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Forbidden by law

 

Chapter 11

 

Absent Justice - The Hon David Hawker MP

(see Bad Bureaucrats File No/11 – Part One and File No/11 – Part Two)

Copper Wire was not compatible

On 4 September 2006, The Hon David Hawker MP, Speaker in the House of Representatives, provided a copy of Darren Lewis letter to the Hon Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, with a two-page statutory declaration noting:

“Letters from us to our local Federal Member of Parliament, the Hon David Hawker, Speaker in the House of Representatives, led to Telstra visiting our business to investigate these continuing problems.

“After Telstra rewired the business including disconnecting a Telstra installed faulty phone alarm bell, we were informed Telstra had found other problems and believed who ever had installed the wiring had done an unprofessional job.

“Internal Telstra documentation provided to me by Allan Smith confirmed Telstra themselves had done the wiring.

“Jenny and I noticed that although our incoming-call rate had more than doubled once this wiring had taken place Telstra was still unable to provide a satisfactory reason as to why we were still having problems. …

“The technicians then in a hookup consultation with outside office guru’s [sic] did a fault graph reading on our 55 267267 line with the outcome that their office technical staff stated words to the affect [sic] the reading was impossible (couldn’t be correct). It was then that the local technician became quite annoyed when the technical guru insinuated that the equipment the local tech was using must be faulty. The local tech then informed the technical guru that there was nothing wrong with the equipment at all.” (See Main Evidence File No 13)

Most, if not all, of the COT cases suffered from sleep disorders and stress for years as a result of their battles, with Telstra’s senior management who continued to deny there was ever a phone problem affecting their businesses.  It was these type of denials by Telstra employees like Tony Watson after the COT Cases had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in arbitration fees after the government had promised would be fixed as part of the government endorsed processes that caused so much damage. 

Absent Justice -  Cape Bridgewater Holiday Camp and Residence

I provided Ms Howard with a letter dated 21 March 1999 and addressed to the Casualties of Telstra, C/- The Small Business Show, Channel Nine. This letter suggests others who ran afoul of Telstra had suicided:

“I watched your show on Sunday morning carrying the piece on Telstra. I was interested to hear of Telstra’s lies under oath, destruction of evidence, etc, etc.

“I started a lawsuit 2½ years ago against Telstra for breach of contract during their cable TV rollout. They have placed every obstacle in our way and dragged the case out to try to bleed us dry. They sent dozens of contracting companies such as mine to the wall by manipulating markets and breaching contracts. Only 3 companies have had the resources to fight them. Unfortunately two company owners have allegedly committed suicide due to the loss of their homes and families as a consequence of Telstra’s actions, although this would be difficult to prove.

“As a direct consequence I have lost my home, separated from my wife, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and a twenty year old business and fought a very dirty legal battle. My other partners have had to sell or re mortgage homes and one has retired without any of the security he should have had from ownng [sic] a business for over twenty years.” (See Home Evidence File No/7)

I also provided another letter received by me, dated 8 November 2002, from a man in South Australia, stating:

“I am writing to you following viewing the Channel 9 Sunday Program on 3/11/02. After viewing the Sunday program, I realised the similarities you [sic] business and others had with Telstra some ten years ago with the similarities our building business had, when we lived at Bridgewater. …

“During this period of time I was on a call talking to a councilor [sic]. She believed that the conversation we were having was being bugged, or listened into, and we immediately ceased the call. …

“Our phone problem had such a negative effect on our building business over a period of time that our work dried up and or [sic] business shut down.” (See Home Evidence File No/15)

I believe Darren first became concerned about the possibility that his phone conversations also may have been illegally listened to when he discovered my accreditation file in the camp office, where I had inadvertently left it when handing the camp over to Darren. This file included Australian Federal Police/Telstra intercept documents, including one dated 14 April 1994 from Telstra to the AFP, notifying them that Telstra had installed equipment in the Portland exchange so that a bell would ring whenever I received an incoming telephone call, enabling the person on duty to listen in on those conversations. After reading the letters I supplied, letters Ms Howard drew up a Risk Management Plan for Darren to use (AS-CAV Exhibits 589 to 647 - See Exhibit AS 629), including a warning that, if Darren felt suicidal again, he should not only share those thoughts with his wife but also with me as well as with Portland Health.

