Whistleblower Protection

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (17:02): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises the crucial role whistleblowers play in identifying and calling out misconduct and breaches of the law;

2. Acknowledges whistleblowers can find themselves in difficult and stressful circumstances which have the potential to damage their reputations, risk their careers and impact their personal health and safety;

3. Commends whistleblowers who report potential misconduct or breaches of the law;

4. Notes more needs to be done to protect whistleblowers when they do come forward and report misconduct or breaches of the law which harm consumers and the community; and

5. Calls on the state government to strengthen legislation that facilitates and protects whistleblowers and the appropriate disclosure of public interest information to further protect whistleblowers.

Whistleblowing should be recognised and protected for what it does to promote and enhance integrity and accountability in the government and private sector through disclosure of often sensitive and protected information. Whistleblowers themselves should be shielded from retaliation and retribution. In truth, we know they are not. Whistleblowers often find themselves the hunted.

It has been most disturbing to see in recent days that in Queensland a whistleblower, who exposed Australia's worse paedophile, Ashley Griffith, after complaints against him to police and the Uniting Church were dismissed, is now herself being prosecuted. Yolanda Borucki, who worked for the childcare centre operated by the church where Griffith was employed, revealed the incompetence and cover-up on Channel 9's A Current Affair. She was made redundant the day before Griffith was arrested.

Following that exposé, she was arrested when a complaint was made against her by the church for unlawfully accessing confidential information, which confirmed there was a cover-up by authorities. As for Griffith, images and videos that led to his arrest were first discovered in 2014 by a specialist task force that caught notorious South Australian government childcare worker and paedophile Shannon McCoole.

Governments and politicians tend to beat their chest about encouraging whistleblowers to come forward to report corruption and misconduct. There are laws in place to protect whistleblowers, but are they serious about it or is it merely lip-service? I think it is the latter if you consider the fate now facing Ms Borucki and others like her who were brave enough to come forward. This only acts as a disincentive to whistleblowers who courageously disclose wrongdoing and harm.

Protections for whistleblowers had looked like making some progress after a federal parliamentary report, which made sweeping recommendations in 2017, had strong bipartisan support but typically, after all the hot air dissipated, that went nowhere. Whistleblowing is defined as 'the disclosure by organisation members (former or current) of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organisations that may be able to effect action'.

In recent years, whistleblowers have outed banks and financial institutions, leading to a royal commission. They have exposed malpractice and abuse in aged care, abuse in the ADF, there was the Robodebt scandal, alleged war crimes by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan, the bugging of the offices of another government and exposing deceitful practices of the Australian Taxation Office. But in doing so, whistleblowers can also go to jail. Take military lawyer David McBride, who has already served more than 100 days in jail as part of a five-year sentence for passing on classified documents about war crimes to the ABC yet, ironically, nobody has yet been convicted and jailed for these war crimes—only the person who exposed them.

Julian Assange spent years locked away or locked up for releasing thousands of classified US defence documents that showed war crimes being committed. Richard Boyle is facing jail for his exposure of the ATO's indiscriminate use of garnishee notices. He thought he was covered by the Public Interest Disclosure Act—after all, much of it was found to be true. His crime, so to speak, was to steal that supporting information, the hard evidence, and then pass it on. It is doubtful whether any media outlet would have run the risk of going with a sensational exposé like that without it being corroborated. A gross miscarriage of justice looms here. Kieran Pender of the Human Rights Law Centre says there is no public interest in prosecuting Boyle, and the resulting outcome will only undermine whistleblower protections in this country.

Australia's foremost expert on whistleblowing, Professor A.J. Brown from Griffith University, says our whistleblowing laws do not provide sufficient protection, nor do they provide a safe culture to raise concerns but, should someone like Boyle end up behind bars, there will be a great reluctance and disincentive for other whistleblowers to stand up and call out any wrongdoing. Professor Brown and Kieran Pender urge an overhaul of existing laws to prevent harm and provide legal remedies to whistleblowers. Professor Brown says detriment to whistleblowers from reprisal continues to go unremedied in the public and private sectors, even in deserving cases.

That brings me to a matter I am interested in exploring further: the thuggish bullying, dishonest and deceitful conduct of a powerful local trade union, the Police Association of South Australia, whose tentacles of influence reach the highest offices in this state. They represent close to 5,000 members of the police force—good men and women upholding the law and protecting the community—but this organisation hides behind the trust and high regard South Australians have for our police officers and a belief that, because of its links, it feels it can carry on as if it is an untouchable creature.

As for the union itself, there has been some disturbing disquiet about its administration under current and previous executive staff, all of whom are still serving police officers. Whistleblowers who have experienced and complained about appalling misogynist behaviour, bullying, intimidation and harassment have been silenced through the threat of costly legal action or having their membership cancelled by a stacked committee of management that behaves like a law unto itself and will not hesitate in expelling anyone challenging its authority, including its own union delegates.

On the Nine Network's A Current Affair, I described this toxic culture and conduct as 'mafia style', behaving like ruthless enforcers abusing their authority, striking fear into female colleagues and former staff who have had legitimate complaints about their conduct smothered in ongoing legal action that is estimated to have topped more than $1 million. Union members have been unable and prevented from examining the books forensically to see how and where their money is spent.

The union's deputy president, Daryl Mundy, has declared me public enemy No. 1 since I blew the whistle in this place that its new president, inspector Wade Burns, had made admissions to an alleged sexual assault of a civilian female SAPOL staff member at the Distill nightclub on the evening of 30 June and 1 July 2017. Three months on, Mr Burns has still not denied the allegations because he cannot. He misled members and the public when he made a statement about that. He was stripped of two ranks, from chief inspector to senior sergeant. The reasons were never disclosed by Burns, nor did Burns bother to explain this to members during his run for presidency, where he campaigned on openness and transparency.

