destroyed that they wouldn't investigate anything that happened subsequent to that even though we had made allegations of bias, manipulation and misconduct at every stage of the process and we had evidence to support.

The fact that they destroyed the evidence didn't seem to mean anything to anybody, as far as the investigatory bodies were concerned and the Department were concerned if they didn't have the documents they couldn't produce them. There were no consequences for having destroyed the documents and it didn’t seem to indicate a thing even though we alleged a cover up - for them it only worked to protect them.

The whole system is set up to deny the complainant procedural fairness and natural justice and to defame the complainant through Government action or inaction.

Education – Keeping them Honest
http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/education/
Our children deserve better

Jolanda,

You are exactly right in what you say - the government has absolutely no interest in exposing its own practices.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

As long as the bureaucracy is stronger than the individual, this sort of thing will go on. The whole situation is transposing to an end game where the only way the bureaucracy will change its ways is if something serious and unfair happens to a group or individual, the incident gets media attention, and the government, by weight of community feeling, is forced to reform the situation.

Until that happens, you're seen as just another person in the queue, unfortunately.

In my book I continually used the term "firewall" to describe all of these "decision makers", eg govt depts, ombudsman etc, because they try to keep you from your "day in court"

Most of them only make determinations [see the famous Brandy case] so even if they agree with you [which they are "not allowed to, or at least were not allowed under Howard], the Constitution says a Chapter III judge MUST come in at some stage [see Brandy]

we just had a victory of sorts under privacy act where we overtuned the Palmer case where it was said one MUST go to the firewall called Priv Commiss before going to court, by finding injunctive power at s 98 to go straight to court. Howard immedidiately bunged on a Law Reform Gig to get rid of s 98, but his timing was out, and then he was out [so the whole Priv Reform just fizzled out]

so now anyone can simply go straight to a court for eg CSA sins, and generally you don't need FOI

This situation, I am sure is not uncommon. Some departments are worse than others. When asking for FOI documents did the DET give you any reason why any documents were exempt under the FOI Act? Assuming there were exemptions in your case.

Jolanda, if the documents were destroyed could you put forward a complaint to the Ombudsman on the basis of that alone. That is,

1. asking why the documents in question were destroyed knowing full well that DET was required to attend the AAT.
2. why the documents were destroyed at all (is there some sort of statute of limitations on when documents can be destroyed?). My understanding is that old government documents are not destroyed until many years later after they have been archived for some period of time.

Perhaps you can find out the rules/guidelines for this at http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/

To get back to the title of this thread, I'm quite sure that Government Departments use FOI complaints as a "heads up" as to what is coming their way and then totally dedicate themselves to protecting themselves using a variety of tactics. It's their kind of taxpayer-funded early-warning system.

On the bright side, there would appear to be some daylight in matters of this sort. If today's Australian is anything to go by, the RAAF workers that took part in the F-111 deseal-reseal program look like they might finally be on the road to being vindicated and properly compensated.

The key to getting this outcome is weight of numbers - if enough people start saying something, eventually the Berlin Wall will be deluged, and then crumble and fall.

Divorce Doctor I went to a Solicitor to see how I could take the Department to a Court as they had breached their Policy and Procedures in dealing with the complaints. We were referred to an Administrative Law Barrister. I told him that I wanted to hold the DET to account with regard to how they had handled my children's applications and the complaints. That Barrister said that we needed to get all the information first under FOI. I was concerned. $30,000 later all that happened is that the Solicitor and Barrister took our money and left us with no money to do anything else and despite formally requesting that there be an order for Costs made against the DET (as we had to take them to the ADT as they had not honoured agreements that they had previously made at the ADT) the Barrister didn't ask for costs. What is the bet the Barrister is in a very cushy position right now as honestly it appeared that he had been bought.

RobP. When we first received the documents under FOI and our fears were realised we thought that the public would be outraged and that the school and friends would want to help and protect the children. Boy were we wrong! Just about everybody turned their back as they knew we were telling the truth and they feared that their children would also being targeted and or they would loose their job (if employed by the DET). They had good reason to be concerned. Nobody actually cared enough for the children to publicly say that what was being done was wrong. Nobody wanted to know us – we were ostrasized.

I was then actually blamed by some as it was said that if I just accepted the situation and told my children to cop it sweet and didn't complain then the children wouldn't be hurt so much? It is as if they think the children are stupid and have no feelings and do not know what is going on.

