Site Administrator

ABOUT THE SITE ADMINISTRATOR

Telina Webb is a freedom of information advocate.  She has extensive personal experience as a member of the public endeavouring to exercise her legally enforceable right to access NSW Government Information under the GIPA Act 2009.

Since August 2011 she has lodged approximately 200 Formal Requests for Information with a number of NSW Government Agencies, but most predominantly with Port Stephens Council.  She has also lodged hundreds of Informal Requests for information, most of which with Port Stephens Council.

The majority of her requests for information have concerned Open Access Information Mandated for Release free of charge, however responses to those requests have seen information repeatedly withheld entirely or heavily redacted, and severely charged for.

Both she and her husband’s freedom of information journeys saw them suffer in excess of 270 instances (that they are aware of) the Agency Port Stephens Council used the GIPA Act 2009 Section 14 Table 3 (f) to withhold open access information from them.  Section 14 Table 3  gives a NSW Government Agency the ability to claim an applicant, a person requesting government information, presents a serious risk of harm to members of the public and that information should be withheld on the basis of protecting “individuals the Act does not make clear”.

She has accrued damning documents showing how easy it can be for a so-minded Agency to make agreements and give favour to privileged members of the community, while denying others the same treatment, all concerning the exercise of the GIPA Act 2009.

In particular she has obtained documentary evidence of the Port Stephens Council Governance Manager / Corporate Policeman Tony Wickham personally writing a letter containing numerous false and misleading statements about her and her husband Tony Wickham knew to be untrue, a document written in connection with an agreement to give favour to a separate member of the public.  The letter was written to an Investigating Officer of the NSW Information & Privacy Commissioner (IPC) in response to a complaint concerning the lack of process afforded a request for information, information that has at all times remained open access and mandated for release.

Expectantly from an individual who has no issue or hesitation in making false and misleading statements about the public, is his contunued use of public monies to protest his innocence, even stating there is no evidence he has acted so.

Under current legislation such a document, the false and misleading letter, would be concealed and protected under the Exempt Information clause of the GIPA Act 2009, shielded from release to the public but readily available to any government agency.

However, Council's solicitor Carlo Zoppo of Sparke Helmore (previously of Lindsay Taylor Lawyers) having had a personal crisis of conscience, provided an unredacted copy of that letter to Telina Webb.  Carlo Zoppo would later state the letter "was an acceptable response" from Council to the IPC.

She would later confirm Port Stephens Council Governance Manager / Corporate Policeman Tony Wickham to be the individual who wrote the false and misleading letter to the IPC, therafter weaponising it, providing it to numerous other government agencies including the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, the NSW Office of Local Government, and the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal.

The letter was composed to deliberately paint the worst possible picture of Telina Webb and her husband Paul, falsely stating apprehended violence orders had been issued against them, that they had attacked staff, that police had been called to their neighborhood in relation to disturbances involving them, and that they presented a serious risk to public safety, false allegations crafted for the purpose of gaining support from those agencies for Council's decisions and actions in the exercise of the GIPA Act 2009.

Tony Wickham effectively criminalised both Telina Webb and her husband for asking for government information, covertly circulating the letter to numerous government departments, creating a moral panic at the mention of their names.

Separately and under cross examination during NCAT proceedings, Council's Tony Wickham stated words to the effect “I don’t have to prove anything” in response to questions about validating the claimed risk of harm, with reference to Section 55 (6) of the GIPA Act 2009 which states an agency is not required to verify any claim about any applicant but has full rights to use it.

There can be no doubt this kind of behaviour constitutes the purposeful criminalisation and victimisation of unsuspecting members of the public, individuals who simply endeavour to exercise their legally enforceable (supposed) rights.

Shockingly, some time later Port Stephens Council would provide an email trail between Tony Wickham and a member of the public recording that he, Tony Wickham, suggested the member of the public use Section 14 Table 3 (f), reassuring the same member with words to the effect "Staff have been instructed nothing's to get past me.  If the Commissioner (IPC) enquires about this matter Council will respond."

As this Site evolves, Section 14 Table 3 (f) of the GIPA Act 2009 will be open for discussion with the public, where opportunities to share GIPA experiences will be made available to any individual, and where conversations about Section 14 Table 3 (f) and its implications and final impact will be had.

Telina and her husband’s freedom of information journeys have also seen them endure and overturn damning case law the result of administrative reviews of GIPA decisions with the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).  Such case law resulted from Port Stephens Council's false allegations they presented a serious risk of harm to the public if information were provided to them.

