I spoke to Gayle Mitchell who works in Premier Mike Baird’s office a few times on Monday and Tuesday and she lies, deceives and uses threats and intimidation with the best of them. Her conduct is totally consistent with the allegations of threats, intimidation and bribery made my NSW MP Robert Borsak against the Attorney-General Brad Hazzard in January.
It also seems to be consistent with other recent allegations of political interference and corruption regarding the Premier’s office. (Click here to read more)
The background to the recent communication with the Premier’s office is a complaint I made in December last year to his office. But this post is not about my complaint, it is about the treatment and actions of Premier Baird’s office when dealing with members of the public and how they try to cover-up allegations of corruption.
Below is a perfect example of “cover-up 101” when a staffer of a politician receives a corruption complaint from the public. In this case it is Premier Baird’s staff member Gayle Mitchell in action. Rule #1 Deny that you have ever received the complaint. Rule #2 If you cannot deny receiving a complaint then deny that the complaint has any basis and say there is nothing that can be done. Rule #3 Never put anything in writing if you can avoid it. Rule #4 If all else fails use threats and intimidation. As you will see below Gayle Mitchell excels at all of these rules.
Background
I was following up a complaint I sent the Premier in December regarding a dodgy $2000 fine for contempt of court for breaching a super-injunction. (Click here to read the email) I was sent two letters from the collection agency late last year who were working on behalf of the NSW Department of Justice. (Click here and here to read the letters of demand)
In January the collection agency told me that the matter was being investigated after the email I sent the Premier in December. Yesterday they said the matter was on hold until the defamation case against Kerry Stokes was finalized. Both times they refused to put anything in writing. Today (25-3-15) via email at 11.46am I am told that the collection agency is no longer dealing with the matter and they have been told to close the files. (Click here to read the email)
The phone calls with Gayle Mitchell
Tuesday last week (17-3-15) I was at Premier Baird’s Manly electoral office taking some photos and I asked the receptionist if she could find out what was happening regarding my complaint from December. She took my details and said she would email the Premier’s Sydney CBD office and get someone to call me. No one did.
On Monday (23-3-15) I called the Premier’s office and was put through to Gayle Mitchell who told me she is the Correspondence Manager. She said she did not get the email from December and did not get an email from the Manly office last week. That is an old routine, deny receipt of any correspondence that alleges corruption. The problem with that is I also sent the complaint to the Attorney-General and why did the Collection Agency tell me in January that it was being investigated?
Too cut a long story short I emailed the complaint to the Premier’s office again on Monday. I did not get an acknowledgement so I emailed it again to his Manly Office on Tuesday. I now have confirmation that his office has received it so they can no longer duck and weave and say they did not get it.
On Monday Ms Mitchell said she would look into the matter and find out who is investigating the complaint given the collection agency told me someone was when I spoke to them in January.
On Tuesday at (3.24pm – 14 minute call) Gayle Mitchell phoned me and told me it was a matter between me and Kerry Stokes and that was the end of the matter as far as the Premier’s Office is concerned.
She said that she had read the judgement and that I had defamed Kerry Stokes and had to pay the fine otherwise there would be consequences etc. The problem with this is that it is not for Ms Mitchell to tell me that I have to pay the fine otherwise there will be consequences. She well and truly overstepped the mark given her position within the government. The Premier’s office wants me to pay the fine otherwise it is someone in government who will have to enforce it and no one wants to get their hands dirty in case it blows up later.
And on what basis does Ms Mitchell say that I have defamed Kerry Stokes. I pointed out that my complaint was about judicial corruption and I asked her if she was a lawyer. She said no but she claims she had consulted legal people. I wonder who these legal people are and have they put their advice in writing.
Gayle Mitchell’s job is Correspondence Manager. It is her role to refer the correspondence to the right people for investigation and response. It is not her role to give legal advice and act as a lawyer.