I did so because I believe strongly that it was in the public's and the members of the association's interest not to have someone conveniently hide their corrupt conduct under the veil of secrecy provided by the PCDA. An alleged sexual predator is not a fit and proper person to be a police officer, let alone to head one of the most influential police unions in the country. He should have been sacked. Why that did not happen should raise more questions about the internal disciplinary processes within SAPOL.

When Mr Burns chose to step down from positions with Basketball SA and a school board after my revelations, why did he not also remove himself from the role of the Police Association? Power and money, I would say. Now, he is being protected by the executive committee of PASA and its mad as hell deputy president, Daryl Mundy, who has been very active on social media whipping up defamatory attacks against me and hysterically accusing me of trying to dismantle the Police Complaints and Discipline Act. That is simply a lie, although the act does need to be reviewed and to bring proceedings against guilty police in line with other states.

I have the greatest respect for our police force. I have close friends who are serving police officers. I have advocated for police officers thrown on the scrap heap with post-traumatic stress disorder when not even PASA wanted to help them or those falsely accused of corruption and acquitted by the courts. Let me remind Mr Mundy that my bill giving police officers and other first responders more rights, recognition and assistance in making claims for post-traumatic stress disorder passed in the Legislative Council this year and now sits in the House of Assembly. When it passes into law, it will greatly benefit Mr Mundy and his members.

I find it reprehensible when a mad Mr Mundy writes to police officers accusing me of waging a relentless war against his union and not caring about the physical safety or mental wellbeing of police officers. It is an outrageous lie, and he knows it, accusing me of being anti police. I am anti bad police; 99.9 per cent are good police officers. When three union delegates wrote to the union, voicing their displeasure at the union's tactics, they were expelled, not because they had a right to make their point but because their letter was also addressed to me and the police minister.

On 9 August, Mr Mundy wrote to Chief Inspector Darren Cornell, telling him that the committee of management—which included members who openly canvassed votes for Mr Burns and who had not recused themselves from the vote, with three others absent—had expelled him on the grounds that he had brought discredit to the association and its members. It begs the question: did Mr Burns not do that, too, in 2017? False accusations against Chief Inspector Cornell were also levelled by PASA to SAPOL's Ethical and Professional Standards Branch. Those vindictive complaints were thrown out.

I now seek leave to table those documents from the police Ethical and Professional Standards Branch that were sent to Chief Inspector Darren Cornell. They were sent on 11 July 2024, and both of them show that the assessment of complaints by IIS has been conducted and that both complaints have now been filed and that that there was no substance to them.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Mr Mundy, not Mr Burns, had written to Mr Cornell, accusing him, among other things, of being involved in a sustained attack on Mr Burns. They accused him of inflammatory and borderline criminal comments, being in breach of the PCDA, colluding with journalists and bringing PASA into disrepute.

On 5 August, Mr Cornell replied, calling it a kangaroo court process—that he was denied procedural fairness. He named committee members he believed were unable to vote on a matter due to real or perceived conflicts of interest. Some of them had openly campaigned for Mr Burns. He asked for details on the outrageous claims made against him but got nothing.

For the record, I had never met or ever spoken to Mr Cornell prior to my revelations in this place. I was tipped off about the Burns nightclub incident while I was still working at Channel 7 and before I entered parliament. I know that other members of the media in South Australia were also aware of it. As I said, it was SAPOL's worst kept secret.

Expelling Mr Cornell from the union was an act of bastardry. He loses a $300,000 death cover and the ability to be covered for legal expenses, and of course he will not be able to challenge Mr Burns in the coming presidential election. You might recall that Mr Cornell missed out on winning that by just 49 votes. Mr Cornell was trying to appeal the decision, but that will be hard with a committee that is stacked in favour of Mr Burns and his lackey Mr Mundy.

Mr Mundy has been a busy man with all his PASA responsibilities. It is a wonder how he can fit it all in with his obligations to his actual job as a police officer. As for PASA's Facebook page, it is a pile on, full of bile against me, as Mr Mundy, Mr Burns and their sycophants would prefer. I would like to take the time here to read some of those comments about me that have been posted publicly on Facebook. This one here is from Robin Zowski:

Pangallo is nothing more than a dodgy second-hand car salesman. Whoever used him for their agenda should be ashamed of themselves.

Nils Uellendahl wrote:

Headline seeking wannabe. He should be focusing on everyone's real issues: power bills, food bills, ambulance ramping, etc., etc. Why aren't you focusing on those? Don't you have any of those issues in your electorate?

Chris Grim wrote, 'Sounds like he's representing criminals, not police and the general public.' Judy Hibberd wrote, 'Wait til he needs you then tell him where to go.' Janis Turner wrote, 'Come on, Pangallo, we would all like to know.' Mick Joseph posted:

He's always been a dickhead. I caught him stalking a house once and he refused to give his name. I used the RTA powers and threatened to arrest him. I got his name and I moved him on.

For the record, I have no idea who Mick Joseph is nor can I ever recall that incident taking place, but it is easy for keyboard warriors just to throw that on a Facebook page thinking that no-one is going to see it. Graham Jones described me in one word in his post, 'Scum'. Glenn Gibson wrote:

Pangallo was a bottom feeder when he was a reporter, he's a bottom feeder as a politician. If he was smart enough to earn a law degree, he'd be flinging business cards into the back of ramped ambulances.

Aaron Saad wrote, 'Typical pissweak politician', and Andy Roux wrote, 'He's a muppet. Always has been. Some say he's grumpy smurf. Poor little fella lol.' I will not need to table those. There were many more, some that you could not even recite in this place.

It was quite odd, from all the ones that I had read, there is not one comment there from a curious and concerned member about the suitability of Mr Burns to be their president, especially considering how serious those allegations are. There was nothing positive about what I had done, but here are some that were sent personally to me. I will read this one:

Thank you for everything you have done for the former and current female staff at the Police Association. Words can't describe our deep gratitude for your courage and efforts to report the truth.