And now, here was Telstra in 2002/2003 – nine years after my arbitration process – still having not fixed my original telephone problems and making sure that the Lewis’ ongoing telephone problems were also not transparently investigated because to do so would prove just how delusive and undemocratic my arbitration process was. The Lewises’ lives, like mine and my partner’s, were insignificant as long as Telstra’s network deception remained protected … at all costs. (see also Chapter 4 The New Owners Tell Their Story  and  Chapter 5 Immoral - hypocritical conduct).

A number of politicians from both sides of the house, I am sure, are aware Absent Justice My Story is not a site that attacks the government with vexatious accusations of malice. The website was set up in January 2015, 20 years after I tried every conceivable way to prove my claims: that NONE of my ongoing billing faults, raised with the government in 1993 and 1994 by my then Federal Member of Parliament the Hon David Hawker MP and Shadow Minister for Communications the Hon Richard Alston, were addressed during my government-endorsed arbitration of 1994. I have always maintained, as have many government ministers from both sides of the House, that the first four COT case arbitrations were facilitated in order to fix the COT cases’ telephone problems, as well as to award damages if the claimant proved his claims. The arbitrator Dr Hughes found Telstra was indeed deficient in its supply of a phone service for the whole period of my claim.

However, TIO records show it was warned by AUSTEL, on 3 October 1995 (five months after Dr Hughes brought down his award), that NONE of my ongoing billing telephone faults raised in my arbitration were investigated or addressed during my arbitration. The TIO (the administrator of my arbitration) did nothing to transparently investigate why the arbitration process did not address these still-ongoing billing problems, even after being further advised, on 15 November 1995, by the TIO arbitration project manager John Rundell that NONE of my arbitration billing faults were addressed by the arbitrator.

 

Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman

Absent Justice - TIO

FOI folio I00271 and I00265

I use the two following Telstra FOI documents, folio I00271 and I00265 (see Our Saga File N0 3-A to 3-Cas a testament that the TIO knew my ongoing billing faults continued for years after my arbitration; I can provide, on request, government records showing the TIO misled and deceived government ministers, over many years, concerning the validity of my claim. Telstra FOI document folio I00271 (File N0 3-A), dated 24 October 2002 has been used here to support that the TIO was fully aware of the ongoing telephone and faxing problems being experienced by Darren and Jenny Lewis after they purchased my business. This document folio I00271 states:

“The TIO have now raised a level 1 complaint on behalf of Mr & Mrs Lewis. The TIO have specifically mentioned in their correspondence that the TIO have previously investigated a number of complaints raised by [blank-blank] the previous account holder for this service in which similar issues were raised.”

The blanking out of my name does not hide the fact that I was the previous account holder of that telephone service.

The second Telstra FOI folio, I00265 (File N0 3-B), dated 24 October 2002, states:

“David Hawker MP has written to Senator Alston on 10 October and included a 3 October letter from Darren and Jenny Lewis. This 3 October letter has been cc’d to the TIO but doesn’t seem to have made its way into Telstra yet. Will follow in Cicero and respond accordingly. Hopefully, the TIO will become involved and that will take the Minister and Member out of the equation.”

I highlight FOI folio I00265 because it is a good example of how valid claims can so easily be hidden from any Minister in government if the TIO becomes involved. It is clear from the above statement that these ongoing faults at Darren and Jenny Lewis’ business would remain hidden if the then Minister (which was then-Senator Richard Alston) and the Member (which was The Hon David Hawker were kept “out of the equation.”

Numerous other documents on my website clearly show other government Ministers apart from The Hon Senator Richard Alston and The Hon David Hawker MP have been misleading and deceived over the validity of my claims that my arbitration did not address my ongoing telephone and faxing problems that in the end, left me little option but to sell my holiday camp.

I believe that Darren first became concerned about the possibility that his phone conversations also may have been illegally listened to when he discovered my accreditation file in the camp office, where I had inadvertently left it when handing the Camp over to Darren. This file included Australian Federal Police/Telstra intercept documents, including one dated 14 April 1994 from Telstra to the AFP, notifying them that Telstra had installed equipment in the Portland exchange so that a bell would ring whenever I received an incoming telephone call, so that the person on duty could then listen in on those conversations. I provided this Risk Management Plan (AS-CAV Exhibits 589 to 647 - See exhibit AS 629) to the Australian Government as well as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal during my 2008 Freedom of Information hearing – No V2008/1836.

