Comments on: Whistle blower protection too late for Orkopoulos staffer

By: Tom McLoughlin

Tom McLoughlin — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

You hear alot of whistleblowers down the track honestly saying 'I regret sticking my neck out, the angst and blowback has really not been worth it etc'.

But really I can't agree with that for a very practical if a little subtle reason. A whistleblower has a psychological threat to cope with - address reality and your values which scream at you to take action, or ignore reality and sublimate that pressure and knowledge.

Really it's no choice at all. The second path leads to depression, probably legal or illegal drugs, quite possibly clinical madness of living in denial. What about those coppers writing TJIF graffiti on police station walls in frustration? Apparently it stands for The Job Is F*c*ed.

So I reckon it's just bad luck finding out stuff you didn't want to know, and good luck for society you are the whistleblower and just do your best! Sanity is the best you can hope for in a mad bad situation. And thanks too you whistleblowers, love ya always.

By: Gillian Sneddon

Gillian Sneddon — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Gillian Sneddon

The Parliamentary Committee into the Protection of Whistleblowers is made up of 6 ALP MP's (including Swansea MP, Coombs) & Fred Nile =7, as well as 3 Libs & 1 Nat =4. Somehow I don't expect the ALP will want the 1000 questions I have for them made public as it will expose them of protecting Orkopoulos at every level. I told Parliament that I was involved in a Police investigation into my boss, Milton Orkopoulos. Russell Grove rang Milton the same day. Vicki Calder & Vicki Mathieu told Milton that I was copying information for the police. Milton told Parliament. Parliament then changed the locks to keep me out. Grove said himself in the Telegraph that he told Orkopoulos to have nothing to do with me. I have proof that Milton told Parliament that he wanted me pensioned off. Vicki Calder has been rewarded with my job. Vicki Mathieu the casual staffer, who told me with glee that I was not allowed back into my office, now has a full time job working for the new Member for Swansea Robert Coombs. Coombs did not want to know me. I have been told by a trusted source that Coombs wife (who lived in Sydney), was looking for a new hairdresser in Swansea three weeks before Orkopoulos was arrested. Therefore Coombs knew as early as October 2006 that he would be the endorsed candidate! Yet Pemier Iemma and the now, Premier Rees claim ignorance to any allegations!!!!!????

By: Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Bernard …is there any chance of asking a few ‘assorted’ MPs why they won’t support changes to the dreadful plight of electorate staff such as Gillian Sneddon? Gillian is out on her ear because the award under which she and others are employed is the ‘Workchoices’ model. The all rights to the MP and none to the worker. A principle soundly rejected by Australians last election yet retained by every MP in every party state and federal. The autocratic, inflexible biased and flawed staff management rights foster unfair, illegal and constructive dismissals and fail the safe, fair and healthy employment standards set down by the federal government. These are servile positions window-dressed by parliaments as ‘public service’. Applicants are on-hired to MPs and parties who hold full sway on workplace and conditions. That’s why Gillian Sneddon and a few others have lost lives, health, homes and careers and thousands of dollars paid to unions who took the money under false pretences. An MP’s decision, like Milton Orkpoulos’ is final. He sacked Gillian and she has no right of appeal. Nor do other electorate staff in the same situation. Isn’t it time our MPs offered their electorate staff the same rights as other working Australians?

By: Anne Lampe

Anne Lampe — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Gillian Sneddon, Allan Kessing, Jared Golla and another staffer at Iguana Joe's nightclub all have something in common; they are all without jobs as a result of speaking out against wrongdoing or appalling behaviour. All lost their jobs and are out of pocket. Kessing lost most of his super as a result of incurring huge legal bills defending himself in court. Okopoulos at least went to jail, but that hasn't helped Ms Sneddon's bank balance or employment prospects. Kessing's superiors, John Della Bosca and Belinda Neal, sail on as if they have suffered a great wrong and have kept their jobs and their pay. No loss there at all.
Not a lot of encouragement from these examples for doing anything but leaving the whistle untouched.

By: Claret

Claret — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Bernard, I was a whistleblower in WA and suffered the usual treatment (one of the reasons that I voted against Labor at the recent election). WA has whistleblower legislation but it is useless because at the end of the day the establishment administrates the ‘protection’ and whilst they not be personally involved they all ensure that the system is not challenged. The Commonwealth needs to look at the consistent failures of whistleblower legislation in other jurisdictions and adjust accordingly.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Yes Tom…that’s just how it is! When you see MPs and ministers without ethics and morals doing over constituents and perverting what you know as democracy, it’s soul-destroying. And when parliaments and parties fail to act and instead protect creeps like Milton and Rose and a few others with careers saved by confidential settlements you realise how literally lethal political parties can be. I’m with Melissa Batten and the Iguana team on never entering a polling booth again - until we see some meaningful constraints and penalties equally applied to members of parliament.

By: Claude

Claude — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Bernard, if Gillian Sneddon is correct in saying that Iemma and Rees knew of allegations against Orkopoulos then they maybe morally bankrupt, but that isn’t against the law. We all know that politicians lie to serve they own means. I am sure that Iemma used to practice telling them in front of the mirror, with his poker face and sleepy eyes. Rees doesn’t do it so well, no doubt he will get plenty of practice if the public are stupid enough to vote State Labor in for another term. I wish I knew what to say to Sneddon only that keep ruffling their feathers, that way they aren’t getting away with it entirely.

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

It sounds to me that Sneddon was got rid of to protect Orkopoulos! It must be nearly two years ago now since Orkopoulos was arrested. Why has this matter not been investigated by the NSW Parliament before now? The lock out of Sneddon sounds suspicious. Is the media frightened of asking the right questions to get to the truth? If so what are they frightened of? What kind of people did she work with who assisted with her lock out from her workplace? What did her Union do to help? It does not seem right to me that they have jobs while Sneddon has no job following her whistlebowing whilst assisting police. When does Sneddon get justice?

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Claude raised the fact that Politicians lie. Well Politicians should not lie. What reason would the former Premier, Morris Iemma have to hide the fact that he had heard allegations about Orkopoulos? Was he hoping that they would be covered up? By the sounds of it, if Sneddon had not acted with such honesty the matter would indeed be swept under the carpet. (You don’t change the locks unless you seriously have something to hide). Orkopoulos would have continued to groom the innocent and Parliament would have bobbed along merrily, with Grove at the helm. Sneddon would still have a job and Coombs would be living in Sydney, as a Union boss I believe. What possible motive could Iemma, Rees and Grove have to make that poor woman suffer the way she has? I would like anyone with the answers to come forward.