Page 1032 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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right. And there was concern that if the commission were set up under particular sections of the act they would not have the powers that they needed to conduct the inquiry. The papers are quite clear.
So we have had this backwards and forwards process, and that is just one of the things that are wrong with the system. But the main thing that is wrong with the system is the corruption of the process. You can put out all the staff bulletins you like covering your bases, spinning, as Mr Smyth said quite accurately, to show that you are going through the motions but, when staff are threatened with losing their jobs, they will not turn up. And this is what we have seen.
There is a high correlation and coincidence between the events of the woodwork teacher going to the inquiry and the inquirer saying to him, “We can’t wait until June to act on some of the things that you have talked about. We have to do that now”—and to their credit, those things were done—and in ensuring that those things were done it became abundantly clear who had made those complaints. It became abundantly clear that the woodwork teacher had gone to the inquiry. And he did not make any secret of it, because he is passionate about services for young kids at risk.
Mr Barr knows that, because Mr Barr gets emails from him on a regular basis. I get emails from him on a regular basis about the things that worry him, how he would like to make life better for kids and the programs that he has in mind. He was passionate. He did not make any secret of it. But it was not very long after that that they asked him not to come back.
Let us listen to what the caller said on 666 yesterday. She referred to a staff member using excessive force and she wondered why that staff member had not been stood down. The interviewer said, “Have you referred this matter to authorities at Bimberi?”, to which she said:
No you don’t do that. I’m in another area at the moment, but my manager was told he wasn’t allowed to report to the review. That was a couple of weeks ago. He had all intentions to report … but was told that he wasn’t. I have confidence in the people doing the review—
again, “I have confidence in the people doing the review”—
but I don’t have confidence in the outcome—I don’t know whether the truth will come out. I have been stood down—
a couple of weeks after she found out her manager was told not to report to the review—
I think it’s because of my involvement with the review.
Alex Sloan asked her, “You feel you have been punished for that?” She replied:
Yes. Definitely.
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