I did not know it at the time but I had received an email from the Premier’s office saying that it had been referred to the Attorney-General. Obviously the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing in the Premier’s office.
Just for good measure Gayle Mitchell threatened me with defamation (Yawn) and used clear and blatant intimidation tactics to try to scare me.
Complaint against Gayle Mitchell
I phoned the Premiers office again (4.14pm – 18 minute call) to make a complaint about Gayle Mitchell and who did they put me through to? Yep, Gayle Mitchell. She said it was because she was the highest ranking staff member in the office at the time. I pointed out that even if that was true they should have put me through to the highest ranking employee besides her. She argued against this and proceeded to continue with her lies and then tried to intimidate.
The fact that she even took the call when she already knew it was me wanting to make a complaint against her shows how corrupt she is and she should be sacked. She said I had called her names and she was taking notes which was a clear attempt to intimidate. Obviously she took the call to try to bait me into saying something she can use against me in my complaint against her.
She threatened me with defamation just because I told her that I would be writing about her on my site. I pointed out to her that she did not know what I would be writing and she said she knew it would be defamatory based on what I had said to her in our conversations. She must be a mind reader. I told her that it was political communication and that I was protected given the High Court judgement Coleman v Power (2004). She didn’t have a comeback for that.
Ms Mitchell should be sacked just on the basis of threatening me with defamation when she did not even know what I was going to write about her.
At 3.30PM today I received another call from Gayle Mitchell who told me that no one in the Premier’s office or the Department of Justice has told the collection agency to stop trying to collect the fine. What Ms Mitchell said clearly contradicts what the collection agency told me in the email which I linked to above.
I told Ms Mitchell she should not be calling me given that she knew I would be making a complaint about her and I told her not to call me again. She was clearly calling me looking to see if she can find out about my complaint and when I would be publishing an article which I put her on notice about yesterday.
A few other points of interest
Gayle Mitchell was being a smarty yesterday and asked me what country this is. I said I did not know. She said it is Australia and it is a democracy. What a nutter. She also asked me if I was taping the call. If she had nothing to hide why would she ask that question?
She is not a lawyer and should not be giving anyone legal advice even more so given I did not ask for it. Nor should she be making a decision on whether or not there is evidence of judicial corruption and she clearly implied that the Premier’s office did not care if there was corruption.
Gayle Mitchell said if I have evidence of judicial corruption to take it to ICAC. There is nothing stopping the government from investigating. One would think that the government would want to know about judicial corruption given they are the only ones with the power to sack judges.
Gayle Mitchell is one of those people who over rates her own intelligence. She is used to dealing with members of the public who lack the experience in dealing with a deceitful person like her. So she either lies and deceives, or if that doesn’t work, tries to intimidate.
I will be emailing a copy of this to the Premier’s office as my complaint against Gayle Mitchell and see what happens. I do not expect much will happen given that Ms Mitchell told me that the written complaint will go to her. She might be able to control what happens in the Premiers office but she cannot control what happens on the net. The Liberal Party continue to show they have no clue about the changing world and the power of social media.
Former QLD Premier Anna Bligh was on the ABC’s 7.30 Report a few days ago in a story titled “Anna Bligh who suggests that technology and social media are bringing a ‘new normal’ to politics”. (Click here to watch or read the transcript) Given Bligh was on the end of one of the biggest Political beltings the country has ever seen, she has clearly learnt her lesson. Mike Baird and the Liberals would be well advised to watch the show as they clearly have plenty to learn. Gayle Mitchell asked me if I was taping the call. I didn’t need to. I was always going to write about what happened on this website.
Most people are saying that Tony Abbott is dragging down the Liberal Party’s vote in NSW. I have no doubt that when the next Federal Election happens next year that Mike Baird and the NSW Liberal Party corruption will drag down the Federal Liberal Party vote.
