Local Council Dodges Breach of Privacy Bullet by Claiming
“But the NCAT Published it First!”, 07.07.2023
The NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal, NCAT, today agreed with the Port Stephens Council Governance Manager / Corporate Policeman Tony Wickham, that a Powerpoint Presentation he created and shared with a number of members of the NSW Local Government Professionals did not breach privacy or cause personal information to be inaccurate, because he was only repeating information already published.
That case, identified as FHH (& FUU) v Port Stephens Council (2023) NSWCATAD 101, can now be disclosed as Telina Webb and her husband Paul McEwan as the applicants.
Tony Wickham had made the presentation to a number of NSW Local Government Professionals on 18th July 2018, a presentation which included direct reference to Ms Webb and her husband, with one slide in particular highlighting his false but initially successful claims the couple presented a serious risk to public safety, being “viz risk of harm or serious harassment or intimidation.”
Other slides within the presentation show Tony Wickham holds the “US” v “THEM” attitude to the public’s exercising its legally enforceable rights (supposed) to access NSW Government Information. He supports the texts with images of a hand squeezing blood out of a stone and a satirical cartoon image of senior citizens trying to access government information.
The presentation was referred to on the internet, and Ms Webb had requested a copy of it via the GIPA Act 2009. Council had allowed Ms Webb to view the document at Council’s premises where she discovered the names of her and her husband, with the numerous images obviously directed at them specifically.
Council’s defence for sharing the couple’s information in the public forum, and for presenting it inaccurately due to Tony Wickham’s personal knowledge he was the architect of the false claims and assisted a member of the public to use it, was simply put “But the NCAT Published it First! So I did nothing more than publish what was already publicly available!”
Tony Wickham was relying on the cases of McEwan v Port Stephens Council and Webb v Port Stephens Council, heard in March 2017, determined and published in September 2017, where those publications made reference to both individuals posing a serious risk to public safety. The claims were made by Tony Wickham in a confidential session with the NCAT, a session which precluded the couple, and where the tribunal did not test Tony Wickham’s concocted evidence.
The couple, not understanding where the claims of a risk harm came from at the time, offered the tribunal full access to their police records to validate their innocence, however the tribunal declined.
At the time of his publication Tony Wickham had participated in the preliminary Appeal Hearings of those (2) two cases, and was fully aware one senior NCAT member had scrutinised what had occurred in March 2017, stating in May 2018 “there’s no claim of a risk of harm, they (the authors of the requested information) just don’t want them to have it.”
Despite the realisation Port Stephens Council may very well lose the Appeal of the September 2017 decision, which would change the status of documents withheld, and extinguish Council’s claim of risk of harm, Tony Wickham chose not to wait for the outcome of the Appeal and instead held a presentation as an Executive Governance Member of the NSW Local Government Professionals, informing his audience consisting of third-party Council employees of his success at the first instance hearings.
It would take until mid-2021 for Ms Webb and her husband Paul McEwan to finally clear their names from the false and misleading claims by Council that they presented a risk of harm to any person, with a senior member of the NCAT finally making it clear “…….taking all of the above evidence at its highest, there is not a scintilla of evidence that the "safety or well-being" of any person would or might be affected or impacted if the applicant accessed the disputed information presently redacted in the documents released to him…….”
In the meantime of that vindication, in mid-2019 the tribunal would order Port Stephens Council to release a bundle of documents initially withheld, documents which would produce a number of damning records authored by Tony Wickham personally, including an email trail recording an unlawful agreement between Tony Wickham and a member of the public to conceal and protect open access information mandated for release, on the false premise Ms Webb and Mr McEwan posed a serious risk to public safety.
The open access information were Objecting Submissions to Council’s DA No: 483 of 2011, documents which have still not been made public.
Tony Wickham suggested the use of the GIPA Act 2009 Section 14 Table 3(f) to ensure the Objecting Submissions would be protected, which he knew would be false in its application.
He then went on to assure the party to the agreement “staff have been told nothing’s to get past me, they are already doing this, but just to make sure.”
