NSW Crown Solicitor Affronted by Legitimate Request for Removal from NCAT Privacy Proceedings, 01.07.2025
Today’s NCAT hearing concerns, yet again, rogue agency Port Stephens Council as Respondent in Breach of Privacy Proceedings.
Proceedings before NCAT originated from a Request for Review of Agency Conduct under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, PPIP Act, now exposed as a worthless piece of legislation by the agencies bound by it.
Ignoring the PPIP Act entirely, Council did not duly disclose its intention to upload the public’s personal information to the Information Commissioner’s GIPA TOOL without first obtaining consent to do so.
As is its Standard Operating Procedure this agency does whatever it wants, whenever it wants, and to hang with every piece of the public’s beneficial legislation; opting to tap into public resources to fight the legitimate cleanup of any collateral damage after the fact instead of obeying the laws at first instance.
The TOOL is owned by marketing conglomerate Salesforce who leases a cloud-based Customer Manager System to the Information Commissioner, which records all things GIPA. It also records the personal information of GIPA Applicants; name, address, phone number, email address. It also has provision for personal documents such as birth certificates, passports, ID or Pension cards. What a rort for Salesforce! Port Stephens Council has since disclosed that since the TOOL’s first availability in 2015, Council only used it for (7) seven years, then reverted to its in-house GIPA records management protocols. The Applicant in the proceedings Telina Webb, was shocked by Council’s revelation it had ceased using the TOOL in 2022 but had done nothing to delete the public’s information since, leaving it all there in cyberspace abandoned for Salesforce to access at will.
The stella cast opposing self-represented Webb consisted of:• Lisa Marshall, in-house Council solicitor, but only as voyeur and not representative• Nathan Sloan, Council representative from Lindsay Taylor Lawyers• Holly Jamadar, in-house Council solicitor, but only as witness• Carla Wilson, representative for NSW Privacy Commission• Wilson was accompanied by a secondary Privacy Commission staff member• Ian Naylor, Privacy Commission witness• Kiri Mattes of Crown Solicitor’s Office, representative for NSW Information Commission The question remains; how many solicitors does it take to screw over one defenceless woman? Perhaps we should ask the Irish. Webb had summonsed key Council employees responsible for the breach of her privacy, but neither made an appearance, effectively thumbing their noses at the Tribunal:• Tony Wickham, Governance Manager / Corporate Policeman and man of many conflicting secondary roles• Tim Crosdale, General Manager; the Clayton’s General Manager, the General Manager you have when you’re not really having a General Manager. In the lead up to the proceedings, Webb wrote to the Information Commissioner on 02nd June formally seeking its representative Kiri Mattes’ be ejected for her documented conflicts of interest, specifically:• The CSO’s core legal work does not comprise of privacy matters in NCAT• The CSO is in a position of conflict of interest as a paid privacy trainer to all things government, and as such has a financial interest in the outcome of the proceedings• The CSO continues to refuse to disclose revenue it raises the result of its governmental training• The CSO’s Kiri Mattes has been exposed as colluding with a secondary agency to protect open access information and increase costs Today Kiri Mattes wanted to raise her objection to the request for removal and the reasons why now on the record, and is quoted saying QUOTE “It's quite scandalous!” UNQUOTE. It probably was, but it was also the truth. In Webb’s view Mattes should not be anywhere near a PPIP or GIPA case.
“It’s important the public maintains the courage to speak out about anything that concerns them. Conflicts of interest, inappropriate conduct, misleading information, denial of procedural fairness, and down-right bullying and intimidation which was out in plain sight to see today. There was all but standing room only with Council’s support entourage, and those responsible for breaching my privacy hid back in the office and out of scrutiny. Typical of this agency; the evidence just keeps piling up. But what is also very clear is NSW government agencies actively work together to the detriment of the public they serve. Let’s get that clear, they are public servants. However they are self-serving in reality with the public a nuisance that must be dealt with,” stated Webb.