Adding to her GIPA experiences, Telina Webb currently sits as the only individual to have successfully defeated an Agency’s repeated attempts to secure a Restraining Order under Section 110 of the GIPA Act 2009, an Order designed to control and limit the making of freedom of information requests by an individual, frustrating their attempts to access information and exercise their legal rights, seeing Port Stephens Council waste approximately $200,000.00 of public monies.

Since her NCAT journey commenced in 2016 Telina has lodged over 20 Applications for Review of GIPA Determinations with NCAT, and has successfully appealed 3 matters (2 of which involved multiple applications), including the successful appeal of Francis Marks' 110 Decision issued in March 2021 where she proved Mr Marks had acted with bias throughout the numerous earlier case conferences and the hearing itself.

In June 2021 Telina Webb issued a Media Release disseminating information about her NCAT successes concerning the Section 110 Applications against her, however documents have been accessed showing Port Stephens Council used public monies to have the article removed from the internet.  However she was not contacted about any comments that may have concerned Tony Wickham.

On 23rd July 2021 a Newcastle Local Magistrate stated words to the effect "it is clear to me we would not be here today if Port Stephens Council had done the right thing from the beginning."  He was commenting after digesting the extensive chronology of events, Council actions against Telina Webb and her husband, and Council's attitude to the GIPA Act 2009.

Telina and her husband are grateful for this Magistrate's ackowledgement of their difficult and avoidable journey, but most importantly the acknowledgement of Council's misconduct.

She invites all members of the community to the conversation about every aspect of the GIPA Act 2009, to discuss concerns and to share experiences, and of course to discuss Section 14 Table 3(f) and Section 110 which are both particularly powerful and damaging clauses of the legislation.

In each freedom of information matter including the failed Section 110 Applications against her, she represented herself and her husband.

Telina Webb is a criminologist, enabling her to continue understanding white collar crime, crimes often well-hidden behind government agency walls.  Such deliberate actions by protected agency personnel are documented to have an irreparable impact on unsuspecting members of the public due, in most instances simply because the agency received a request for information.

She is currently working towards a Juris Doctorate, with a focus on white collar crime and most particularly government agency corruption.

She is a registered lobbyist in NSW and will be working towards consulting with relevant ministers and policy makers for the purpose of effecting change to the current legislation inclusive of the GIPA Act 2009, the NCAT Act 2013, and the ADR Act 1997, all Acts which work together within the freedom of information arena, and all of which are formulated for the benefit of government and not its citizens.

Telina is an active member of a number of organisations:

*  Transparency International Australia
*  Australian & New Zealand Society of Criminology
*  Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
*  American Society of Criminology
* NSW Council of Civil Liberties

Based on the plethora of evidence courtesy of Port Stephens Council, even singling out the deliberately false and misleading letter authored and circulated by Tony Wickham, highlighting how agencies repeatedly misrepresent the legislation for the purpose of obstructing the public's rights has been made easy.

Prior to her new life as a freedom of information advocate, Telina enjoyed significant success with her self-styled label KabukiU (pronounced Ka-boo-kee-you), designing and creating her signature collection of Kimonos by Telina in 2004.  She initially showed her collection at the Sydney Bridal Expo in 2009 which saw her invited to New York Fashion Week the same year.  Telina was invited back to New York and showed additional seasonal Runway Collections in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Later in 2012 she showed in Sydney with Fashion Palette Australia.  In 2013 she cancelled a further invitation to New York Fashion Week due to two publications on Port Stephens Council's website, publications stating that open access information mandated for release was being withheld from her because she posed a serious risk of harm, harassment and intimidation, (to persons unknown) should the documents be provided to her (Decision 1, Decision 2).

Council's Tony Wickham has confirmed he is the individual responsible for those publications, conceding there was no requirement under the law to do so.  In other words, the legislation did not state not to, so why not!

The numerous decisions of this Council leading up to those publications resulted in Telina and her husband selling their home and relocating.

Both Telina and her husband Paul feel that since their NCAT decisions of April and June 2021, where they finally cleared their names from the continuous false claims of a risk of harm by a completely disingenuous individual, they are now able to rebuld their much-loved business KabukiU, with plans to re-launch and introduce complimentary new products on the foreseeable horizon.

Telina and Paul’s freedom of information journey and experiences will be made available shortly via this site.

If you would like to share your freedom of information experience, find out more about the public’s rights to access NSW government information, or work together to change the legislation please email info@nswfreedomofinformation.net and start the conversation.