This media release was temporarily suspended on 25th March 2024 due to threats of legal action. A copy of those threats along with our responses have since been published as a matter of public interest, noting Council has not replied.

Goulburn-Mulwaree Shire Council Manager Governance Ms Maria Timothy today received a decision from the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) which inadvertently confirms she did not keep accurate minutes of a meeting where she unlawfully shared the personal information of a member of the public with other Local Government entities.

The subject meeting was accepted as having taken place by NCAT, recorded and referred to in its decision of Palerang Council, Queanbeyan City Council & Goulburn Mulwaree Council v Powell (2015) NSWCATAD 44, at Paragraph 43.
The NCAT decision published today concerned an Access Application for information believed to be held by Goulburn-Mulwaree Council, lodged by Telina Webb of NSW Freedom of Information, who naturally expected Council to have made a record of the meeting having read Mr Powell’s caselaw.
Given the judicial reference to it, and the fact Ms Timothy and others were confirmed to have participated in the meeting, Ms Webb had lodged her request believing the record of the meeting existed, particularly as it concerned legal proceedings and was further referred to in the Council’s Record Management Plan as satisfying a category of record that should be recorded and maintained.
Prior to lodging her Access Application with Goulburn-Mulwaree, Ms Webb had lodged applications for the same record(s) with cohort agency Palerang-Queanbeyan Council (formerly separated) which determined it also did not hold any record of the meeting. The Council neither confirmed or denied the meeting had taken place at its premises.
Likewise Goulburn-Mulwaree did not deny the meeting had taken place at is premises, and in fact the conduct of Ms Timothy through the Access Application and Administrative Review processes, where she disclosed she had substantial involvement in searching for the records including searching her own office, were indicative that the meeting had actually taken place on those Council premises.
“There are a number of issues here which are so blatantly obvious they are embarrassing, particularly when occasioned by someone wearing a badge of Manager Governance. Ms Timothy has clearly breached the State Records Act 1998 at first instance by not making any record of a meeting which concerned legal proceedings, and secondly, it appears she deliberately did not make any record of her collaborative actions to breach Mr Powell’s privacy, by sharing his personal information in the nature of his Access Applications with other agencies.Those actions were for the purposes of jointly lodging a Section 110 Restraining Order under the GIPA Act 2009 against Mr Powell. He was ambushed! It was a hatchet job!” states Ms Webb.

“This is an organisational and community role model, the Goulburn-Mulwaree Shire Council Corporate Policeperson, a senior executive well-paid for with hard-earned community money; and she has no hesitation in breaching the legislation, abusing her position, and actually working with other agencies to do that. Of course, if none of that is true the alternative is there IS a record, with Ms Timothy maintaining oversight of the searches, ensuring the record was not located or provided because of its damning content and personal implications.

This case shows it was not only Ms Timothy who acted in this way, colluding to the detriment of the public and breaching fundamental legislation, as the meeting involved secondary Council staff Deborah Ferguson Manager Executive Services Palerang Council, and William Warne Executive Manager – Legal & Risk Queanbeyan Council.”

Of further concern is the involvement of the Office of the NSW Information & Privacy Commissioner (IPC), which saw Ms Cathy McInnes apparently oblivious to the breaches staring up at her from the Councils’ documents.This is not the first time such conduct which supports agencies are totally open to breaching the public’s privacy has come to light.

The case of Department of Education v Zonnevylle (2020) NSWCATAD 96 is further evidence of NSW Government agencies colluding against members of the public, on that occasion the Applicant Department, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Finance all colluded against Mr Zonnevylle in order to secure the same Section 110 Application.

For Mr Zonnevylle however, these colluding agencies managed to secure a lifetime imposition, meaning it is perpetual with no possibility of “parole”. Mr Powell was fortunate his Section 110 imposition was only enforced for (2) two years.

The NCAT is on the record making it abundantly clear it has no interest in agency misconduct and has often stated it does not deal with it.Looking at Mr Zonnevylle’s case however it is clear NCAT is always interested in the actions of a respondent public facing such an agency application, refusing to remotely consider whether the deliberately collective departmental dossiers presented to support the Application are relevant or lawful. Regrettably it is the justifiable actions on the part of a respondent which are all too quickly used against them, when agency records evidence acting in ways to provoke a response.

With agencies unlawfully compiling and sharing dossiers, invoking policies and procedures designed to sabotage legitimate departmental enquiries and complaints from the public, particularly when government staff often sign off on documentation with “if you have any questions please contact me”, such seemingly friendly invitations to communicate are actually entrapment.

“Public servants are documented to procrastinate enquiries, deflect, disregard or discredit legitimate complaints, which sees the public frustrated and repeatedly petitioning for information and due responses. What the public doesn’t know is it’s a finely tuned strategy designed to criminalise the public for daring to exercise their legally enforceable rights (supposed). And of equal concern is the revelation the IPC is doing nothing about those she regulates, making them perfect jobs for those who blatantly ignore the rules,” stated Ms Webb.

Contact:
Maria Timothy, (02) 4823 4467
Deborah Ferguson, 1300 735 025
William Warne, (02) 9320 2726
Alice Menyhart, (02) 6274 0911

Amanda Keegan, (02) 4823 4444