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Document
The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald,
Dear Sir,
Your editorial comments about Justice Ken Handley "Judge not my age" (15/1/07) have caused me great anger. Justice Handley has the luxury of being able to retire at age 72 with many benefits and with other employment options open to him. However thanks to just one of Justice Handley's 1500 decisions in the Supreme Court my employment as a carer for the disabled with the NSW Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care has been permanently and corruptly destroyed. At age 52 I face a lifetime of poverty and unemployment ahead of me. When Justice Handley by his judgment destroyed my life in November 2003 he had before him sworn evidence that in 1997 I had spoken up about fellow staff abusing/ neglecting severely disabled residents of the group home where I worked in Eastwood. He knew that my complaints both verbal and written had been made under specific legislation (the CAMA Act 1993) which makes retribution by the Department a criminal offence. I quote from the court transcript "JUSTICE HANDLEY Did you make a formal complaint under that Act or was your complaint an informal one. "APPLICANT I made formal complaints and informal complaints.."
Justice Handley also knew that contrary to this important legislation, Departmental officials had taken extreme retribution against me by fabricating false allegations that I was psychiatrically disturbed. These allegations were kept secret from me. I was then misled into attending a psychiatric examination at a NSW government agency called HealthQuest. The Department's false allegations were then used by Deputy Director of HealthQuest Dr Helen Jagger to label me with a suspected "psychotic" illness. I was then suspended from duties as of 29 Oct 1997 at age 43.. The stigma of mental illness has made my life hell ever since. Justice Handley knew Dr Jagger's decision to suspend me had no legal basis or authority. I quote again from the court transcript: "JUSTICE HANDLEY "That opinion had no, that opinion was not a decision under an enactment..(it) had no operative legal effect."
And yet when he came to write his public judgment Justice Handley turned the law on its head to avoid having to find that the Department and HealthQuest had acted illegally. He did so by effectively finding that because I was accused of mental illness, I was not entitled to natural justice or unbiased decision making. His decision jointly made with Justices Ipp and Acting Justice Davies has not only destroyed my career, but assisted the Department to cover up abuse of disabled and associated criminal acts such as the destruction of incriminating evidence. His decision rendered useless legislation that is supposed to protect anyone complaining about the Department's mistreatment of disabled. His decision also blocked many other victims of illegal and corrupt HealthQuest decisions from gaining legal redress.
This is the malign effect of just one of Justice Handley's 1500 decisions. I wonder what else he has been responsible for. Because of this nightmare I am homeless and without an address or phone number. Your newpaper has a duty surely to fearlessly expose the dishonesty and corruption of public officials particularly when their actions cause great harm to people's lives. Because of judges like Ken Handley there is no rule of law in New South Wales and no protection for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our society.
Yours sincerely
Gerard Crewdson
gcrewdson@yahoo.com