About six weeks after Ms Howard’s visit, Darren came to tell me he was considering selling up, but was worried about what to tell prospective buyers about the telephone problems. He accepted that when I had sold the business to him I had firmly believed that Telstra would fix the problems once I was no longer involved, and he agreed that he had also expected this to happen. But he felt now that he could not sell the business without divulging the continuing nature of those problems.

The Portland Coastal Real Estate Agency recorded two offers for the Camp, of $1,300,000 in April 2007 and $1,200,000 in June, before Darren withdrew the property from the market. Technical guru Brian Hodge, who had previously worked for Telstra for 29 years, inspected the place and provided Darren with a report in July 2007, which noted that the faults were actually getting worse.

BCI and SVT reports - Section One

Absent Justice - My Story

Who highjacked the BCI and SVT Reports 

The following Federal Magistrates Court letter dated 3 December 2008, from Darren Lewis, was never discussed by the government or Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or its relevance to several arbitration documents in 1994 to 1995 being highjacked, i.e., never arriving at the arbitrator's office. This 3 December 2008 letter, compared with my 2008 Administrative Appeals Tribunal during October 2008 and 2011 (see Chapter 9 - The ninth remedy pursued  and Chapter 12 - The twelfth remedy pursued), is undoubtedly linked to Telstra having a mole in Australia Post. My letter to the Hon. David Hawker MP on 29 October 2001 explains how relevant arbitration mail never reached the arbitrator. Several letters attached to this website, absentjustice.com and Chapter 4 - Government spying  and Australian Federal Police Investigations, confirm I discussed lost emails during my arbitration as never having arrived at the arbitrator's office.

My letter to the Hon David Hawker MP, (see File 274 - AS-CAV Exhibit 282 to 323), clearly indicates that even the Portland Australia Post office staff know that the security of specific mail leaving the Portland Post Office cannot be given the green light. So what was the use of me road mailing my arbitration documents to the arbitrator in 1994 and 1995 and the new owners of my business sending similar Telstra-related documents to the Federal Magistrate Court when there was a big chance the mail would not arrive? Darren and Jenny Lewis (the new owners of my business letter of 3 December 2008, is just further alarming information that the government has not transparently investigated (see the following statement by Darren Lewis to the Federal Magistrates Court:

Towards the end of 2008 Darren was before the Federal Court because of overdue taxes and was filing paperwork for bankruptcy.

In 2008, Darren Lewis wrote to the Federal Magistrates Court stating:

I was advised by Ms McCormick that the Federal Magistrates Court had only received on 5th December 2008 an affidavit prepared by Alan Smith dated 2 December 2008. PLEASE NOTE: I originally enclosed with Alan Smith’s affidavit in the (envelope) overnight mail the following documents:

  1. Two 29 page transparent s/comb bound report titled SVT & BCI – Federal Magistrates Court File No (P) MLG1229/2008 prepared by Alan Smith in support of my claims that I had inherited the ongoing telephone problems and faults when I purchased the Cape Bridgewater Holiday Camp
  2. Two s/comb transparent bound documents titled Exhibits 1 to 34
  3. Two s/comb transparent bound documents titled Exhibits 35 to 71 (the attached 71 Exhibits was enclosed in support of Alan Smith’s 29 page report);
  4. Three CD Disks which incorporated all of the submitted material.

“On learning from Ms McCormick that the information discussed above in points 1 to 4 had not been received by the Federal Magistrates Court I again had a stress attack seizure, a problem I have been suffering with for quite some time due to the predicament I now find myself in and the disbelief that once again my mail has been intercepted. I have attached herewith dated 3rd December 2008, a copy of the Australia Post overnight mail receipt docket numbers SV0750627 and SV0750626 confirming the total cost to send the above aforementioned information was $21.80. I am sure Australia Post would confirm that a large amount of documents would have been enclosed in these two envelopes when they left Portland. (See My Story Evidence File 12-A to 12-B)

Australia Post will not charge any postage fee for an overnight parcel unless they stamp and retain it. Since neither of these parcels arrived at their proper destination with all of the information originally enclosed, those documents must, therefore, have been ‘lost’ between the Portland Post Office and the Magistrates Court.