Clearly this was an abuse of power and position, and most importantly documents' Council executives on the record acting with bias and favour when the situation suits, and showing no hesitation in breaching legislation for the purpose.
Tony Wickham would also inform the party to the agreement “If the (Information) Commissioner makes any enquiries about this, Council will respond,” in other words ‘I’ve got your back mate, I’ll take care of everything!’
And that is exactly what he did when the Commissioner did make enquiries of Council, with Tony Wickham again taking the initiative to reiterate the false claims of a risk of harm, but this time he raised those false allegations up several notches.
His letter to the Commissioner, which clearly listed the names of Ms Webb and her husband Mr McEwan, falsely informed an Investigating Officer of the Commissioner’s Office, that apprehended violence orders had been issued against them, that police had been called to their neighbourhood due to disturbances involving them, that they had attacked staff, and that they presented a serious risk to public safety.
All these actions occurred prior to Tony Wickham’s presentation of July 2018.
All these actions occurred prior to the March 2017 proceedings.
As such Tony Wickham, the architect of the ‘viz risk of harm or serious harassment or intimidation’ as highlighted in his presentation to third-party Council employees and members of the NSW Local Government Professionals, knew at all times the claim was absolutely and completely false, initiated and implemented by him personally as the architect.
There are at least (38) thirty-eight Council employees and Councilors aware of the unlawful agreement and the false and misleading letter to the IPC, some of which have created false Council records to support and align with it. There is no evidence any individual has blown the whistle.
There are at least (34) thirty-four judicial members and solicitors aware of the unlawful agreement and the false and misleading letter to the IPC, with no evidence a single one has duly reported Tony Wickham’s actions as officers of the court.
The unlawful agreement was initiated, suggested, and implemented by Tony Leslie Wickham in March / April 2012 and will remain in place until either the agreement expires or a law enforcement agency intervenes.
The frightening conclusion about this case is however, even if the NCAT gets it wrong as it does on a regular basis and did in the initial cases of both McEwan and Webb v Port Stephens Council, “If the NCAT publishes it, even if you have personal knowledge it’s false and misleading, it’s quite okay for you to publish it too!”
Contact:
Tony Wickham, (02) 4988 0187
That case, identified as FHH (& FUU) v Port Stephens Council (2023) NSWCATAD 101, can now be disclosed as Telina Webb and her husband Paul McEwan as the applicants.
Tony Wickham had made the presentation to a number of NSW Local Government Professionals on 18th July 2018, a presentation which included direct reference to Ms Webb and her husband, with one slide in particular highlighting his false but initially successful claims the couple presented a serious risk to public safety, being “viz risk of harm or serious harassment or intimidation.”
Other slides within the presentation show Tony Wickham holds the “US” v “THEM” attitude to the public’s exercising its legally enforceable rights (supposed) to access NSW Government Information. He supports the texts with images of a hand squeezing blood out of a stone and a satirical cartoon image of senior citizens trying to access government information.
The presentation was referred to on the internet, and Ms Webb had requested a copy of it via the GIPA Act 2009. Council had allowed Ms Webb to view the document at Council’s premises where she discovered the names of her and her husband, with the numerous images obviously directed at them specifically.
Council’s defence for sharing the couple’s information in the public forum, and for presenting it inaccurately due to Tony Wickham’s personal knowledge he was the architect of the false claims and assisted a member of the public to use it, was simply put “But the NCAT Published it First! So I did nothing more than publish what was already publicly available!”
Tony Wickham was relying on the cases of McEwan v Port Stephens Council and Webb v Port Stephens Council, heard in March 2017, determined and published in September 2017, where those publications made reference to both individuals posing a serious risk to public safety. The claims were made by Tony Wickham in a confidential session with the NCAT, a session which precluded the couple, and where the tribunal did not test Tony Wickham’s concocted evidence.
The couple, not understanding where the claims of a risk harm came from at the time, offered the tribunal full access to their police records to validate their innocence, however the tribunal declined.