And this one:

Hi Frank. Firstly, I applaud the way you have championed the cause against the inappropriate behaviour of SA Police Association president, Mr Wade Burns. Firstly, I have no skin in the game, hence no axe to grind with Burns or any SAPOL member. I reach out to you as the person mentioned in my account below did not wish to do so personally. Allow me to share a story that reflects the inconsistent approach of SAPOL in dealing with matters of members' bad behaviour—in some cases outright criminal behaviour. This scenario below actually happened.

Then there are a series of dot points:

Subject is a male police cadet in the last three months of his training at Fort Largs Police Academy.

Rated number two academically and practically during his training.

Highly praised as an excellent recruit by senior operational police and academy staff.

Attended SAPOL course party outside of working hours (a weekend), and outside of police premises.

Participates in a game known as spin the bottle.

All bar one of the course members participate.

Male police cadet gets to the point in the game where he is required to briefly remove his underwear.

Offended one female police cadet in attendance.

Female police cadet reported the male to the academy staff the following Monday.

The male cadet was immediately suspended without notice or without the opportunity to defend the matter.

The male cadet was issued with a show cause notice to put his case forward as to why he should be able to remain a police cadet.

The male police cadet approach the Police Association as a paid member to be told 'We can't help you in matters of inappropriate behaviour.'

I will repeat that. This is what PASA told him, a young man who innocently made a mistake, looks for assistance from his union as a paid member only to be told, 'We can't help you in matters of inappropriate behaviour.' It just highlights the double standards. I will go on:

Male cadet provided SAPOL with exactly what transpired, it was a game and nothing more. He was 100% open and frank about the matter.

SAPOL assistant commissioner Linda Fellows dismisses male…cadet for his actions without allowing him any redress.

What a waste of taxpayers' money in a time where police are failing to retain their own.

Compare this with the… Burns accusations and it is clear SAPOL are very inconsistent and "choosey" with their disciplinary decisions.

Shame on the senior executives of SAPOL for not calling this out as the highest level of inappropriate behaviour, instead the Commissioner approves his secondment to the Police Association. Problem solved!!

Thanks for your time.

Sadly for that recruit, he was not the son of a former commissioner of police or well connected. There has not been a murmur from the man Burns replaced, Mark Carroll, who has gone to extraordinary lengths to suppress complaints from the former PASA committee of management and several staff who worked in a horrid environment they have described as being unsafe. Central to those complaints was Mr Carroll's brutal and ruthless management style. He has so far spent over a million dollars in legal fees trying to keep allegations against him a secret, even from curious members themselves.

Mr Mundy and vice-president Samanda Brain, not Mr Carroll nor Mr Burns, have been firing all the bullets since the A Current Affair story which, incidentally, was viewed by 1.1 million people and has had more than 70,000 views on YouTube. In a blistering email to PASA members, entitled 'Setting the record straight: A Current Affair inaccuracies', Mr Mundy accuses the program of telling lies and inaccuracies although he does not detail them. He is not telling the truth either, as I will explain shortly.

He also deliberately sidesteps and ignores the whole point of the program—the behaviour of Mr Burns. No mention at all except that he is miffed that the dirty linen they thought would never emerge about their new president was disclosed by me under privilege. He attacks me for trying to tear down the draconian PCDA, which also censors details of guilty and corrupt police officers, something that is unique to South Australia.

My views align with those of Magistrate Simon Smart, who told the Crime and Public Integrity Policy Committee that the public should have a right to know when a police officer is found guilty of serious misconduct by the Police Disciplinary Tribunal and that it should be an open hearing. Suppression should apply during the proceedings and on the identities of police officers who were found not guilty, so they are protected and they should be protected.

Dilettante Mundy then takes a cowardly swipe at Mr Cornell because he supported a former member, Samantha Strange, at court hearings in a civil case involving Mr Carroll. Mundy and Brain, in an email to PASA delegates defending their decision to expel three of their delegates who challenged the union's authority, claim there was no place in the Police Association for individuals who: work to undermine confidentiality provisions of the PCDA; collude with media; collude with politicians, especially those who have active agendas against serving police officers, under the guise of external oversight. No politician, they say, has any oversight over the Police Association. In addition: agitate to have elections overturned; or using social media to bring the association or any of its members into disrepute.

It is obvious who they are aiming their taser at: The Advertiser's excellent investigative reporter Kathryn Bermingham and little old me, that dastardly former foot-in-the-door investigative journalist from the tabloid media and his anti-cop campaign.

Allow me to correct those vapid insinuations from Mundy. If it was a campaign, it is an anti-corrupt cop campaign. Furthermore, let me dissect some of those collusion statements. PASA under Mr Carroll had no qualms in colluding with various media outlets and journalists in leaking stories about SAPOL. I know several journalists who were recipients of his largesse.

During the recent elections, and a week before the allegations about Mr Burns were made public, The Advertiser ran a story about Chief Inspector Cornell resigning from the union in 2013 during an internal union investigation for an alleged code of conduct breach while he was running for the job of secretary. There was no unlawful activity uncovered. This was clearly a hatchet job done in collusion with The Advertiser's then police reporter to smear Mr Cornell's reputation and affect his chances of winning the president's job. The detail in that information could only have come from one source: someone within PASA leaking it.

As for colluding with politicians, well, if Mr Carroll did not do that, he was not doing his job. Collusion is much like lobbying, and he was quite good at that. He colluded with me when I was seeking justice for those acquitted Operation Bandicoot Sturt Mantle officers whose careers and lives were destroyed by a bungled joint SAPOL-ICAC investigation, and advocating to PASA for the reinforcement of more than $2 million in legal costs, which they eventually received from the current government.

