Complaining Against a Federal Agency... How Hard can it Be????

You’ve retired and your worried ?

Blow that whistle!!!

go to the media. put their name in thie paper, being careful how you word it. This usually grabs the attention of the minister responsible for this person and things *may* happen that way.
Sorry to hear this is going on – disgraceful. I think the office of professional Review (the mob that handles doctors ethics/medicare fraud) has a person who was named in the paper as it ended up in a civil suit being made against the alleged harasser.
Fingers crossed (shameful that we should have to even say this in this circumstance) and good luck.

have everyone go on stress leave and Comcare will start investigating. They may not have much clout themselves (in terms of prosecution or discipline) but it can be pretty embarrassing for the agency. At the very least, Comcare can recommend the ‘injured’ person be transferred to another area as a condition of returning to work.

Knowing nothing about public servant rights (so this advice is worth what you pay for it), if the issue has been brought to the attention of the agency and nothing is done, that sounds like a good basis for some form of legal claim – maybe HREOC or a common law claim in negligence.

Simple solution, Agencies must hand any concerns regarding an SES Officer over to the APSC, instead of agencies doing an internal investigation and then giving their pals a slap on the wrist.

Agencies seem to forget that when a complaint is made, it most likely is the tip of the iceburg. It would be the only way to weed out the few bad SES apples that cause grief for everyone below them.

Write to the shadow minister they would love to bring it up.

Talk to the APSC Ethics Advisory Service. If that goes nowhere, ministerials are always entertaining.

The APSC have an ethics advisory service which might be the best first port of call. The APSC also have a range of documentation available with regards to how to make formal complaints, and their Annual Report also contains info from Merit Protection (they can be involved in the investigation process). http://www.apsc.gov.au/ethics/index.html

Each agency will have its own processes/procedures for handling misconduct and resolving workplace issues – it’s important that whoever is filing the complaint follows this process, as trying to bypass to get something done can backfire spectacularly.

In all processes, it is important that a body of evidence accompany the complaint – if a formal investigation is undertaken, then concerned parties will need to provide evidence and statements, but don’t forget that the accused has the right of reply.

Whistleblowing is an option, but must be considered carefully. There are two sides to every story, and both sides should be afforded an opportunity to state their case. It’s also worth noting that the principles of natural justice should apply, and that if the complaint is determined to be malicious or vexatious, the tables may be turned rather unpleasantly.

Give up any hope of justice when itcomes to bullying by SES level staff. At best, the SES officer in question will be moved on to another position at the same level and salary.