Pelican. We made the mistake of writing to the Ombudsman before the DET had investigated the complaint. Although they get you there too as you have a time limit to bring a complaint with the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman refused to investigate the matter even after being advised that the original documents had been destroyed and even though there were an alarming amount of instances of evidence of bias, manipulation and misconduct. The Ombudsman just closed the matter even though we made a formal complaint under the Child Protection Act.

The DET then referred to the matter as having been investigated by the Ombudsman to anybody who made enquiries.

When the Ombudsman said to us that we only believed that the scores had been calculated wrongly but that we couldn’t prove it to his satisfaction we took the DET to the ADT to get access to documents to further support our allegations. When we received these documents we lodged a fresh complaint with the Ombudsman and were told that once a matter is closed it is closed for good never to be re-opened again.

Even fresh allegations involving our other children were ignored despite the fact that there was clear evidence of bias, manipulation and misconduct.

Regarding the destruction of documents, the DET said that although they were requested under FOI they didn't think it was necessary to keep the originals because they had electronic copies on their computer system?

The Ombudsman is another level of cover up. I complained to the Office of the Ombudsman and Police Integrity Commission and they said that they were ‘prohibited' from investigating “particular conduct” and that they could not help. Particular conduct is not defined in the Act but I was told when I rang that it is the type of conduct that I was alleging.

Thing is that those in the system know that if they do not investigate the complaint that people will think that there was no evidence so the longer they take and the worse they treat you and the more they deny you rights, the better they look.

what a pity you did not read my book Jolanda

IF a "client" has a complaint against a govt dept then the job of the lawyer is NOT to get justice for client, but get into the Latham "congoline of ashol^*"

so you threw your money away, not only on the [in]action but via FOI itself [ie the fees charged by lawyers to "oversee" that process]

so you MUST be a self represented litigant

but reason FOI is generally a waste of time is simply that one goes to court to seek relief concerning an action [or lack of] that actually happened [so you depose such facts in affidavit]

your case is simply that Legislation says "this", and they did [or didn't do] "that"

seems to me if you need FOI to discover eg they "Planned" to do "that", well you don't have a case as they never got around to doing it

ie it'a just KISS

It sounds like you have done everything humanly possible to obtain justice Jolanda. Where to go from here?

I don't know what else to suggest other than perhaps going to Whistleblowers Australia for advice. See http://www.whistleblowers.org.au/ for contact information.

ICAC also investigate complaints about corruption which can be minor to extensive in scope. http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/

I know you have discussed the media before, but it might pay to ring around some well known journalists to find an advocate for your case and one who can ask questions and then to proceed to write articles. You will have to have all your facts clearly set out and evidence in the form of letters, papers and documents obtained under FOI to present to them.

Other than that all I can say is good luck.

Divorce Doctor my case isn’t simply that they said that they would do something but they didn’t do it?

There are a number of issues with my family’s case including and not limited to the following:

1. That documents clearly show many instances of bias, manipulation and tampering of state records, defamation, and a misrepresentation of facts and misconduct that resulted in educational and emotional/psychological harm to and oppression of our children.
2. That we have made formal allegations of systematic bias, victimization, bullying, defamation and misconduct that involve children that have not been investigated, but have been presented internally as investigated and the officers cleared of misconduct! This has then allowed all subsequent new allegations to be ignored by the DET.
2. That we have had cause to lodge numerous FOI Applications. As a result of the manner that these FOI applications have been handled and dealt with we have had cause to make allegations of obstruction of FOI and breaches in the State Record Keeping Act.
3. That we have made formal allegations that there is evidence of a conspiracy to cover up.

We have documentary evidence to support our allegations so therefore we have a prima facie case.

Pelican I tried ICAC and was told that ICAC has discretion and lack of funding and they have priorities and their priority is matters that have to do with money

The media is a waste of time and it becomes depressing. I am grateful for places like this that give me an opportunity to vent. Eventually I hope that my continual exposure will out those who are responsible.

Bullies need to be outed, not protected. When I get to the point where I feel that I can go no more – I will write a book.

Whistleblowers couldn’t help they just told me not to go to a solicitor as they will just take my money and basically to accept things that you cannot change?

Thanks for wishing me luck; I am going to need it as the Law doesn't help.