As I have reported throughout this webpage numerous Telstra COT related arbitration documents (like those lost on route to the Federal Magistrates Court in December 2008) were also lost during 1994/95 on route to the arbitrator hearing my case.

As Darren’s letter shows, I helped him prepare his bankruptcy appeal against the Australian Taxation Office (for back taxes) using my own evidence that the Telstra Corporation, knowingly submitted two false and fundamentally flawed Cape Bridgewater reports to the arbitrator during my arbitration, to deliberately mislead the arbitrator into believing that there were no more ongoing phone problems affecting my business.

Absent Justice - TIO

I use the two following Telstra FOI documents, folio I00271 and I00265 (see Our Saga File N0 3-A to 3-Cas a testament that the TIO knew my ongoing billing faults continued for years after my arbitration. Government records showing the TIO misled and deceived government ministers, over many years, concerning the validity of my claim. Telstra FOI document folio I00271 (File N0 3-A), dated 24 October 2002 has been used here to support that the TIO was fully aware of the ongoing telephone and faxing problems being experienced by Darren and Jenny Lewis after they purchased my business. This document folio I00271 states:

“The TIO have now raised a level 1 complaint on behalf of Mr & Mrs Lewis. The TIO has specifically mentioned in their correspondence that the TIO has previously investigated a number of complaints raised by [blank-blank] the previous account holder for this service in which similar issues were raised.”

The blanking out of my name does not hide the fact that I was the previous account holder of that telephone service.

The second Telstra FOI folio, I00265 (File N0 3-B)dated 24 October 2002, states:

“David Hawker MP has written to Senator Alston on 10 October and included a 3 October letter from Darren and Jenny Lewis. This 3 October letter has been cc'd to the TIO but does not seem to have made its way into Telstra yet. I will follow in Cicero and respond accordingly. Hopefully, the TIO will become involved, and that will take the Minister and Member out of the equation.”

I have highlighted FOI folio I00265 because it is a good example of how valid claims against Telstra was so easily be hidden from the relevant Minister in government, i.e., if the TIO became involved. 

It is clear from the above statement that these ongoing faults at Darren and Jenny Lewis.’ business would remain hidden if the then Minister (which was then-Senator Richard Alston) and the Member (which was The Hon David Hawker were kept “out of the equation.”

These were the same ongoing telephone faults that the arbitrator failed to investigate during my arbitration.

In August 2009 Darren and Jenny Lewis walked off the property as the result of a bankruptcy court order. The camp was sold for less than $600,000, even though the local real estate broker could have sold it two years previous for $1.2 million dollars (refer Cape Bridgewater Eco-Tourism Venture -) 

Chapter 12

Summing up the years

There is something in me that won’t let me walk away, that won’t accept defeat. For several years after my ‘award’ was handed down, I continued to make my case against the issues in my arbitration that were never addressed by the arbitrator; in every case to no avail.

Over the same years, the COT members have sent updated information supporting our various claims to Warrick Smith, Richard Alston, Amanda Vanstone and other appropriate ministers, officials, politicians and senators. I have provided documented proof, again and again, that my arbitration was not carried out according to the principles of natural justice. In 2014, I briefed the Hon. Tony Abbott, Prime Minister, the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Communications.

I have twice gone to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal seeking documents I had been promised for my arbitration, with limited success.

Three times I have complained to the Institute of Arbitrators. The first I have already described in Chapter 9. Then in 2001 the Institute agreed to investigate fresh evidence. This was the time Mr Nosworthy informed me the arbitrator was not qualified in the course of my arbitration. Despite this, the Institute found there was no case to answer. Finally in July 2009, the Institute of Arbitrators Mediators Australia (IAMA), again agreed to investigate further fresh evidence. Among other items of evidence, I submitted the words of the TIO at the Senate Estimates Committee, that the ‘process conducted entirely outside the ambit of the arbitration procedure.’ (See page 99 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA - Parliament of Australia.