Mr Carroll colluded with me when he and I ran a public campaign against SAPOL and Assistant Commissioner Linda Fellows for allowing alcohol cans to be sold at the Adelaide Oval. Carroll colluded with me to develop my PTSD bill, which has passed the Legislative Council. During that process I met with many police officers, families of those who lost their lives or took their own lives, officers who were harmed in their line of work, and female officers who have been sexually harassed, assaulted and bullied. And ignorant Mundy has the gall to call me anti-police!

I have never suggested that politicians should have oversight of the union. It is a ludicrous and haughty fabrication by Mundy to incite hatred from his members towards me and my parliamentary colleagues. As I have come to learn, nobody can tell them what to do, not even their own members and delegates. They are a law unto themselves, untouchable dependent on who has the numbers on the committee of management. Getting quorums for special general meetings to challenge their authoritarian rule is virtually impossible because it is extremely difficult to get the 400 to 500 police officers required in one place at a given time, simply because of their conflicting duties and shifts.

The belittling intimidation and bullying of former staff members who have had an issue with them and Mr Carroll continues. In his 'setting the record straight' email, Mundy refers to three members who lodged Fair Work complaints against the association. He states that they, quoting him, 'categorically withdrew them after the veracity of the complaints was tested'. That is an outright lie. Their complaints were never tested in the Fair Work Commission because, for reasons I will explain, they chose to withdraw them. It also flies in the face of a letter written by Mundy to PASA delegates on 26 July in which he states categorically that, and I quote him:

A committee of management also determined that it will not comment upon matters initiated and discontinued in the Fair Work Commission by former association employees and which are maintained as confidential by the commission.

In light of that, he still makes a comment about those three members in an email to members, so he basically ignores that advice. To be quite clear, those complaints were never heard by the Fair Work Commission—they were never tested—yet Mundy says they were in making his improper and false comments.

I have been provided with information that was provided to the Fair Work Commission. It was also circulated to the current President Burns and the PASA Secretary Bernadette Zimmermann. This letter gives an insight not only into the conduct that was happening in PASA but the fear and intimidation these women endured in the process of trying to get a fair hearing of their complaints. The enormous mental stress and the prospect of being deep-pocketed through protracted legal proceedings proved too much, and they withdrew their claims. The veracity of their complaints was never tested by the Fair Work Commission, as Mundy claimed.

I understand that the Fair Work Commission was sent to emails explaining the reasons the actions had to be withdrawn. The women were intimidated by the legal muscle that PASA put on show each time there was a preliminary hearing. They were also in fear of repercussions from President Mark Carroll, so much so that two of the female staff sought advice and reassurance from SAPOL following a meeting with Assistant Commissioner Simon Watkins and other senior SAPOL staff. That is how frightened those women were of any retribution from PASA: they actually had to go to senior SAPOL officers expressing their concerns.

The women were adamant the statements they had provided were honest and truthful. They had real concerns that they would have been financially disadvantaged, ripped to pieces giving evidence and accused of being vexatious. Without naming her, a gutless Mr Mundy states that one of those three now works in my office. It is a veiled attack on the integrity of my office manager, Kim York, and is recurring bullying of Ms York that she experienced when she worked under former President Mark Carroll at PASA.

Mundy does not explain the devious reference, but the inference he makes is clear: she is somehow participating in and influencing what I am doing here. For Mr Mundy's benefit, I had been made aware of toxic issues in PASA long before Ms York went there to work and subsequently joined me.

I have known Ms York for several years and worked alongside her when she was the office manager of senators Xenophon and Patrick. I cannot speak more highly of Ms York's abilities, professionalism and character. She is honest and truthful. She was well liked by all in those offices and was a highly valued member of the staff. She now brings that organisational expertise to my office, and we are fortunate to have her.

Ms York is the widow of a police officer who tragically took his life. She went to PASA with high hopes of being involved in an organisation that cared for members affected by PTSD, but she left extremely disappointed and disillusioned. Ms York was extremely hurt by those references by Mr Mundy. She has since provided me with this statement of her harrowing ordeal:

Dear Mr Pangallo

I write to seek your assistance with a matter that has caused me great distress since June 2023. I am hopeful that you can assist and do something to change a dangerous, powerful workplace and provide protection for female employees of the Police Association of South Australia.

For background purposes, my late husband was a serving South Australian Police Officer. He committed suicide in 1992 following a motor vehicle accident whilst performing his duties as a police constable. He sustained a major brain injury as a result of the accident resulting in severe mood swings and erratic behaviour. The brain trauma ultimately led to his suicide. SAPOL were very supportive of me and my two young children throughout this time.

Please refer to the information below:

1. I commenced employment with the Police Association of South Australia on 18^th July 2022 as the Executive Secretary to the President, Mark Carroll (now resigned from role). I remained in this role until early September 2023 when I tendered my resignations for the reasons listed below. As noted above I had a connection with SAPOL owing to my late husband being a police officer. When I got the job with PASA I felt really happy, and believed that I could contribute and assist active police officers. I believed that I would have empathy with them and their families. I was full of hope for my new role which came after 5 years working for the federal government in an administrative support role for two South Australian Senators.

2. During the almost 14 months I was employed in the Executive Secretary to the President role, I witnessed and experienced numerous verbal exchanges against staff on a daily basis which would make me feel anxious and scared. The office environment was such that the female staff were powerless to retaliate without fear of repercussion. All of the administrative staff in the office had to witness the ongoing, planned bullying of Ms Bernadette Zimmermann, Secretary of the Association by the President and the Assistant Secretary Steven Whetton. This caused me much anxiety because I didn't know what to do to help her.