“In all my dealings with NSW government agencies I’m yet to find a single one who lifts a single finger to weed out corruption and proactively report wrongdoing of any kind. They’re too tight. And they all have dirt on each other. When we consider the NSW Right to Information and Privacy Practitioners Network, NIPPN, a membership of over 400 who gather together and share government information in a public forum under the prep school Chatham House Rules for protection of exposure and accountability, the mindset is absolutely clear. The public is dealing with a publicly-funded cartel.”
“Yes, the Information and Privacy Commissioners and their staff are active members of NIPPN. Yes, the CSO’s Kiri Mattes and others regularly attend and make presentations to NIPPN. Membership includes the CSO, NSW Ombudsman, ICAC, NSW Police, DCJ, every NSW government agency. It’s a cartel which has been operating in plain sight for over (2) two decades, breaching privacy, singling out members of the public, sharing management strategies. They’re not working to uphold OUR rights. They’re working to make accessing our beneficial legislation harder. They also unlawfully bypass the GIPA Act, asking for information from each other avoiding due process and record keeping mandates. One particular management strategy, a policy, was personally crafted by ex-NSW Police Superintendent Jodie Cobbin in DCJ, and she shared it state-wide; a strategy which has not seen due process or approval but which has been readily embraced. It’s the wild west!” stated Webb.
“This whole privacy fiasco is what’s scandalous. I was the only person in the room saying it’s not okay.”
Webb’s objection to Kiri Mattes representing the Information Commissioner is here.
A detailed analogy of NIPPN, its Terms of Reference, its membership, and Jodie Cobbin's personal management strategy is available here. Contact:
Kiri Mattes, kiri.mattes@cso.nsw.gov.au
Carla Wilson, carla.wilson@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Nathan Sloan, nathan.sloan@lindsaytaylorlawyers.com.au
Information & Privacy Commissioners, ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Tony Wickham, tony.wickham@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Tim Crosdale, tim.crosdale@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Lisa Marshall, lisa.marshall@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Holly Jamadar, holly.jamadar@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Ian Naylor, ian.naylor@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Jodie Cobbin, Jodie.cobbin@dcj.nsw.gov.au The public is invited to comment on this article using the form below or contact Telina direct at info@nswfreedomofinformation.net.
Proceedings before NCAT originated from a Request for Review of Agency Conduct under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, PPIP Act, now exposed as a worthless piece of legislation by the agencies bound by it.
Ignoring the PPIP Act entirely, Council did not duly disclose its intention to upload the public’s personal information to the Information Commissioner’s GIPA TOOL without first obtaining consent to do so.
As is its Standard Operating Procedure this agency does whatever it wants, whenever it wants, and to hang with every piece of the public’s beneficial legislation; opting to tap into public resources to fight the legitimate cleanup of any collateral damage after the fact instead of obeying the laws at first instance.
The TOOL is owned by marketing conglomerate Salesforce who leases a cloud-based Customer Manager System to the Information Commissioner, which records all things GIPA. It also records the personal information of GIPA Applicants; name, address, phone number, email address. It also has provision for personal documents such as birth certificates, passports, ID or Pension cards. What a rort for Salesforce! Port Stephens Council has since disclosed that since the TOOL’s first availability in 2015, Council only used it for (7) seven years, then reverted to its in-house GIPA records management protocols. The Applicant in the proceedings Telina Webb, was shocked by Council’s revelation it had ceased using the TOOL in 2022 but had done nothing to delete the public’s information since, leaving it all there in cyberspace abandoned for Salesforce to access at will.
