No Donate Button—But a Call to Action

If, while reading this narrative, you find yourself wondering where the donate button is—there isn’t one.

This website does not seek personal donations. Instead, if you believe this work presents a compelling case for justice and equity within Australia’s arbitration system, and if you see value in the research, evidence, and advocacy behind it, I invite you to support a cause that aligns with these principles.

Consider donating directly to Transparency International Australia.  Your contribution will help raise awareness of the injustices that threaten our democracy and support efforts to hold institutions accountable.

This work is offered freely, driven by a moral obligation to expose the truth. But the fight for transparency is bigger than one voice—it needs all of us.

A brief overview 

For decades, the Australian government held absolute control over the nation’s telephone network through its wholly owned communications carrier, Telecom — now privatised and rebranded as Telstra. This monopoly, unchecked and unchallenged, allowed the network to rot into a state of disrepair. However, the true betrayal came not only from neglect.

When citizens sought justice through a government-sanctioned arbitration process, they were led into a rigged arena — a façade of fairness masking a brutal, one-sided war. The very system designed to resolve our grievances became a weapon against us. Our broken services were deliberately excluded from resolution, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars we had invested in our claims.

What unfolded was not mere bureaucratic failure — it was a campaign of calculated sabotage. Crimes were committed against us. Our reputations were smeared, our integrity dismantled. We lost our businesses, our savings, our mental health. And yet, those responsible — the architects of this deception — remain shielded by power, untouched and unaccountable.

To this day, the truth is buried. Our story is suppressed. The cover-up continues.

🕱 Turning Point: The Moment the Mask Slipped

“Why would one of Australia’s most respected lawyers, his KPMG-linked project manager, and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman conspire to deceive the President of the Institute of Arbitrators?” Refer to "The first remedy pursued"

As you scroll through these opening paragraphs, that question will begin to haunt you.

Dr Gordon Hughes, John Rundell, and John Pinnock—the second-appointed Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman—three men entrusted with integrity—collaborated to issue known false statements to Laurie James, then-President of the Institute of Arbitrators Australia. This wasn’t a misunderstanding. It was a coordinated strike, launched just as Mr James began investigating my evidence of fraud, bias, discrimination, and gross misconduct by all three.

Once you’ve read my Open Letter dated 25 September 2025 → "The first remedy pursued", you’ll begin to understand why this betrayal has weighed on me for thirty years. Living with the knowledge of what these men did—and how the system shielded them—is a torment I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

But this is only the beginning, as the following twelve chapters titled from 

This moment marks the rupture. The mask of legitimacy slips, revealing the grotesque machinery beneath. If you continue to scroll, you’ll see how deep the rot goes—and why the COT story is not just mine, but a national reckoning waiting to happen.

🕷️ The Architects of Deceit: Australia’s Legal Underworld Unmasked
Descend into the abyss of Australia’s institutional corruption—a ruthless syndicate of bureaucrats, legal operatives, and political puppeteers who have weaponised the very systems meant to protect the innocent. This is not mere negligence. It is a calculated orchestration of betrayal, where the overseers of justice are the engineers of its demise.

These so-called investigators—tasked with exposing corruption—are in fact its architects. Their inquiries are grotesque performances, designed to suffocate truth beneath layers of procedural theatre and bureaucratic fog. Victims are not heard; they are buried. Their evidence is not examined; it is entombed.

The monstrous betrayal is laid bare in three separate investigations into my formal complaints lodged with the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia (IAMA) in 1996, 2000, and 2009 (Refer to "The eleventh remedy pursued".   Each probe revealed damning evidence of corruption by the arbitrator and the arbitration administrator, who simultaneously held the role of Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. Yet between July and November 2009, despite receiving 23 bound spiral files of irrefutable evidence, the IAMA refused to act. Worse, they refused to return the files, even when I demanded they be handed to a mutually agreed-upon legal firm. That evidence—now publicly available in (Evidence File-1 and Evidence-File-2)—remains suppressed.

These individuals continue to practice law and arbitration in Australia and Hong Kong, shielded by a system designed to protect the powerful and silence those who have been betrayed. The very mechanisms of justice have been hollowed out and repurposed into a fortress of deceit.

Words like “shameful” and “treacherous” are feeble against the venom coursing through the COT arbitrations. This is not justice delayed—it is justice assassinated. The system is rigged, fortified against scrutiny, and cloaked in the false authority of legal process. It crushes dissent, buries truth, and perpetuates injustice with surgical precision

Telstra-Corruption-Freehill-Hollingdale & Page

Corrupt practices persisted throughout the COT arbitrations, flourishing in secrecy and obscurity. These insidious actions have managed to evade necessary scrutiny. Notably, the phone issues persisted for years following the conclusion of my arbitration, established to rectify these faults

Confronting Despair

The independent arbitration consultants demonstrated a concerning lack of impartiality. Instead of providing clear and objective insights, their guidance to the arbitrator was often marked by evasive language, misleading statements, and, at times, outright falsehoods.