3. I repeatedly heard comments that were derogatory against fellow staff members, particularly by Member Liaison Office (Assistant Secretary) Steven Whetton, and also against the members of the Association (serving SA Police Officers who pay union fees each fortnight from their salary). Comments such as—

and if you will excuse the language, Acting Madam President, I think it is important that I use them in this context.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (The Hon. T.A. Franks): You can test my parliamentary knowledge there, the Hon. Mr Pangallo. We will find out.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Okay:

Comments such as 'fucking maggots' 'broken biscuits' (a term applied to Members suffering from PTSD issues) and 'fucktards'. Female officers of SAPOL were also denigrated on a regular basis. For example, I took a call from a member who was suffering from PTSD. After placing him on hold I asked Assistant Secretary/Member Liaison Officer Steven Whetton if he could take the call. Steven responded that he didn't want to speak to that 'fuckwit', that the caller—

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: Point of order, Acting President: I certainly respect the right of the Hon. Frank Pangallo to express his views but some of the language is inappropriate for this chamber.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Very well, I will refrain from that now:

…the caller was a 'broken biscuit' and a 'time waster'. I ended up advising the caller that Steve was in a meeting, took his details and had the female member liaison officer call him back. She was able to assist him.

4. In December 2022, Messrs Carroll, Whetton and Heffernan went out for a Christmas lunch. In their absence a very distressed member called needing help. The admin staff had been instructed to text the three lunching men if needed. A text message was sent asking for a return call to be made to the member. Approximately one hour later the member's wife phoned the office. She was very upset and said she believed her husband was suicidal. She said no-one had called him. Further contact was made with the lunching gentlemen, this time by phone. The response received was that the wife had no right to call the Association as she wasn't a member and that they had just opened another bottle of red. As I had personal history with a suicidal husband, I had grave concerns re the member's welfare and also for his wife. I called Ms Zimmermann, who was on annual leave, and asked if she could contact the member which she did. I have never forgotten this incident as the complete lack of concern for a distressed member was over-ridden by the need to consume a bottle of wine.

5. The admin staff were described as 'old, fat and ugly' by Mark Carroll and Steve Whetton. This remark was made on occasions when they believed the admin staff couldn't hear their conversation.

6. The culture of PASA was, and I believe still is, one of fear. There is no Human Resources Department or WHS Officer for PASA staff to use as an avenue for complaint. If you have a grievance you are instructed to lodge same with the President but, if your complaint is against the President or one of his 'boys club' members, your complaint is ignored. This results in staff feeling intimidated and unable to raise concerns for fear of repercussions. In fact, the suggestion box located in the main office was removed by the President as he was unhappy with an anonymous suggestion that was placed in it. At a staff meeting, when he read out the unacceptable (to him) suggestion he then stated that the suggestion box would be removed and that the person who had placed it in the box could come and see him in his office if they wished to discuss it further. This was not said in a friendly manner but in a threatening tone. He then advised that the suggestion box would be removed, and any suggestions should be made verbally to him.

7. I was afraid to speak up about the treatment of staff and atmosphere at PASA, as were other female staff.

8. An incident involving a staff member (SS for the sake of this email) occurred on 14 June 2023. SS had an emotional, verbally loud meltdown early one morning and left the office. This was as a result of an excessive workload that had been placed upon her. Later that morning each admin person was called into a meeting room, one by one, and in the presence of Mark Carroll and In House Counsel Craig Stevens, were questioned, with the conversation being recorded on Mark's iPhone while Craig took notes. At no time were we offered a support person to be present or asked if we had objections to the conversation being recorded. In fact, we were told the conversation was being recorded. The tone of the questions was all along the lines of any witnessed harassment or bullying of SS by management, none were related to her welfare. This process upset many of my co-workers to the point of tears whilst being questioned. Private consultation with friends who work in HR roles confirmed that this 'interview' process was incorrect and should not have occurred. It is my belief that Mr Carroll was worried that SS may lodge a WorkCover claim for bullying and harassment. Interestingly, later the same day Mr Carroll called me into his office and asked my opinion re the atmosphere and working conditions at PASA. I asked him if I could speak freely, and he said I could. I told him exactly what was wrong with the office environment, how the constant verbal attacks on Ms Zimmermann and others in the office were damaging and resulted in a fearful environment. He was not happy with my comments and appeared to be quite angry. The conversation came to a halt when Craig Stevens (who shared office space with Mr Carroll) entered the room. I knew from that day on that I had no option but to resign as Mr Carroll was not happy with my comments.

9. Following the 'interviews' and as she was aware of the distress of the admin staff, PASA Secretary, Bernadette Zimmermann, contacted the Committee of Management members via email and advised the admin staff had been traumatised by the interviews and she was concerned for our welfare. This action by her, done with concern, resulted in a backlash from Mr Carroll against Ms Zimmermann.

10. As a result of the email to the Committee the admin staff were subsequently contacted by two members of the Committee of Management who asked that we each submit a statement of our concerns re the incident. The statements were submitted as requested, mainly anonymously as most of the admin staff did not want to put their name to anything for fear of repercussions. I put my name to the statement provided to the Committee and once that had been submitted, and the President was aware of same, I felt I had nowhere else to go and resigning was the only option. Please refer to the statement I made to the committee of management which is shown below.

STATEMENT FOR COMMITTEE

I wish to provide the Committee with a statement to support those which I believe have been provided by other staff members.

This statement is submitted without malice but with the hope for change.

The culture for female staff, at PASA is quite sad. The environment within which we work is very male centric, basically a 'boys club' mentality. As females we often feel second class and unworthy. We are aware that we are considered to be histrionic or menopausal if we raise concerns. Unfortunately, this sentiment is often also placed on our female SAPOL members. Do we equal or are we as valued as our male co-workers? Definitely No.