Institute of Arbitrators Mediators Australia 

Absent Justice - 12 Remedies Persued - 11

In October 2009, I sent the IAMA further evidence from forensic technical consultants attesting that someone with access to Telstra’s network had been screening and intercepting claim documents pertaining to at least four separate COT arbitrations. This material showed that for at least seven years after my arbitration was concluded someone was screening and intercepting faxed documents leaving my residence and my business before redirecting that information on to its intended destination.The arbitrator had officially agreed to address this issue of interception, but he did not. Under the terms of arbitration, he was legally bound to provide findings on all materials, but he made no reference to interception at all. This was clearly a matter for the IAMA. But their response when I proffered the supporting documentation was less than enthusiastic:

Presently, IAMA does not require this further documentation to be sent. However, the investigating persons will be notified of these documents and may request them at a later date …

No one has requested them.

I have had to ask myself, is it only me who sees the enormity of this interception of confidential, arbitration-related documents? Is it only me who is bothered about how many other Australian arbitration processes may be subject to this type of hacking, secretly and illegally screening documents before they arrive at their intended destination?

But I am not alone. One of the two forensic technical consultants attesting to the validity of their findings in that report, wrote to me on 17 December 2014:

I still stand by my statutory declaration that I was able to identify that the incoming faxes provided to me for review had at some stage been received by a secondary fax machine and then retransmitted, this was done by identifying the dual time stamps on the faxes. 

The last I heard from the IAMA Ethics and Professional Affairs Committee was in 2014. Despite their agreement to investigate, they refused to hand down any findings. I have asked them on many occasions and their refusal is implacable.

I went to the TIO to complain, but his response was brusque: ‘Your arbitration is over.’

One bright note did follow from the AFP investigation into the COT cases. Even though I was unable to benefit from their work, when the AFP reported to the Minister that COT claimants’ phone conversations had been intercepted, this led to amendments in the Telecommunications Interception Act in 1995, aimed at protecting users’ privacy.

So, it is true, my arbitration is over. Even so, I am still hopeful for justice from a system that promised to give it to us.

We COT members feel we have been let down by every government office we have approached for help in the face of a stonewalling Telstra and an uncooperative TIO. It is as if we are too small fry. Our problems don’t matter. We may receive replies from the relevant minister or department, but there is no follow up, no teeth in them. Only the Commonwealth Ombudsman has consistently performed its role in accordance with the principles of what is lawful and just. Ministers when in Opposition are helpful, but once they are in government, we become non grata again.

When I look back over the years since my ‘award’ was handed down I recall many moments when I contemplated giving up the fight. But how could I when the ‘award’ left out, ignored or dismissed so much? When the terms of the ‘award’ were based on fabrications and lies as blatant and easily uncovered as saying tourism numbers in my region had dropped over the period of my claim, when all the statistics showed an increase. When the chairman of Austel promised us consequential losses would be included in any awards made, but this did not happen? How could I after all the financial loss involved in preparing my case, and the business I lost, so that I was forced to re-mortgage three times just to stay in the fight to bring these matters to the attention of the Australian public and the communications minister?

If Telstra had addressed the issues of lost faxes and eavesdropping, I would probably have accepted the award — indeed, if the arbitrator had addressed the issue of lost faxes and eavesdropping, I would probably have accepted, albeit reluctantly. If the arbitrator had addressed the incorrect charging, I would have accepted. And if the arbitrator had raised the issue of Telstra using falsified and impracticable documents as part of their defence I would not have questioned his integrity. If he had been appropriately qualified, I would have had more grounds for confidence in him. As it is, on so many grounds outlined in this book, the arbitrator was far from impartial and therefore not an independent adjudicator in my arbitration. But on all of these issues my claims were effectively silenced — by being ignored.

Conflict of Interest

Absent Justice - Conflict of Interest

No author should write only part of a story based on fact while leaving out a relevant part of the story because it might be seen as detrimental to another person in the story. A full factual account of what happened during the COT arbitrations is necessary: both the good and the bad.

So, I must raise a conflict of interest that clearly affected the whole outcome of the first four arbitrations. I felt it was best to leave this issue to last.

What has been decidedly the hardest decision for me to make since I began telling the COT storey is exposing the conflict-of-interest issue between Graham Schorer (Golden Messenger) and Dr Gordon Hughes. For Telstra (the defendants in those four arbitrations) to have allowed this the conflict-of-interest issue with existing before the four complainants signed the arbitration agreement in April 1994 suggests that Telstra saw an advantage to their defence by allowing it. I only uncovered this conflict-of-interest issue in 2008, after Graham Schorer asked me in August 2006 to write several reports concerning the COT story. 