The media is a waste of time and it becomes depressing. I am grateful for places like this that give me an opportunity to vent. Eventually I hope that my continual exposure will out those who are responsible.

unfortunately "places like this" are also cash for comment - so back to YOU prosecute the case YOURSELF or too bad Gunga Din

Bullies need to be outed, not protected. When I get to the point where I feel that I can go no more – I will write a book.

if the book is good enough it will just get pirated, as I found

and those at "places like this" just said bad luck, because WE did not agree with the book [as we were cash for comment]

for sure ANYONE sticking up for their rights has an uphill battle in our "fair" country

Jolanda,

The only hope you have in actually beating the Government is in taking them by surprise - that's why the media sometimes works (but that's probably your last shot in the locker). And history would show that your tactics have to be new or different if you hope to win. If you just use the Government's approved and operated processes, there is no hope of getting justice - you're just walking into the valley of death.

I think you pretty much have to wait for an event that shakes things up. No idea what it might be except to say that hardly anyone will see it coming.

Divorce Doctor if there is a way for me to prosecute these people can you tell me how to do it? My biggest problem is that I do not know how and I cannot find precedents. I tried getting advice from Solicitors but there is something that stops them in relation to these types of complaints and I can only imagine it is that they use the same process to cover up their own misconduct.

Rob. Yeah I figure that something will happen at some time to shake it all up, in the meantime I will continue to fight. Hopefully a change of Government or even a change of a person in power in a Government Department. Ministers for Education have changed a few times but they have all refused to see me one used the excuse that they were busy for hte foreseable future. Not sure doing what as if bias, corruption and manipulation within the DET is not something important enough for them to want to listen to and act on then one has to wonder just what is their job.

I recently contacted the latest Minister V Firth and was told that they would ring me back. I am still waiting. They never ring back. Chances are that the Ministers do not even know, many times this is all being done under covers and the Ministers are just fed rubbish. If I was Minister I wouldn't put up with that!

From what I remember, your complain is not the simple path with CSA for example, ie the legislation says CSR can/must do this but he did that. I think you are saying there was discrimination, so it becomes the airy fairy part of the law about racist/discrim/sexist stuff that is very hard to get one's hands around

can you perhaps summarise the problem IN NO MORE THAN 50 WORDS [the essense in these things is brevity of statement]

and back to lawyers, who is largest employer of lawyers in Oz - well it's CSA [as well as similar], so understand the situation?

Divorce Doctor. I made a complaint about the education of my children, since then there has been numerous documents produced under FOI that show evidence of bias, manipulation and tampering of test scores, school applications and state records relating to our 4 children over a period of 8 years. So basically:

Policy and Procedure has been breached in relation to the processing of school applications and in relation to handling of complaints. Codes of conduct have been breached and State records have been tampered with and manipulated in order to inflict harm, defame and oppress.

We have alleged and have evidence that supports that there is a conspiracy to cover up.

Today we were back at the ADT in relation to a few matters. It just seems amazing how many documents the DET cannot locate or find and this is despite the fact that these documents are required under the Record Keeping Act to be held and required to be produced under FOI. Problem is that nobody seems to see a problem with it, or connect the dots. They just have the bases covered. They allow the person about whom you complain to have the job of getting the documents and dealing with the complaints without supervision question or challenge and they loose/change or destroy any document that will support what is already showing in the documents and that you allege. So essentially they can say and do what they want as the person whom you allege is responsible is in charge of the FOI, the complaint and anything to do with matters to do with your family.

The ADT says that they have no power. Nobody seems to have any power except those accused of misconduct or a crime.

Halo again *Jolanda*

If I may b permitted to put my 2 cents in?

I'd like 2 say in opening that I do not presume to know whether or not there is any truth in yr accusations or not. It is simply not "reasonably" possible for me to know based on the information that U have provided either here or on yr blog.

In fact, I found it difficult just to work out exactly what it is that U are complaining about. Clearly, u r distressed and have been for quite some time, but that in and of itself doesn't make yr claims either right of wrong.

I wld suggest that if U wish to pursue this matter further, take a course in "Legal Writing," "Plain English" and "Critical Thinking."

