Continuing in its steady successes to provide a unique and high-demand free public service to the NSW community, NSW Freedom of Information has revealed a few of its plans for expansion.

The service was initially inspired in response to the decade-long evidenced records of abuse of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, or GIPA, by Port Stephens Council's Right to Information & Governance Officers, coupled with the lack of information and support available to the general public.

It was also inspired by a Principal Member of the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal who suggested Ms Webb in February 2020 QUOTE "Why don't you write a paper or something" UNQUOTE, during NCAT proceedings with Council.

In 2021 the Site Administrator Telina Webb issued a media release which was published to several online news outlets.  The article concerned Ms Webb's victory over Port Stephens Council concerning its failure to secure a Section 110 Restraining Order under the GIPA Act 2009 against her.  The media release was subsequently deleted from the internet on the demand of Council's Governance Manager Tony Wickham and publicly paid solicitor Carlo Zoppo.

Documents released under GIPA to Ms Webb confirm Tony Wickham was instrumental in the issuing of a letter threatening defamation to those news outlets if they did not delete the article, using public monies to do so.  The defamation threat also made a number of misrepresentations, which was decidely and deliberately false and misleading.

It is the combination of these factors that resulted in the launching of this Site and its free community services.

To date the Office of the NSW Information & Privacy Commissioner (IPC) only offers generic information for the public, making clear it does not give any legal advice.  The IPC was created to be an authority and regulatory body focused on supporting NSW government agencies; with the enabling legislation making agency accountability a myth.

Those abuses of the legislation by Port Stephens Council were exposed, ironically, by the public's exercising its legally enforceable rights to access NSW government information (supposed rights).

Documentation released during that process included evidence of an unlawful agreement between Port Stephens Council's Governance Manager and Senior Right to Information Officer Tony Leslie Wickham and a private citizen, an agreement suggested and implemented by Mr Wickham, and which remains honoured and solidly in place to this date since its inception in March / April 2012, put in place to conceal open access records mandated for public release.

The documents still enjoying unlawful and unethical favourable protection are open access information records mandated for release under the legislation, Objecting Submissions to a Development Application, but which Mr Wickham and Port Stephens Council have expended unquantified public resources to hide.

The open access information, requested by the Administrator of this Site Telina Webb and her husband Paul McEwan, consisted of records pertaining to thieir own Development Application.  Such documents are generally published on agency websites and can be perused anonymously.

Clearly nothing has changed with Port Stephens Council in at least a decade as Mr Wickham maintains his vice-like grip on Council's compactus, supported at all times by his colleague Council's Head of Legal Services Lisa Helene Marshall.  Mr Wickham is on the record stating QUOTE "Nothing's to get past me.  Staff are already doing this, but just to make sure." UNQUOTE.

The duo were so determined to prevent Mr McEwan's legal rights to access Council records, in 2016 they deliberately and jointly made numerous false and misleading statements to the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) claiming the requested information was withheld from Mr McEwan because he presented a serious risk to public safety, with reference to "molestation of a person".  Those false claims were finally extinguished in 2021 with the NCAT rightfully determining there was "not a scintilla of evidence Mr McEwan posed the risk claimed," (at P 160).

Since that time further damning documents have been rightfully exposed, particularly a false and misleading letter written by Tony Wickham which he sent to an Investigating Officer of the IPC.  That letter falsely stated information was being withheld from Mr McEwan and Ms Webb because they posed a serious risk to public safety, that apprehended violence orders had been issued against them, that they had personally attacked Council staff, and police had been called to their neighbourhood due to disturbances involving them.

Since launching this free community service to assist the general public to exercise its rights to access NSW goverment information, the service has responded to hundreds of enquiries and heard numerous harrowing GIPA stories about the trauma and damage caused by an extensive number of NSW Agency Staff in the exercise of their GIPA duties, including the trauma members of the public continue to suffer in the NCAT arena.

As the demand for assistance continues, plans to expand on current services include additional petitioning to government for legislative change supported by documentary evidence, downloadable template letters to make requesting government information simpler and faster, independent (and satirical) caselaw and legislation commentary from the public's perspective, with dedicated pages publishing FOI Decision Documents, and agency statements, submissions and affidavits filed with the judiciary.

The Site also intends to publish a full unedited audit of documentation for select cases, exampling what the public can expect from those in positions of government role models and decision makers.

Flashback Friday will also feature on Social Media, republishing and sharing past media articles as a reminder of the issues covered and our ongoing journey towards a more open and accountable government.

Disclosing agencies' ready use of the Unreasonable Complainant Conduct Policy and Procedure, a biased and discriminatory guideline originating from the Office of the NSW Ombudsman over (2) two decades ago, will also reveal how agencies use policy against the public to further procrastinate legitimate access to information, with evidence showing agencies bypass protocols to achieve end goals including the imposition of false personal labels.

The Site will also highlight agency idiocy in the exercise of the GIPA Act 2009, where actions and documentation defy lodgic with the public expected to comply in order to progress valid access applications.  An example of this is where agencies insist GIPA Applicants first seek a third-party's consent for the release of personal information, which exposes GIPA Applicants and those giving consent to allegations of Consorting to Get Information under Section 110, 1(b).

"The public wants to be informed; about the GIPA process, rights, complaint handling attitudes, avenues of review, and much more.  It's a big job, and there is still so much to be done, but the need is absolutely clear and I plan to do as much as possible.  I am one person, doing this on my own, at times the backlog of enquiries is significant.  But until the NSW government releases its tight grip on the information it holds in line with the speech and intentions of Nathan Rees, relinquishing the old culture of government control, the public will continue to need and seek out help.  The public has the right to expect far more, and our public servants need to raise their standards and meet those expectations.  They also need to be held personally and publicly accountable.  This Site intends to do that at minimum," stated Telina Webb.

"Really, NSW FOI has been officially operating since September 2021, launched during the IPC's Right to Know Week 2021, but we're only getting started.  We have secured the remaining state and territory Freedom of Information URLs as we think very seriously about expanding across the country.  We are also trying very hard to secure the public's seat at the legislative discussion table given the IPC has confirmed the public to be its major stakeholder."

Port Stephens Council has officially registered as an IPC Right to Know Week Program Champion since at least 2014 when Council's Tony Wickham issued a media release stating words to the effect "Council is working very hard to make accessing information, particularly Development Application records, more easily accessible."

Given what occured when Ms Webb and Mr McEwan requested access to such records, these are empty words qualfiying as completely worthless propaganda.

And with the now exposed evidence of corruption, deception and misrepresentations to the NSW judiciary and a number of secondary agencies by Port Stephens Council's Tony Wickham and Lisa Marshall, the once dynamic duo are left with no credibity whatseover.