After I had exposed to Graham/Golden how his conflict-of-interest with the arbitrator had benefitted him and not the other COT Cases and that this conduct by Dr Hughes was more than questionable and had the senate knew about this conflict of interest issue at the time of their 1997 to 1999 (Freedom of Information) investigations, this would have been enough for the senate to instigate a full-blown Senate hearing, and he wanted to the right the wrongs by submitting to the senate the reports I was writing.  This providing my reports to those senators he had met in Canberra would help him to live with what he had done. This was to be his redemption. He felt ashamed for having benefitted from his previous association with Dr Hughes, and the other COT Cases had not.

Some years into my research regarding Graham’s involvement in the COT arbitration’s I uncovered Dr Gordon Hughes had been assisting Graham/Golden in his Golden Messenger business enterprise as well as acting as his Federal court lawyer during the early part of Graham’s previous 1990 to 1993 court action against Telstra. These were the very same technical issues he was appointed by the TIO in 1994 to assess as arbitrator in all four COT claims against Telstra.

When I asked Graham to please explain why he had concealed this conflict-of-interest from me before arbitration as well as before commissioning me to write the COT story; he wrote the following document exhibit GS 565 file GS-CAV 459 to 489 as a compromise if I would continue with the project at hand.

For the second time within days, Graham again confided in me his sense of guilt for not exposing this conflict of interest during the period the Senator was investigating his Freedom of Information FOI matters which awarded him 3,600 million dollars. He felt guilty as the COT spokesperson for not having done more for the remaining (sixteen COT Cases who also had the same FOI problems with Telstra during their various litigation processes). I reiterate his paying for me to expose this whole dreadful saga was his way of righting his wrongs for not having done more as the COT spokesperson.

It is as important to look at this conflict-of-interest issue from the perspective of the other COT claimants as it is to look at it from Graham’s perspective because, as Graham’s earlier legal advisor in both his business ventures and his Federal Court Telstra matters. Because if Dr Hughes, as Graham alleges, he did know about the concealment of important documents Graham/Golden litigation against Telstra in the Federal court from 1990 to 1992, then we three COT Cases Ann Garms, Maureen Gillan and I were entitled to have been briefed on this matter. The fact that Telstra and the Establishment got away with this during a federal court action is one thing, but for Dr Hughes and/or members of the legal firm to which Dr Hughes was a senior partner appear to have also been party to this concealment brings a massive cloud over the COT four arbitration just three years later, when Telstra concealed similar documents from all of the four COT cases during their arbitration, in which Dr Hughes was the arbitrator. 

Possibly even worse for the other two COT Cases and I is that Dr Hughes allowed Graham/Golden an extra three or more years longer to access their documents from Telstra, over and above what he allowed us, three COT claimants, even though the official arbitration rules did not permit this. Dr Hughes only allowed me one extra week to access my documents from Telstra shows how this conflict of interest tainted the whole arbitration process.

Before the government communications regulator, AUSTEL (now AMA) endorsed Dr Gordon Hughes as the independent arbitrator they had a duty of care to advise the COT Cases in writing that Dr Hughes was not an experienced arbitrator and had not been graded by the Institute of Arbitrators Australia to perform such complex arbitrations as the COT four processes. AUSTEL did not. Could you inform us of this fact?

Dr Hughes himself also failed his duty of care as a pending arbitrator to COT Cases Ann Garms, Maureen Gillan, and me in writing as per the rules of the Victorian Arbitration Act that he had a conflict of interest with the fourth claimant Graham/Golden. And to add further salt to the COT Cases future wounds was that Graham Schorer, in his capacity as COT spokesperson failed to disclose to us three other COT Cases (refer exhibit GS 565 file GS-CAV 459 to 489that we should not send arbitration related faxes to Dr Hughes’ Melbourne office after the closing of business each day; otherwise, they may not arrive at their intended destination.

Front Page Part One File No/1 shows the arbitrator’s secretary advised Tony Watson (of Telstra’s arbitration defence unit) that on 23 May 1994, six of my claim documents did not reach the arbitrator's fax machine. Yet, I was charged on my Telstra account for those six faxes. Why was this matter not investigated? NO one from the arbitrator’s office or the TIO’s office allowed me to amend my claim so that the not received claim documents could be valued as part of my arbitration process.