As the Committee is aware there was an incident on Wednesday 14/6/23 where one of the admin staff had an emotional breakdown early in the morning (around 8.30am) resulting in her having to leave the office and go home. Following her departure from the office the admin staff were called in one by one and interviewed by Mark Carroll, in the presence of In-House Counsel Craig Stevens who took notes. The interview was also recorded. I was the first person called in for the interview. Upon entering the room currently utilized as a temporary lunchroom, and seeing Craig there with his notepad, I actually thought I was about to be officially warned for something or have my employment terminated. I note this happened within the first 1.5 hours of my first day back at work after an annual leave absence. I was told that the interview would be recorded but I was not asked if I consented. I was not offered the opportunity to have a witness/support person present. I was then asked to give my account of what had happened that morning with the staff member that had had the emotional outburst. I was questioned re whether I had heard anyone bully her or speak offensively to her. I felt at the time that there was more concern re who may be responsible for her outburst (and the ramifications of same if she chose to pursue a bullying claim) than there was for the staff member who was obviously in a state of distress. At no time did I feel that there was any actual concern for the staff member and her current state of mind. I supplied my version of what I'd heard and seen, was asked to provide a written statement (which I have not done, nor have I been asked for again) at a later point. I was then asked to send Person X* in to be interviewed. Person X was on the phone at that point. Once she was free, I was able to advise her that she was to be interviewed and that Craig was present, and that she would be recorded. Unlike me, I did not want a co-worker entering the room and being surprised or concerned re the presence of the In-House Legal Counsel.

I spoke with a Human Resources person (an ex-government co-worker) that evening and she advised that the above scenario was totally incorrect and should never have happened. She was surprised that the In-House Counsel had not advised against one-on-one interviews, that no support person had been offered and that the interviews had been recorded as the situation did not warrant that procedure. She advised me not to provide a written statement. To date my statement has not been requested again.

Following all the interviews conducted with the administration staff it was apparent that several of my co-workers were quite distressed re the fact that they had been questioned re the morning's events. I have since become aware that two of my co-workers are on medically prescribed anti-depressants and one has had to have her blood pressure medication increased. All of these medical interventions are as a result of work pressures—whether it be increased workload (which can be supported by documented evidence) or other factors which I'm sure the staff involved can share with the Committee.

I feel it important to strongly impress on the Committee that every single staff member that is providing a statement at this time is doing so in fear. Fear of repercussion within the workplace for speaking out. I am aware that some staff have opted not to put their names to their statements for this reason and I hope this does not prevent you from accepting their comments. I have chosen to own my statement as I wasn't able to make non-identifying comments. I have only 12 months service at PASA so, compared to the majority of my co-workers, have only experienced/witnessed a small fragment of the culture within this office environment. I can say that it appears to me that certain staff members are being bullied in a planned and calculated fashion with little regard to the impact that may have on others within the office.

I previously worked at a federal politics level and participated in the Jenkins Review established to ensure all Commonwealth Parliamentary workplaces are safe and respectful. Events at Parliament House that led to the enquiry have been extensively covered by the media. I can honestly say that I felt more valued and respected within the walls of Parliament House than I do at PASA. I don't feel confident that if I had a grievance with a male co-worker at PASA that I would be taken seriously, that my concerns would be dismissed, that I would be labelled as a 'silly cow' (a term I have heard on numerous occasions when female SAPOL members in distress have called the Association for assistance). I also believe, from my observations over the past 12 months, that anyone (whether it be a staff member or a SAPOL Member) who has any mental health issue is not respected. The term 'broken biscuit' was used to describe a member during my first few months of employment. I took this statement quite hard as my late husband (a SAPOL member who committed suicide after a departmental motor vehicle accident) would have been one of those so called 'broken biscuits'.

I believed when I accepted the role with PASA that I would be part of a system that was there to help and support police officers in need. I felt that I would be performing a worthy and important function. In the 12 months I have been employed I have changed my view of the role PASA performs. It seems that if you are a male and have an issue that doesn't involve any form of mental health then you are worthy of help. If there is a PTSD type issue, or if you are female, then you fall into the [f-tard] or [f-wit] category. These are terms often used in our office to describe SAPOL members—quite often when passing on phone messages for assistance i.e. 'I'm not calling that [f-tard]'. Unfortunately, these terms were also used to describe certain members that attended Darren Mead's funeral. I have personally found this very distressing based on my personal history and on one occasion I did have tears in the ladies toilet.

I wish to add that I really enjoy the work that I do, the support of my fellow administrative staff members and the support given by Bernadette Zimmermann. She does everything she can to keep the status quo within the office space under very trying circumstances. I would also like it noted that Bernadette is completely unaware that these statements are being tabled. As a group we chose to keep her out of this as we didn't want any ramifications directed at her. PASA is not an easy environment to work in. In fact, it can be described as toxic. We (Admin Staff) feel that we walk on eggshells, daily. Never knowing what the atmosphere will be like. At times it is very intense, and the animosity being directed at certain staff is very evident.

As I stated earlier, we provide these statements in fear and have limited the amount of detail provided because of that fear. We are all very concerned re the fallout on us following this Committee meeting and firmly believe that our statements/comments, (although tabled we believe 'in camera' and in confidence), will be fed back to management by some members. I hope that as a committee you can be mindful [of that]…

Again, my statement is not written with malice but with genuine concern for my co-workers who aren't part of the 'in crowd' and for the serving members whose contributions fund this Association and believe that they have someone to turn too if the need arises. I also believe in the power of a governing committee to bring about change and I thank you for hearing us at this time…

11. Following submission of the statements from staff which were presented at the committee meeting held in July 2023, the Committee agreed to conduct an internal investigation under the control of Michael Kent and Leonie Schulz…The investigation never eventuated

12. As it was obvious that there would not be any changes made at PASA and the behaviour of certain male staff members would continue to be toxic and intimidating, I made the decision to resign whilst on 4 weeks annual leave to be taken in August 2023. I firmly believe that I had no other option because of the toxic, misogynistic environment led by a narcissistic manager as it was affecting my mental health to the extent that I was very distressed at the thought of returning to work when my leave period ended. I realised that I was in a toxic workplace environment that was so insular that I did not feel safe enough in to complain.