At the time of his publication Tony Wickham had participated in the preliminary Appeal Hearings of those (2) two cases, and was fully aware one senior NCAT member had scrutinised what had occurred in March 2017, stating in May 2018 “there’s no claim of a risk of harm, they (the authors of the requested information) just don’t want them to have it.”
Despite the realisation Port Stephens Council may very well lose the Appeal of the September 2017 decision, which would change the status of documents withheld, and extinguish Council’s claim of risk of harm, Tony Wickham chose not to wait for the outcome of the Appeal and instead held a presentation as an Executive Governance Member of the NSW Local Government Professionals, informing his audience consisting of third-party Council employees of his success at the first instance hearings.
It would take until mid-2021 for Ms Webb and her husband Paul McEwan to finally clear their names from the false and misleading claims by Council that they presented a risk of harm to any person, with a senior member of the NCAT finally making it clear “…….taking all of the above evidence at its highest, there is not a scintilla of evidence that the "safety or well-being" of any person would or might be affected or impacted if the applicant accessed the disputed information presently redacted in the documents released to him…….”
In the meantime of that vindication, in mid-2019 the tribunal would order Port Stephens Council to release a bundle of documents initially withheld, documents which would produce a number of damning records authored by Tony Wickham personally, including an email trail recording an unlawful agreement between Tony Wickham and a member of the public to conceal and protect open access information mandated for release, on the false premise Ms Webb and Mr McEwan posed a serious risk to public safety.
The open access information were Objecting Submissions to Council’s DA No: 483 of 2011, documents which have still not been made public.
Tony Wickham suggested the use of the GIPA Act 2009 Section 14 Table 3(f) to ensure the Objecting Submissions would be protected, which he knew would be false in its application.
He then went on to assure the party to the agreement “staff have been told nothing’s to get past me, they are already doing this, but just to make sure.”
Clearly this was an abuse of power and position, and most importantly documents' Council executives on the record acting with bias and favour when the situation suits, and showing no hesitation in breaching legislation for the purpose.
Tony Wickham would also inform the party to the agreement “If the (Information) Commissioner makes any enquiries about this, Council will respond,” in other words ‘I’ve got your back mate, I’ll take care of everything!’
And that is exactly what he did when the Commissioner did make enquiries of Council, with Tony Wickham again taking the initiative to reiterate the false claims of a risk of harm, but this time he raised those false allegations up several notches.
His letter to the Commissioner, which clearly listed the names of Ms Webb and her husband Mr McEwan, falsely informed an Investigating Officer of the Commissioner’s Office, that apprehended violence orders had been issued against them, that police had been called to their neighbourhood due to disturbances involving them, that they had attacked staff, and that they presented a serious risk to public safety.
All these actions occurred prior to Tony Wickham’s presentation of July 2018.
All these actions occurred prior to the March 2017 proceedings.
As such Tony Wickham, the architect of the ‘viz risk of harm or serious harassment or intimidation’ as highlighted in his presentation to third-party Council employees and members of the NSW Local Government Professionals, knew at all times the claim was absolutely and completely false, initiated and implemented by him personally as the architect.
There are at least (38) thirty-eight Council employees and Councilors aware of the unlawful agreement and the false and misleading letter to the IPC, some of which have created false Council records to support and align with it. There is no evidence any individual has blown the whistle.
There are at least (34) thirty-four judicial members and solicitors aware of the unlawful agreement and the false and misleading letter to the IPC, with no evidence a single one has duly reported Tony Wickham’s actions as officers of the court.
The unlawful agreement was initiated, suggested, and implemented by Tony Leslie Wickham in March / April 2012 and will remain in place until either the agreement expires or a law enforcement agency intervenes.
The frightening conclusion about this case is however, even if the NCAT gets it wrong as it does on a regular basis and did in the initial cases of both McEwan and Webb v Port Stephens Council, “If the NCAT publishes it, even if you have personal knowledge it’s false and misleading, it’s quite okay for you to publish it too!”
Contact:
Tony Wickham, (02) 4988 0187