Why didn’t Dr Hughes (as the arbitrator to my case) also explain to me as he did to Graham Schorer (refer exhibit GS 565 file GS-CAV 459 to 489) that my 23 May 1994 faxed claim documents might be in his Sydney office? Did Dr Hughes believe by exposing this faxing problem with his Sydney office halt the arbitration process in my favour? Was Dr Hughes worried by exposing to me the flaws in his own two offices concerning the possibility this is where my other lost faxes ended up this admission would bring an end to him remaining the arbitrator to the COT arbitrations?

Firstly, had Graham (as the COT spokesperson disclosed to the COT Cases before, we signed our arbitration agreement, we would have been in our rights to demand Dr Hughes supply an efficient faxing system throughout our arbitrations.

Secondly, we could have used this faxing problem between Dr Hughes Melbourne and Sydney office to support any arbitration appeal in the period allowed in our arbitration agreement.

It is important to link these unaddressed lost arbitration faxes to both my case and that of Ann Garms (now deceased), because it is well written between us, lost many faxed arbitration-related documents.

Ann Garms (one of the other COT Cases) spent over $600,000.00 in her arbitration appeal in the Supreme Court of Victoria against Dr Hughes. Ann might have had a more favourable outcome of this appeal which she lost had she and her lawyers known of Dr Hughes admission to Graham Schorer before the commencement of our four arbitrations. 

Please visit our website for more stories of injustices experienced by other Australian citizens who have only ever wanted the truth to be exposed concerning their stand against the bureaucratic bubbling by the Australian justice system.

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Selfish behaviour is NOT acceptable – EVER!

 

This website boldly exposes the corruption within the bureaucracy during several government-endorsed arbitrations, leaving no stone unturned. It also fearlessly uncovers the identities of the culprits responsible for these despicable crimes and their current positions within the government. The arbitration and mediation processes endorsed by the Australian government were marred by misconduct in public office, revealing a deeply ingrained culture of systemic corruption. Despite this, the government chose to look the other way, shielding its government-funded agencies, who were complicit in committing numerous crimes against the Casualties of Telstra.

Until the late 1990s, the Australian government wholly owned Australia's telephone network and the communications carrier, Telecom (today privatised and called Telstra). Telecom held the monopoly on communications and let the network deteriorate into disrepair. When four small business owners had severe communication problems, they went into arbitration with Telstra. The arbitrations were a sham: the appointed arbitrator not only allowed Telstra to minimise the casualties of Telstra (COT) members' claims and losses but also bowed down to Telstra and let the carrier run the arbitrations. Telstra committed serious crimes during the arbitrations, yet the Australian government and the Australian Federal Police have not held Telstra, or the other entities involved in this deceit, accountable.

Quote Icon

“A number of people seem to be experiencing some or all of the problems which you have outlined to me. …

“I trust that your meeting tomorrow with Senators Alston and Boswell is a profitable one.”

Hon David Hawker MP

“I am writing in reference to your article in last Friday’s Herald-Sun (2nd April 1993) about phone difficulties experienced by businesses.

I wish to confirm that I have had problems trying to contact Cape Bridgewater Holiday Camp over the past 2 years.

I also experienced problems while trying to organise our family camp for September this year. On numerous occasions I have rung from both this business number 053 424 675 and also my home number and received no response – a dead line.

I rang around the end of February (1993) and twice was subjected to a piercing noise similar to a fax. I reported this incident to Telstra who got the same noise when testing.”

Cathy Lindsey

“Only I know from personal experience that your story is true, otherwise I would find it difficult to believe. I was amazed and impressed with the thorough, detailed work you have done in your efforts to find justice”

Sister Burke

“…the very large number of persons that had been forced into an arbitration process and have been obliged to settle as a result of the sheer weight that Telstra has brought to bear on them as a consequence where they have faced financial ruin if they did not settle…”

Senator Carr

“…your persistence to bring about improvements to Telecom’s country services. I regret that it was at such a high personal cost.”

Hon David Hawker

“Only I know from personal experience that your story is true, otherwise I would find it difficult to believe. I was amazed and impressed with the thorough, detailed work you have done in your efforts to find justice”

Sister Burke

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