Letter to Senate to have allegations of stalking and assault considered.
Dear Secretary
During a hearing of the Rural Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee on 20 November 2020, Mr. Shane Carmody the Director of Aviation Safety (DAS) and Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said this, among other things, about me:
“Mr. Buckley … has assaulted my staff, he has stalked my staff in the Melbourne office and, frankly, we've had enough of him.”
I completely reject those allegations.
I respectfully submit that on any interpretation of the term “adverse reflection”, Mr. Carmody’s allegations are an adverse reflection on me.
As you will be aware, the Parliamentary privilege resolutions agreed to by the Senate on 25 February 1988 relevantly include the following:
“1 Procedures to be observed by Senate committees for the protection of witnesses
In their dealings with witnesses, all committees of the Senate shall observe the following procedures:
…
(11) Where a committee has reason to believe that evidence about to be given may reflect adversely on a person, the committee shall give consideration to hearing that evidence in a private session.
(12) Where a witness gives evidence reflecting adversely on a person and the committee is not satisfied that that evidence is relevant to the committee's inquiry, the committee shall give consideration to expunging that evidence from the transcript of evidence, and to forbidding the publication of that evidence.
(13) Where evidence is given which reflects adversely on a person and action of the kind referred to in paragraph (12) is not taken in respect of the evidence, the committee shall provide a reasonable opportunity for that person to have access to that evidence and to respond to that evidence by written submission and appearance before the committee.
…”
Mr. Carmody’s allegations against me were broadcast and now appear in Hansard. I consider that I am entitled to a reasonable opportunity to respond by written submission and appearance before the Committee. It cannot reasonably be the case that Mr. Carmody is free to make such serious allegations against me under Parliamentary privilege, unsupported by any evidence submitted to the Committee or made available to me, and the matter is resolved by a mere written denial by me.
I, therefore, request that you let me know if the Committee will give me an opportunity to appear again to respond to Mr. Carmody’s allegations.
Ideally, I would appreciate the opportunity to present before you with Mr. Carmody and any nominated CASA support personnel present.
If both perspectives can be presented simultaneously, it will streamline the process and provide the Committee the opportunity to more effectively consider the matter.
Absent a reasonable opportunity to respond, I will consider making a submission in writing to the President of the Senate, requesting the submission be referred to the Committee of Privileges.
Please understand, this matter is important to me.
(To the PPrune reader, I have edited a paragraph here outlining my current employment position. I'm not permitted to broadcast that position. What I will say is that I'm not a water meter reader any more. I got tired of having my arms ripped to shreds by all the residents of Camberwell, Canterbury and Mont Albert who had one bloody rose bush in their entire massive front lawn, and decide to plant it right above the water meter. I could feel them staring at me from their loungerooms as they chuckled with delight)
I underwent an extremely thorough security check prior to being offered the position. If those allegations by Mr. Carmody of criminal offenses were upheld, my employment would be untenable. The fact that I passed the security screening process to obtain the position, further suggests to me that Mr. Carmody's allegations are untruthful and misleading.
Thank you in anticipation of your assistance in bringing transparency to the process.
Please note that I had extended a request to Mr. Anthony Mathews the Chair of the Board of CASA. I had requested that he respond by 5 PM on Tuesday 9th December 2020. Mr. Mathews chose not to respond, therefore I am submitting this request for your consideration. A copy of that correspondence has previously been submitted to you, but have copied it below for your reference.
Respectfully, Glen Buckley
COPY OF PREVIOUS LETTER SENT TO MR MATHEWS (CHAIR OF THE CASA BOARD)
Dear Mr. Colin MacLachlan, Chair of the Board of CASA, and all Board Members. Please note that I have included other Parties in this email.
In Senate Estimates on 20/11/20, Mr. Carmody, the CEO of CASA raised allegations of criminal conduct against me, when he said the following.“He has assaulted my staff, he has stalked my staff.”
I absolutely refute those allegations. These are significant allegations and impact on my reputation. I would like to provide Mr. Carmody the opportunity to fully retract his statement and unreservedly apologize for it.
If Mr. Carmody refuses to fully retract that statement and publicly apologize, I will refer this matter to the Senate Standing Committee of Privileges. There are rules associated with adverse reflections on a person, and I feel Mr. Carmody's comments have clearly breached these.
As this matter should be easily attended to, I request that this matter be finalized by way of a retraction and published apology by 5 PM on Tuesday 8th December 2020.
Respectfully, Glen Buckley