NSW Public Forced to Undertake Forensic Risk Assessment In Response to Local Council’s Ongoing Unfounded Allegations They Pose a Serious Risk of Harm to the Community, 07.07.2019
Ongoing unfounded back door submissions to the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) which accuse members of the public of posing a serious risk of harm to the community have seen victims take the extraordinary step to undergo a forensic risk assessment as evidence the allegations are baseless.
Currently, NCAT is able to receive confidential submissions and evidence from NSW government agencies in Access to Information proceedings. Those proceedings concern Administrative Review of agency responses to requests for information. The current legislation the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, or GIPA, provides a legally enforceable right to access NSW government information.
GIPA was freely gifted by the NSW Parliament as the public’s beneficial legislation; it provides no benefit to the government, it serves the public. Parliament intended the legislation to ensure democracy, transparency and accountability.
However, when agencies are brought to NCAT for review of their administrative decisions, they often resort to tactics of secrecy which undermine the proceedings and the integrity of NCAT itself.
And here is where things get interesting. Confidential information provided to NCAT is withheld from the public. Agencies also have access to confidential sessions which see evidence and submissions absent of the public, completely unchallenged and untested.
Such has been the ongoing situation for one family, Telina Webb and Paul McEwan, formerly of the shire of Port Stephens Council. Both individuals have been in NCAT proceedings since mid-2016, seeking access to Council information which is categorised as open access and mandated for release. The information concerns a Development Application at their former property in Raymond Terrace.
Port Stephens Council’s Governance Manager Tony Wickham has been withholding information from Webb and McEwan since August 2011 on an allegation they pose a serious risk to public safety, and that withholding the information from them is keeping people safe…………………..
This leaves the reader with the absurdity the only person able to keep these apparent terrified people safe is Tony Leslie Wickham.
Seems this task is too much for law enforcement or security services, and the only way is to keep the records safe in Council’s compactus.
In February 2013 Tony Wickham published (2) two GIPA Decisions to refuse to provide Webb with requested information, stating she posed a serious risk of harm. He did so after he orchestrated an unlawful agreement with a member of the public to conceal and protect open access information mandated for release. The agreement was based on a fabricated claim of a risk of harm, and relying on the GIPA Act 2009 Section 14 Table 3(f).
What a fine example of local government governance!
“We are not getting any answers from Tony Wickham, just the same old claim we present some kind of risk. So we are now in NCAT endeavouring to seek access to administrative justice. We have offered our police records to the NCAT, showing the evidence we do not have any mark against us. NCAT refuses to read them. So now we’ve taken the extraordinary step of undertaking a forensic risk assessment. This has cost us several thousand dollars but we feel we have no choice. It shouldn’t take this kind of drastic action to be heard and exonerated,” stated Webb.
“Last year a Council contracted solicitor, Carlo Zoppo, had an apparent crisis of conscience and released an unredacted copy of a letter authored by Tony Wickham which was false and misleading. Wickham was informing an Investigating Officer of the Information Commission that apprehended violence orders had been issued against us, that police had been called to our neighbourhood due to disturbances involving us, and that we had attacked Council staff. He finished off his now infamous letter by stating there was a serious risk to public safety. None of this is true. It is shocking to realise what a corrupt individual this person in public office is,” stated Webb.
“At this point in time we are still trying to find out how far that letter has travelled, concerned agencies will protect Wickham under the GIPA Act Excluded Information clauses.”
The forensic risk assessment is being made available to NCAT Members on a view only basis, not provided in hard copy for the file, as Webb and McEwan are concerned this extremely sensitive document may be used and abused by a corrupt Local Council if it is given unrestricted access behind closed doors.
Tony Wickham’s false and misleading letter is available here. Contact: Lisa Marshall: lisa.marshall@portstephens.nsw.gov.au Tony Wickham: Tony.wickham@portstephens.nsw.gov.au Carlo Zoppo: www.lindsaytaylorlawyers.com.au Matthew Harker: www.lindsaytaylorlawyers.com.au
Currently, NCAT is able to receive confidential submissions and evidence from NSW government agencies in Access to Information proceedings. Those proceedings concern Administrative Review of agency responses to requests for information. The current legislation the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, or GIPA, provides a legally enforceable right to access NSW government information.
GIPA was freely gifted by the NSW Parliament as the public’s beneficial legislation; it provides no benefit to the government, it serves the public. Parliament intended the legislation to ensure democracy, transparency and accountability.
However, when agencies are brought to NCAT for review of their administrative decisions, they often resort to tactics of secrecy which undermine the proceedings and the integrity of NCAT itself.
And here is where things get interesting. Confidential information provided to NCAT is withheld from the public. Agencies also have access to confidential sessions which see evidence and submissions absent of the public, completely unchallenged and untested.
Such has been the ongoing situation for one family, Telina Webb and Paul McEwan, formerly of the shire of Port Stephens Council. Both individuals have been in NCAT proceedings since mid-2016, seeking access to Council information which is categorised as open access and mandated for release. The information concerns a Development Application at their former property in Raymond Terrace.
Port Stephens Council’s Governance Manager Tony Wickham has been withholding information from Webb and McEwan since August 2011 on an allegation they pose a serious risk to public safety, and that withholding the information from them is keeping people safe…………………..
This leaves the reader with the absurdity the only person able to keep these apparent terrified people safe is Tony Leslie Wickham.
Seems this task is too much for law enforcement or security services, and the only way is to keep the records safe in Council’s compactus.
In February 2013 Tony Wickham published (2) two GIPA Decisions to refuse to provide Webb with requested information, stating she posed a serious risk of harm. He did so after he orchestrated an unlawful agreement with a member of the public to conceal and protect open access information mandated for release. The agreement was based on a fabricated claim of a risk of harm, and relying on the GIPA Act 2009 Section 14 Table 3(f).
What a fine example of local government governance!
“We are not getting any answers from Tony Wickham, just the same old claim we present some kind of risk. So we are now in NCAT endeavouring to seek access to administrative justice. We have offered our police records to the NCAT, showing the evidence we do not have any mark against us. NCAT refuses to read them. So now we’ve taken the extraordinary step of undertaking a forensic risk assessment. This has cost us several thousand dollars but we feel we have no choice. It shouldn’t take this kind of drastic action to be heard and exonerated,” stated Webb.
“Last year a Council contracted solicitor, Carlo Zoppo, had an apparent crisis of conscience and released an unredacted copy of a letter authored by Tony Wickham which was false and misleading. Wickham was informing an Investigating Officer of the Information Commission that apprehended violence orders had been issued against us, that police had been called to our neighbourhood due to disturbances involving us, and that we had attacked Council staff. He finished off his now infamous letter by stating there was a serious risk to public safety. None of this is true. It is shocking to realise what a corrupt individual this person in public office is,” stated Webb.
“At this point in time we are still trying to find out how far that letter has travelled, concerned agencies will protect Wickham under the GIPA Act Excluded Information clauses.”
The forensic risk assessment is being made available to NCAT Members on a view only basis, not provided in hard copy for the file, as Webb and McEwan are concerned this extremely sensitive document may be used and abused by a corrupt Local Council if it is given unrestricted access behind closed doors.
Tony Wickham’s false and misleading letter is available here. Contact: Lisa Marshall: lisa.marshall@portstephens.nsw.gov.au Tony Wickham: Tony.wickham@portstephens.nsw.gov.au Carlo Zoppo: www.lindsaytaylorlawyers.com.au Matthew Harker: www.lindsaytaylorlawyers.com.au