What is really sad is that the average person with genuine complaints write to the Premier and someone as dishonest as Gayle Mitchell sweeps their issues under the carpet. But the days of the likes of Ms Mitchell are numbered as corrupt politicians and their corrupt staff are being made accountable for their actions more and more nowadays.
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Categories: Mike Baird
Very strong words Shane.
I would wish to read Ms. Mitchell’s detailed reply to the above, posted here or via a press release, before considering the matter further.
Oh! So sorry, no one brought this article to my attention! (:-{
My complaint will be emailed to the Premier’s office tonight and when I get a response I will put it here.
Must be a state election around the corner is there? IMO these kind of comments certainly won’t help Mr. Baird’s re-election chances will they if you have your way – could this be simply because you feel you have the opportunity to sway the public opinion so they vote in a manner more to your liking? Not everyone has to agree with your way of thinking all the time.
Who people vote for is up to them. I won’t be voting Liberal or Labor. If ever there was a time for politicians and their staff to act in an honest way now is it. Just before an election. That fact that they continue to act in a corrupt manner shows just how corrupt they are. They know no other way.
It always amazes me that when these incidents are brought to notice everyone seems surprised when we all know the whole governmental system is riddled with sleaze and corruption but what can you do,just pick the lessor of the two evils and hope the members don’t get corrupted by the system. That is what democracy is all about but with the absence of anything better we tolerate it then we die. We are reasonably lucky compared with places like Indonesia where corruption is a way of life and bribery makes the world go round. Cynical Allan from Myalup.WA
Allan….sad but true. Maybe, just maybe, the day will come when we don’t have politicians.
Don’t pick the lesser of two evils vote for some of the new parties that are now emerging on the political landscape eg
http://sovereigntyparty.org.au/policy
or vote independent.
Why do these people get away with this, our government and the press and the unions are all corrupt.
I am sure that what Shane has written in his article is the Absolute Truth, but it reads more like a Monty Python Script, than what it should be like, contacting and dealing with a Premiers Office with a matter being handled in an Ethical and Professional manor… !!!
Increasingly we see unacceptable behavior by staffers, to the point where there must be an incredibly Low Bar set, of the acceptable standards required, to be in the Public Service or a Political Staffer in Australia today,.. !!
Now it looks like the standard procedure for anyone involved in Politics in Australia, is to threaten Defamation and go running off to the nearest Lawyer, like a Spoiled Child goes crying off to their Mother..!!
None of these people would last a day in American Politics, where the bar for Defamation is set extremely high and people in Public Office are forced to accept criticism, the public interest overrides frivolous litigation and stops the courts from being used as a political tools to silence critics..!!
Both Mike Baird and Tony Abbott have nobody else to blame but themselves for the positions they are in at the moment, the ALP seems to be Affiliated with Corrupt Unions and the LNP will probably go down being Affiliated with Corrupt Banks and Mining Companies…!!
It’s as simple as that I am afraid and it doesn’t matter what the Political Spin Doctors say anymore, that boat has already sailed, with the TRUST in Politicians and the Public Service, having been lost long ago by the Silent Majority of Voters..!!!!!
Good article. Very edifying. I experienced Rules #1 thru #4 too when I had to deal with govt once.
These staffers, et al get away with it because they know that there will be no consequences come of their actions. They are a protected species with the problem being that they keep their positions, even when wrong is blatantly done. It does make you wonder what she has on her boss to keep her gainfully employed? Isn’t that how they normally behave?
When you are walking so close to the edge, you sometimes lose your balance. Nazi premier, political interference, fraudulent behaviour. Accusations made in writing now made public. Some would consider those words defamatory.
The fine was a result of a NSW Supreme Court matter. The collection agency was on a NSW government contract.
Maybe the NSW Ombudsman can deal with your issues.
https://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au/complaints/making-a-complaint/what-you-can-complain-about-to-us
It is not defamatory if it is true. What I believe they are really worried about is a complaint to ICAC and that is why they have started back peddling regarding the $2000 fine.