Having read a number of yr posts and yr blog, I imagine that U have, for right or for wrong, alienated a lot of people who may have otherwise helped U. U give me, and I may be incorrect, the distinct impression that U r neither "reasonable" nor "rational" and yr testimony indicates, in my view, little more than an endless stream of wild, unsubstantiated, accusations. "How to make friends and Influence People" would also be a good read for U i.m.o.

Having said that, I still do not dismiss the fact that there may b a basis in fact to yr claim, but U may care to note, that other people would be quick to use yr own myopic hostility as a good enuff reason to dismiss U out right. 1/2

If U wish for further assistance from me and others so willing here, I suggest the following.

1. Scan yr original documents and register them on yr blog in strict chronological order. i.e. Yr FOI application, the response, yr application to the Ombudsman and their response.

That'll do for starters.

Further, re-do yr blog, removing hearsay, opinion, extrinsic and pejorative material and yr opinion. Blog out yr story in strict chronological order specifically limiting yrself to that which U have personally seen, smelled, touched or heard. This will later form the basis for an affidavit.

In relation to further appeal, in WA, post the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, from memory, there is further avenue of recourse to the Federal Court but that may be limited to points of law.

If u follow the guidelines above, that will enable us to remotely be able to figure out exactly which law/s have allegedly been breached and we can proceed from there.

I would thereafter suggest that U consider that none of us are perfect therefore U may b wrong and also that even if U r right, the law of this tin pot place may not support U in which case U can but seek public exposure and lobby.

I will use this thread as a locale for further communique shld u choose to heed my opinion.

HI Dream On. I do have plans to do what you say.

Although it doesn't really make a difference. People think that it is the way that I have presented things that made the DET react the way that they have but that isn't true. I didn't even draft my own letters at first because I was too upset. I have always been very understanding and I have never set out to make enemies. That some people have come on my blog and even on this site to bait me is something that I am used to and I no longer care. For all we know they could be direct from the DET.

I just dont think that people telling me to let it go when I am telling them that these adults are bullying and victimsiing my children year after year is of any help to me as essentially they are asking me to neglect my children.

The thing that people do not realise is that once you are targeted you are targeted, bullied and harrassed time and time again so that you have to keep focusing on other things and so that your matter get so big that you present distressed and with a story to tell that people find hard to believe.

Thanks for giving me some guidance. I will get on to it but I have so many other issues to deal with at the ADT at the moment that I really haven't got the time. But what you say is how my blog will eventually present. I cannot change who I am and how I speak. All I can do is try my best.

I have realised that we have laws that only protect the criminal. I know that I will struggle to hold these people to account mainly because the general public really do not care much about the children but I will continue to fight because I want something better for our kids. I want a society where those who are neglecting, bullying and abusing children are held to account.

Jolanda,

without making any comment right now as to your [non] case, can we step back a bit and:

1. tell us why IYHO YOUR kids were subject to "certain abuses" [esoteric or not], while others were seemingly not?

2. DETAIL [in say 10 words] where/how these matters happened, eg in History exam 2004 my kid said Capt Cook was gay but examiner did not agree and marked my kid down becuse IMHO xaminer was too politically correct/black armband/up Howard's ars*

get the picture? - you must get specific or the footy game never starts

to win in court [apart from what I said hereabove] you must have/be a "vehicle"

seems you are not claiming any abuse of a statute [and I don't think there ARE any "teaching statutes"], but are on about good old "Common Law Tort"

in which case you better get onto austlii and research Common Law on "school type things" in the High Court of Australia

Noble aspirations, but I wld suggest with respect that u risk emparting "victim syndrome" if u can't keep yrSelf emotionally stable.

If u push too hard too long, u will only compromise yr only health and consequently yr ability to care for yr kids.

Insight & Blindness.

One of the great philosophers said those who spend too much timing staring at monsters are at risk of becoming one.

Be content in yr Heart that u care for kids and then just gently, slowly chip away at it in a balanced methodical manner.

All things come to an end and the truth always has a way of coming out eventually. History attests to this.

It'll come down to this. Did they wrongly withhold info from u or not? If they did, then yr focus needs to be on bringing that to the correct judicial review body. If they inappropriately destroyed evidence then again, don't waste yr time talking to them or telling others what u think of them, focus on bringing it to the attention of the relevant authority.

In everything I've seen so far, yr focus is not on the ball. Let's have a look at the initial FOI app and then very quickly we will be able to make an informed comment.