The stella cast opposing self-represented Webb consisted of:• Lisa Marshall, in-house Council solicitor, but only as voyeur and not representative• Nathan Sloan, Council representative from Lindsay Taylor Lawyers• Holly Jamadar, in-house Council solicitor, but only as witness• Carla Wilson, representative for NSW Privacy Commission• Wilson was accompanied by a secondary Privacy Commission staff member• Ian Naylor, Privacy Commission witness• Kiri Mattes of Crown Solicitor’s Office, representative for NSW Information Commission The question remains; how many solicitors does it take to screw over one defenceless woman? Perhaps we should ask the Irish. Webb had summonsed key Council employees responsible for the breach of her privacy, but neither made an appearance, effectively thumbing their noses at the Tribunal:• Tony Wickham, Governance Manager / Corporate Policeman and man of many conflicting secondary roles• Tim Crosdale, General Manager; the Clayton’s General Manager, the General Manager you have when you’re not really having a General Manager. In the lead up to the proceedings, Webb wrote to the Information Commissioner on 02nd June formally seeking its representative Kiri Mattes’ be ejected for her documented conflicts of interest, specifically:• The CSO’s core legal work does not comprise of privacy matters in NCAT• The CSO is in a position of conflict of interest as a paid privacy trainer to all things government, and as such has a financial interest in the outcome of the proceedings• The CSO continues to refuse to disclose revenue it raises the result of its governmental training• The CSO’s Kiri Mattes has been exposed as colluding with a secondary agency to protect open access information and increase costs Today Kiri Mattes wanted to raise her objection to the request for removal and the reasons why now on the record, and is quoted saying QUOTE “It's quite scandalous!” UNQUOTE. It probably was, but it was also the truth. In Webb’s view Mattes should not be anywhere near a PPIP or GIPA case.
“It’s important the public maintains the courage to speak out about anything that concerns them. Conflicts of interest, inappropriate conduct, misleading information, denial of procedural fairness, and down-right bullying and intimidation which was out in plain sight to see today. There was all but standing room only with Council’s support entourage, and those responsible for breaching my privacy hid back in the office and out of scrutiny. Typical of this agency; the evidence just keeps piling up. But what is also very clear is NSW government agencies actively work together to the detriment of the public they serve. Let’s get that clear, they are public servants. However they are self-serving in reality with the public a nuisance that must be dealt with,” stated Webb.
“In all my dealings with NSW government agencies I’m yet to find a single one who lifts a single finger to weed out corruption and proactively report wrongdoing of any kind. They’re too tight. And they all have dirt on each other. When we consider the NSW Right to Information and Privacy Practitioners Network, NIPPN, a membership of over 400 who gather together and share government information in a public forum under the prep school Chatham House Rules for protection of exposure and accountability, the mindset is absolutely clear. The public is dealing with a publicly-funded cartel.”
“Yes, the Information and Privacy Commissioners and their staff are active members of NIPPN. Yes, the CSO’s Kiri Mattes and others regularly attend and make presentations to NIPPN. Membership includes the CSO, NSW Ombudsman, ICAC, NSW Police, DCJ, every NSW government agency. It’s a cartel which has been operating in plain sight for over (2) two decades, breaching privacy, singling out members of the public, sharing management strategies. They’re not working to uphold OUR rights. They’re working to make accessing our beneficial legislation harder. They also unlawfully bypass the GIPA Act, asking for information from each other avoiding due process and record keeping mandates. One particular management strategy, a policy, was personally crafted by ex-NSW Police Superintendent Jodie Cobbin in DCJ, and she shared it state-wide; a strategy which has not seen due process or approval but which has been readily embraced. It’s the wild west!” stated Webb.
“This whole privacy fiasco is what’s scandalous. I was the only person in the room saying it’s not okay.”
Webb’s objection to Kiri Mattes representing the Information Commissioner is here.
A detailed analogy of NIPPN, its Terms of Reference, its membership, and Jodie Cobbin's personal management strategy is available here. Contact:
Kiri Mattes, kiri.mattes@cso.nsw.gov.au
Carla Wilson, carla.wilson@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Nathan Sloan, nathan.sloan@lindsaytaylorlawyers.com.au
Information & Privacy Commissioners, ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Tony Wickham, tony.wickham@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Tim Crosdale, tim.crosdale@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Lisa Marshall, lisa.marshall@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Holly Jamadar, holly.jamadar@portstephens.nsw.gov.au
Ian Naylor, ian.naylor@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Jodie Cobbin, Jodie.cobbin@dcj.nsw.gov.au The public is invited to comment on this article using the form below or contact Telina direct at info@nswfreedomofinformation.net.