13. On a daily basis I had to hear members spoken about extremely badly. As an example, Joe McDonald who was a delegate of the Association (recently expelled) had been calling to ask questions about the new proposed changes that have been put forward to members. Steven Whetton referred to him as the '[effing] maggot' and instructed staff in the office that no matter how many times Joe called he (Steve) would not return calls to the '[effing] maggot'. This put the admin staff who were 100% responsible for answering the phones under so much stress as they then had to field calls from members who knew that they were being lied too.

14. I am one of three that resigned from PASA between August and September 2023 because of the bullying and toxic environment. After my resignation the two other staff, one with over 16 years of service, resigned. Following the revelation of our statements to the Committee the situation only worsened. We believe Mr Carroll was excused from the committee meeting while the submissions were discussed but as he had many supporters on the committee the admin staff were fairly confident that everything discussed would have been relayed to him. He would have been aware who had spoken against him.

15. If a SAPOL member calling PASA was a Mark Carroll supporter their call would be accepted by the male member liaison officers…If a member particularly wanted one of the male Liaison Officers and realized that their call was not going to be taken, they tended to take their frustration out on the admin staff. This resulted in an incredibly stressful environment.

16. There are many other staff members, both current and resigned/retired, who are electing to remain silent as they are fearful of the repercussions.

17. I believe that two other administrative persons have resigned from PASA in the past two months and a third is currently on leave with a stress related work cover situation in existence.

18. I have watched in disbelief the recent election of Wade Burns to the role of President of PASA. Within the first few days of my employment at PASA I was warned by other female staff members to watch myself around him as he had history of alleged sexual assault against a female employee of SAPOL. It was a well-known and discussed matter. I was also told that he had been protected by his father who was an ex-Police Commissioner who had pulled strings to ensure that he was never brought in front of a criminal court for the alleged behaviour. I believe that the victim chose not to go ahead with criminal proceedings. In my opinion if the female concerned was bullied by senior officers either involved with the activities that occurred on the night, or who she reported in her role at SAPOL in the same manner as the female staff at PASA were, I completely understand her reluctance to take the matter further. I feel that had the matter gone to court there may have been a very different outcome…

19. The culture within PASA is such that female staff believe they are untouchable. They are unanswerable to SAPOL. There are no internal human resource controls or disrespectful behaviour guidelines. They were led by a powerful person and whilst he has now resigned, I believe his influence is still very much in play [at] PASA. The public image Mr Carroll portrayed via the media is very different to the man who controlled not only the [Police] Association but also the committee and his devotees/employees. The recent actions of the committee expelling three long term members of PASA who had questioned their activities is abhorrent and certainly won't encourage anyone else to speak up against anything they believe 'smells' within PASA.

20. PASA have recently stated, in communiqué to members, that the claims lodged by me and two other ex-PASA staff members to the Fair Work Commission were withdrawn as the 'veracity of the complaints were tested'. This is totally untrue. Our claims were withdrawn following the systematic bullying of the highly paid King's Counsel lawyers employed by PASA to represent them at the FWC and ongoing intimidation via a barrage of emails and attempts to stop our action. One ex staff member was even phoned by Mark Carroll whilst FWC considerations were in place—obviously, she didn't answer the call and when questioned Mr Carroll said it was accidental. There is only so much that people can mentally stand and after having worked in an extremely toxic and dangerous environment it was more than myself and my co-workers could bear to continue with the claims. The comments made in our claims were never heard by the FWC let alone 'tested' and we all completely stand by the submission made to the Fair Work Commission.

21. I have also been targeted by PASA Deputy President Daryl Mundy who has inserted a one-line comment, completely out of context to the rest of his commentary, in PASA communique to members stating that an ex-staff member of PASA now works for Frank Pangallo. This infers that I have been spreading malicious commentary about PASA which is completely inaccurate. I believe this comment has been made to incite members to believe that I'm stirring a non-existent pot and that there is 'nothing to see here', just another 'silly cow' female spouting off.

22. I have been in the workforce for over 45 years. I have never experienced a toxic environment such as PASA ever in my working life. I worked during the eighties and nineties before the #metoo and as a female I have experienced and been subjected to sexual banter. The treatment of females in PASA is very much an eighties environment. I am concerned that they have employed much younger female staff to replace the outgoing experienced admin assistants and I am fearful for them, especially with the incumbent president and his alleged history. In closing, Frank, as a private constituent I seek your help. I am tired of feeling helpless.

Sincerely, Kim York

This appalling behaviour and brutish conduct should not be tolerated in any workplace, let alone one that is run by police officers for the benefit of police officers. You can see what has befallen those female employees who found the enormous courage to try to blow the whistle. Everywhere they turn, they were let down, but they refused to be bludgeoned into total surrender.

I can just see Mr Mundy with Mr Burns, Mr Carroll, Ms Brain, Mr Whetton, and their expensive lawyers in support preparing their next salvo against me and these brave whistleblowers to protect themselves from the ire of the majority of PASA members who are still totally in the dark about these matters. We will be accused of lying, being vexatious, and that we are attacking the integrity of police and their union with baseless and unsubstantiated allegations, that they had an axe to grind, etc., etc. Well, let's just see who is lying and who is being untruthful.

I have also been provided with two damning emails written by the current secretary of PASA, Bernadette Zimmermann, who has also been on the receiving end of bullying and verbal abuse. Ms Zimmermann happens to be the sister of Mr Carroll; however, the best way to describe their relationship is glacial. This one was written to Mr Carroll on Monday 22 June at 12.33pm and let me read from it:

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

To Mark Carroll, President PASA

I write this letter to you regarding your relentless abuse of me and my position as secretary of PASA.

I write following the latest incident during the afternoon of 15 June 2020. This has concerned me greatly as staff could hear the abuse from your office. It necessitated a staff member coming from the reception area, where a member was waiting at the front counter to have a meeting with me, to close your door, even though there is another door between the reception area and your office.

That afternoon, after this had occurred, you advised me that I would not be working at PASA for much longer. You said you would be making sure of it.

