After receiving the Report
provided to the hearing by Margaret Watson I wrote a
33 page response which I sent to the Protective
Commissioner, Brian Porter and to Mr Nick
O’Neil, President of the Guardianship Board. I
pointed out the errors, the lies, the slander and
asked for a review. Mr Porter said, through
correspondence from Graham Brindell, Estate Manager,
that “the OPC and it’s officers
have no review function in respect of the actions of
the Guardianship Board”. He also advised
he had passed my letter on to the Guardianship Board.
Shortly after this I was informed that Mr Brindell
had appointed Peter McGivern, accountant, to tie up
the closure of my husband’s business. Since I
have an Enduring Power of Attorney, valid in both
N.S.W. and Queensland I demanded that they get an independent
accountant, the reason being Mr McGivern’s
hostile participation against me at both hearings and
his failure to notify myself and Mrs Norma Furner
that Mr Furner needed medical help and the business
was no longer operating, when he first
discovered this in July 1996. In
response to this, not only did the OPC ignore my
request, but appointed him as substitute
Company Director in my husband’s
place!
Mr Brindell also informed me that he
was not authorised to provide money for MY
support!. I explained that my husband had supported
me for 27 years (at that time), to which he replied
“that may well have been the
situation prior to your husband becoming ill, but who
is to say that is his wish now?”
I quoted a statement from an information brochure
provided by the Guardianship Board
“Whenever possible, the views of
the person and the immediate family are sought before
any decisions are made. The Protective Commissioner
can in some circumstances spend money on the needs of
other family members and dependants of the person.”
He denied any knowledge of this brochure or the
information it contained and informed me that the Act
only provides care for the person with the
disability, not their relatives, not
their spouses!
Then came the matter of the Charter Fishing Business
I had been operating. I had to forego the business to
spend time trying to get my husband hospitalised. I
couldn’t do both. Had I not had to spend 8 weeks
trying to get my husband medical attention then I
might have been able to continue with the business.
Now however the OPC was taking up all my time.
Once I finally got through to the OPC that they were
obliged to afford me support financially
I advised them that I had debts from the business I
had been operating that had to be cleared. Wendy
Steel requested I list those debts and she would
organise to have their payment. authorised. This of
course never eventuated.
In the meantime I appointed a solicitor to work on my
behalf. I explained to him that I wanted the
Guardianship Order revoked, that they had obtained
control through deceit and unqualified,
unsubstantiated opinions, and that I had already paid
a deposit to the Supreme Court for a Holding Appeal
into the matter. I also advised that I wanted a case
against Peter McGivern for slander and I wanted him
removed as the appointed accountant, and substitute
director, tying up the affairs of my husband’s
business.
I had written to Therese Brady, Registrar of the
Guardianship Board requesting a review, to be told by
her ‘she was seeking further
information on the matters”.
It was also she who advised
“It is standard procedure
for reports by the Investigation and Liaison Officers
of the Board to be made available to the parties on
the day of the hearing. One of the purposes of a
Guardianship Board hearing is to allow any disputed
facts in reports to be put to the Board to be aired
and if possible, corrected.”
This is not what happened in this instance. The
Report was kept from me until after the Hearing, and
then it was too late. Margaret Watson had 3 working
days prior to the hearing in which she could have had
the Report sent Overnight Express to me. I
wasn’t even considered important enough to be
afforded “standard procedure”.