Sometimes it is a matter of ignorance or negligence as opposed to "evil" and thereafter a persons fear of losing their financial security solution.

Once u get to the higher jurisdictions, things that appear complex are rapidly made plain.

And even now if it comes to it, and there is a finding that yr kids actually scored higher, is that now going to help them get their choice of uni courses, or has all yr energy fighting against the wrong target being wasted relative to what u cld have achieved had u invested those energies into tutoring yr kids say, for example?

I thought that u had said that there was already a determination made by the ADT. If not, put that up to and we can have a look at that.

Two of my children have just finished their HSC. They are seriously concerned about their marks because there is a history of external tampering of their test scores and results. As it gets closer they really stress and it impacts on their health and wellbeing. They have reason to be scared.

Divorce Doctor. The kids were not marked down in the way that you say. Documents produced under FOI show that he Leader of the Selective Schools unit went in after the selection Committee met in the year 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007 and actively changed my children’s selective school applications and results.

These ‘changes’ resulted in my children missing out on places in Selective Schools. This was a big issue for my children as they were identified obvious intellectually gifted children who were struggling to cope in the comprehensive school system.

I had brought the issue up about the neglect of the educational needs of gifted children and advised how this was impacting on my children emotionally as well as educationally. For complaining my children are paying the price.

What also drives me is that I feel that this administrative process that they are using on my families case would have been used to protect Government employees who worked in institutions and terrorized and abused kids.

I can imagine a mother of a child who is being physically or emotionally abused in a Government run institution/department/arrangement being unable to find a way to protect her children from further harm.

I can’t help but feel for the children. This is a huge failure in child protection and this process needs to change.

what would be the motive for changing marks?

I can only think of bribery, and yes that is rife in most gummt depts [and court systems]

were you supposed to cross certain palms with silver

I remember this even at Knox Grammar where a very rich dad had his kid [a dud] substituted for my kid [who was star of the team] in the prep school soccer team

Divorce doctor it wasn't for money. Of course maybe somebody paid somebody. It was just to discredit me. I was making public complaints about the neglect of the education of gifted children. What better way to discredit a parent making complaints about her children's education as gifted children than to make the kids miss out on Opportunity Class and Selective School placement. The Selective School test was presented as being designed to identify gifted children so if the kids do not get in then they present as not gifted or not as gifted as the parent thinks that they are.......

It was all designed to discredit and defame me as a parent, and it is easy to do as many people have an attitude towards these issues and parents of gifted children.

Dream On. I have been using the ADT to get documents from the DET for years and I have been told by the ADT that they do not have the power to even enforce their own orders. You can appeal but they also do not have the power to do anything. Basically you have to work your way through the Tribunals/Courts to the High Court with regard to FOI and there is a good chance that they will say no Jurisdiction depending on what it is that you ask. The bases are all covered. So our Tribunals cannot hold anybody to account or make anybody produce anything.

Trying to get accountability directly through FOI is a waste of time. I am at the moment attempting to get documents amended as if they will not investigate then I want to make sure that at least the internal documents that they present are representative of the truth and not the lies that they present. I also seek to get access to certain documents that they have avoided giving me for years.

So whilst there is an FOI component the problem and difficulty is getting the allegations investigated. There appears to be no avenue where people can get allegations against Government Departments independently or impartially investigated. The Ombudsman is a joke; he has discretion and uses his discretion to assist to cover up. He uses the same process the Department uses where they just ask the person responsible and accept whatever they say on face value. Nobody cross checks the documents or questions or challenges as to why things present the way that they do.

What I need to find out is what Court or what process I can use where I can have our allegations investigated. ICAC has discretion and lack of funding and they focus on matters that involve money…..They told us that. I already have more than enough evidence produced under FOI to support a prima facie case that warrants investigation. The Police, well, say that these types of matters are dealt with by the Ombudsman! You go round.

yes, this what I have been saying

FOI is simply a second hand way of getting evidence [but of course they will NOT give it if it incriminates]

the legislation you need is race/sex descrim Act [whatever it is called this month] and by coincidence THIS was the act in Brandy case

The fed magistrates court is the easy avenue but better be quick as "William's Wonder" is about to be dismantled as of today

Divorce Doctor the problem is that it isn't against the Law to Discriminate against gifted children....I got that direct from the Anti Discrimination board.