I have since become aware that you may have contacted staff member/s after hours that night and required them to provide you with a statement about what they might have seen or heard that afternoon. The very disturbing feature of this is that, given your role in the incident, and the fact that you are the person responsible for hiring and dismissing administrative staff, this should not have been orchestrated by you. This is a terrible position to place staff in. Given your extensive knowledge and experience of workplace issues such as these, an independent and external party should have been utilised if you believed the matter warranted an investigation, to the point that statements were required.

When you arrived at work the following morning your tirade of abuse of me continued, to the point I had to close my door because I could not physically listen to that again. There was no other person in the block of nearby offices when you did this.

That same morning a staff member came into my office and told me they were worried about having to put in a statement after you had directed them to do so. That person advised me they were 'worried about their job' if they told the truth. This is deeply concerning, especially as you have on several occasions recently, openly proclaimed in the workplace, that you have sacked ten people so far in your position. The impression you gave was that it was something you were proud of. There can be no other reason for you to be making such proclamations in the workplace.

Recently you denigrated and belittled me in front of industrial staff when you told everyone at a meeting that I had made the association look stupid while you were away. I explained to you that the matter you were referring to was not a decision I made—it was the result of legal advice, culminating in a letter to SAPOL which was written strictly in compliance with that advice. Even so, you still repeated that in another forum after I had explained it to you.

I am also managing the effect of being systematically excluded from industrial and political meetings as the elected secretary of PASA. This has undermined the role and function of the secretary. This has been noticed by the board and was raised by board members in a board meeting late last year. As a result, the board directed you to include me in these meetings but you have disregarded that direction by continuing to hold such meetings without my knowledge and without my attendance.

I ask that you stop your abuse of me as I am feeling the effect of it and I am very tired. I have had to seek counselling because of it, which I commenced last year but has ceased at this point in time due to the pandemic crisis. I have attended these appointments during my lunch period. Unfortunately, I have been made aware by administrative staff that you have asked them on occasions what time I have left the office and to report to you when I return. Your monitoring of me has not been for the purpose of seeking meetings with me upon my return.

On most days of the week I am still at work well past your own departure. As I have explained to you before, I am employed under the same conditions as you are. I am not in a clerical position and I should not be compared or aligned to the employment conditions of office assistants. I am not employed by you. I am elected by the membership via the Constitution of PASA.

The fact that administrative staff have been asked to effectively monitor my absence from the office and report it to you is oppressive and undermines my role as secretary of PASA. It has had a detrimental effect on my health.

I have also had to deal with the shame and embarrassment that follows when incidents such as those listed above occur. There are other instances that have been witnessed and heard by staff and board members of your abuse of me which I do not list here.

These incidents, amongst others, have caused me great shame and anguish and I ask that you stop the relentless abuse of me and my position in PASA. I advise you of this as I believe your abuses of me are escalating.

I am very concerned that should your behaviour against me continue, it will damage the reputation of PASA. I was concerned about this when a Board member resigned recently, citing your behaviour and treatment of other Board members as the primary reason for their early resignation from the Committee of Management earlier this year. That member did not convey his reasons for resignation to the Registered Organisations Commission but published them far and wide to employees of the association and Police Club. This was very damaging to the PASA ethos.

It is important that you are aware that in all the years I have worked in SAPOL, in excess of 32 years, in the rough and tumble of general duties policing and its associated stresses, I have never before had to seek counselling. I wish to make you aware of the gravity of the abuses you continue against me—especially the relentless nature of them. It is also to reaffirm my well-established resilience in managing workplace crises.

I have always maintained my support for mediation and resolution of these serious issues, noting that currently, even with your constant abuse of me, I continue to perform the tasks required of my position.

I advise that this letter to you has not been copied or 'blind-copied' to any other person or organisation. This is due to my concern for the reputation of PASA. The hypocrisy of what is occurring in the PASA office is palpable, given that PASA so strongly condemns the same behaviour in SAPOL.

Bernadette Zimmermann

Secretary…

Police Association of South Australia

Then there was this one, on Wednesday 27 January 2021. This was sent to the following members: Trevor Milne, Allan Cannon, Christopher Walkley, Julian Snowden, Samantha Strange, Michael Kent, Brett Gibbons, Daryl Mundy and Michael Casey. It reads:

Subject: Urgent assistance required

Dear Committee

Following the last meeting of the committee, I unfortunately am required to bring to your attention an incident that just occurred in the President's office.

About a week ago, a staffing issue arose as a result of which I sought a meeting with the President so as to maturely and non-emotively discuss a way forward, due to the negative impact it was having on staff.

I set a meeting which at the last minute was aborted due to the President leaving early and not advising me, even though he walked past me in my office.

I then made another time and the meeting was rescheduled at 1500hrs today.

Just before the meeting was to commence, I said to the President we could have the meeting in the boardroom.

He said it was to occur in his office.

I returned to his office. He then told me he would be recording the meeting and activated his phone.

This is wholly inappropriate and needs to be dealt with promptly.

You, as a committee, are going to have to deal with this. I have complained to you about the serious bullying and the relentless nature of it since I raised an issue about a contract that necessitated legal advice in August 2019. In my absence in September 2019, the President put through a contract listing the name of Darryl Milliken as one of the directors of the company to which the contract applied. The contract is worth a lot of money. Daryl Milliken is a close personal friend of the President's. The conflict of interest was obvious and extreme and was never declared.

Since that time, I have endured serious bullying, the likes of which I have never endured before.

The President is now resorting to this means of bullying—to tape record conversations in the office. If I don't abide, he will not speak to me. As a result of his extreme action, I had to leave his office, as he had started recording.

You have no choice but to take action. The President is now recording workplace conversations.

You have all been advised and I am seeking your urgent assistance. I presume tape recording is not legal in the work construct, or at least, it is completely unprofessional and childlike in the extreme.

I am seeking your assistance as a matter of urgency.

Bernadette Zimmermann

Secretary.

I seek leave to conclude.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.