Flash Backs – China-Vietnam

In 1967, Australia participated in the Vietnam War. I was on a ship transporting wheat to China, where I learned China was redeploying some of it to North Vietnam. Chapter 7, "Vietnam—Vietcong," discusses the link between China and my phone issues.

A Twenty-Year Marriage Lost

As bookings declined, my marriage came to an end. My ex-wife, seeking her fair share of our venture, left me with no choice but to take responsibility for leaving the Navy without adequately assessing the reliability of the phone service in my pursuit of starting a business.

Salvaging What I Could

Mobile coverage was nonexistent, and business transactions were not conducted online. Cape Bridgewater had only eight lines to service 66 families—132 adults. If four lines were used simultaneously, the remaining 128 adults would have only four lines to serve their needs.

Lies Deceit And Treachery

I was unaware of Telstra's unethical and corrupt business practices. It has now become clear that various unethical organisational activities were conducted secretly. Middle management was embezzling millions of dollars from Telstra.

An Unlocked Briefcase

On June 3, 1993, Telstra representatives visited my business and, in an oversight, left behind an unlocked briefcase. Upon opening it, I discovered evidence of corrupt practices concealed from the government, playing a significant role in the decline of Telstra's telecommunications network.

A Government-backed Arbitration

An arbitration process was established to hide the underlying issues rather than to resolve them. The arbitrator, the administrator, and the arbitration consultants conducted the process using a modified confidentiality agreement. In the end, the process resembled a kangaroo court.

Not Fit For Purpose

AUSTEL investigated the contents of the Telstra briefcases. Initially, there was disbelief regarding the findings, but this eventually led to a broader discussion that changed the telecommunications landscape. I received no acknowledgement from AUSTEL for not making my findings public.
&am

A Non-Graded Arbitrator

Who granted the financial and technical advisors linked to the arbitrator immunity from all liability regarding their roles in the arbitration process? This decision effectively shields the arbitration advisors from any potential lawsuits by the COT claimants concerning misconduct or negligence.<

The AFP Failed Their Objective

In September 1994, two officers from the AFP met with me to address Telstra's unauthorised interception of my telecommunications services. They revealed that government documents confirmed I had been subjected to these violations. Despite this evidence, the AFP did not make a finding.&am

The Promised Documents Never Arrived

In a February 1994 transcript of a pre-arbitration meeting, the arbitrator involved in my arbitration stated that he "would not determination on incomplete information.". The arbitrator did make a finding on incomplete information.

Chapter 1

Learn about government corruption and the dirty deeds used by the government to cover up these horrendous injustices committed against 16 Australian citizens

Chapter 2

Betrayal deceit disinformation duplicity falsehood fraud hypocrisy lying mendacity treachery and trickery. This sums up the COT government endorsed arbitrations.

Chapter 3

Ending bribery corruption means holding the powerful to account and closing down the systems that allows bribery, illicit financial flows, money laundering, and the enablers of corruption to thrive.

Chapter 4

Learn about government corruption and the dirty deeds used by the government to cover up these horrendous injustices committed against 16 Australian citizens. Government corruption within the public service affected most if not all of the COT arbitrations. 

Chapter 5

Corruption is contagious and does not respect sectoral boundaries. Corruption involves duplicity and reduces levels of morality and trust.

Chapter 6

Anti-corruption policies need to be used in anti-corruption reforms and strategy. Corruption metrics and corruption risk assessment is good governance

Chapter 7

Bribery and Corruption happens in the shadows, often with the help of professional enablers such as bankers, lawyers, accountants and real estate agents, opaque financial systems and anonymous shell companies that allow corruption schemes to flourish and the corrupt to launder their wealth.

Chapter 8

Corrupt practices in government and the results of those corrupt practices become problematic enough – but when that corruption becomes systemic in more than one operation, it becomes cancer that endangers the welfare of the world's democracy.

Chapter 9

Corruption in government, including non-government self-regulators, undermines the credibility of that government. It erodes the trust of its citizens who are left without guidance are the feel of purpose. Bribery and Corruption is cancer that destroys economic growth and prosperity. 

Chapter 10

The horrendous, unaddressed crimes perpetrated against the COT Cases during government-endorsed arbitrations administered by the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman have never been investigated. 

Chapter 11

This type of skulduggery is treachery, a Judas kiss with dirty dealing and betrayal. This is dirty pool and crookedness and dishonest. This conduct fester’s corruption. It is as bad, if not worse than double-dealing and cheating those who trust you.&a

Chapter 12

Absentjustice.com - the website that triggered the deeper exploration into the world of political corruption, it stands shoulder to shoulder with any true crime story.