What I need is to work out how to hold them to account with regard to the fact they have breached Policy and Procedure in the handling of the school applications and in the handling of the complaints and they have breached their code of conduct.

Any idea who to go to for that?

well you are just going around in cirles

a quango makes "practice and procedures" then it OWNS them, and EXCLUDES you

YOU must go back the LAW [and forget what was told to you via quango]

like get real

I cannot believe the hide of the DET. They are trying to say that because nobody is interested in the allegations that my family is making agains the DET then it is not a public interest matter and therefore they can refuse to give me documents on the basis of no public interest.

They believe that the public has no interest in public servants within the Selective SChools Unit of the DET who maniuplate with state records, and in particular school applications and test scores, in order to inflict harm? They believe that the public do not have an issue with that occurring.

Pretty scary dont you think? What does it say about bullying?

Jolanda,

You might be barking up the wrong tree. Have you considered the Crimes Act? Falsifing documents is a criminal offence. You might be better to steer away from the administrative side to the criminal side. Obviously you need the police to co-operate, but suggest that if you went to them with a ready-made case they might be persuaded of the success of the case. By ready made, I suggest you will have to work out exactly which pidgeon-hole offence the allegations fall into, and collect your evidence to document this. Of course burden of proof is more onerous in criminal proceedings - you would need to have your smoking gun. You may also be able to get attention at the Federal level, what with the pressure for schools to publish their results, an allegation of misconduct may be taken more seriously.

Thank you Country Girl. I have thought of the criminal aspect. I have previously put the matter before the Police and they did nothing. They said that 'this type of matter' is dealt with by the Ombudsman and to refer the matter to the Ombudsman. It mattered not to them that the Ombudsman had denied my family procedural fairness and natural justice. There is not point in writing again. My name has been marred.

The process of complaint handling puts up firewall after firewall until enough time goes past that you are out of time to lodge any more complaints and so that the system can justify ignoring you.

They have their basis covered.

They cry lack of funding and resources when really it is culpable neglect and psychological abuse of the people.

Jolanda there is something wrong with DET using the public interest argument to deny you documents. They can only use it to decide whether to waive fees or not but a decision not to release documents on this basis is flawed from my understanding.

I would take this to the Ombudsman despite your previous attempts because it is very much in the Ombudsman's jurisdiction to investigatge FOI matters.

There is a case for public interest here in any case given that these sorts of activities by DET have the potential to affect other families and other children.

Hi Pelican, not only do these sorts of issues have the potential to affect other children and families I know of two families (two kids that were friends with my children) who were targeted by the same person in the same manner. They complained, one went all the way to the Minister with the complaint but nothing was done. They got to the point where they were scared to say anything more in case more damage/harm was inflicted on their child as they had already been through enough. The DET has so much power. For both these families it was only one child impacted, my family have had 4.

The public interest angle was changed somewhat at the hearing on Tuesday 25. They didn't use one of the Affidavits that presented what I presented and only relied on another that still used the public interest angle but in the manner that if they released internal audit reports in relation to Government Departments (in this case the SSU) that it would not be in the public interest as public servants wouldn't be frank and open if they thought the reports were going to make public. I couldn't help but remind htem that public servants were bound by a code of conduct that said that they would tell the truth. How can keeping an audit secret be beneficial to the public, surely the only person who would benefit are those being audited and who have done wrong?

Anyway judgment was reserved. The Ombudsman is a waste of time. It was interesting however to learn that the Audit Directorate of the DET who were implicated in the cover up of my families allegations against the SSU then conducted an audit into that exact unit in relation to those processes complained about. They have all the bases covered to ensure that they are never held to account.

After giving u the benefit of the doubt I start to see why a lot of other members just shout at U.

U come here asking for help, but u don't take "advice" and carry on as if u know all the answers.

Yr comments about the tribunals are nonsense. U don't know what u r talking about it. U simply rave and rant endlessly because they do not agree with u.

I think that the person who has done and is still doing most harm to yr children is u, of yr own admission.

I'm not an expert in the area, but I suspect yr obsessive behavior based on paranoid delusions are probably pretty close to earning u a needle in the bum from the white coats brigade.

Why don't u try shutting yr mouth for a change and instead of just gibbering like a fool, put up the important docs and let people with more than half a brain have a look for u.

Dream on if you had half a brain you wouldn't write what you do.