Submission to Office of Carina Garland 1 of 2
27/02/24
Dear Dr. Carina Garland MP for the Electorate of Chisholm,
My name is Glen Buckley, a lifelong resident of the Electorate of Chisholm.
You will be fully conversant with my matter.
· CASA Senior Executives being involved in the deliberately providing false and misleading information to a Commonwealth Ombudsman investigation with the intention to affect the outcome of an investigation.
· An allegation of misfeasance in public office against Mr Jonathan Aleck, CASA Executive Manager of Legal, International, and Affairs.
I attended your Office at 4PM on 26/02/24 to submit correspondence to your Office on this matter.
A Member of your staff attended to me. I introduced myself and requested that I receive a signed acknowledgement of that submission.
Your staff member was initially willing to oblige and requested the nature of the submission.
I explained that it was of a sensitive nature, and I provided the briefest of overviews.
The staff member appreciated that it was of a substantive nature and consulted with a colleague.
I was advised that your Office would not accept the document.
I explained that I was not expecting them to ‘accept” the document as necessarily true and correct, but I am requesting that they retain the copy from an affected lifelong resident of the Electorate.
They steadfastly refused.
Up until this stage I had made no recording but advised that I would film myself leaving the document, as I did.
At this stage the staff moved to the rear of the office to be out of my view.
I made repeated requests simply to submit the document to my Local MP.
As I was not being attended to, I left the office, On my exit, I left a copy of that document at your front door, and my quite reasonable expectation is that your staff retrieved that document.
I am sending an original copy of the document to you below.
I look forward to your considered response.
For the record. At all times I remained respectful towards your staff, and I am sure that they will concur that at no stage did they feel threatened or unsafe. The only occasion that I was compelled to raise my voice, was when your staff moved out of my eyesight, but at no stage was I agitated. I did not dwell unnecessarily within your lobby for any longer than required, and I left the area once I realised that you would not accept that document. I did try to re-enter the Office to leave that copy, but the door was locked. I tried to call the office to advise them, but they hung up the phone on me.
Overall, a very concerning experience from a constituent who has been impacted, and is simply seeking the assistance of their Local MP.
If your staff believe that they felt unsafe at any time, or if my conduct was not professional and respectful, I ask that you bring that to my immediate attention.
Respectfully
Glen Buckley
The correspondence submitted yesterday follows, and as you refuse to meet with me or accept any documentation from me, you have compelled me to reach out to Independent MPs of other Electorates, although I will ensure you remain fully up to date and will include your Office in such correspondence.
· Original Copy presented to the Office of Carina Garland, MP Chisholm on 26/02/24.
· Email sent to Carina Garland MP Chisholm, and other listed recipients 27/02/24.
26/02/2023
Dear Dr. Carina Garland MP for the Electorate of Chisholm.
Other pertinent recipients:
Member MP
· Mr Adam Bandt MP
· Mr Stephen Bates MP
· Mr Max Chandler-Mather MP
· Mr Russell Broadbent MP
· Ms. Kate Chaney MP
· Ms. Zoe Daniel MP
· Hon Andrew Gee
· Dr Helen Haines MP
· Ms. Dai Le MP
· Dr. Monique Ryan MP
· Dr Sophie Scamps MP
· Ms. Allegra Spender MP
· Ms. Zali Steggall OAM MP
· Ms. Kylea Tink MP
· Mr. Andrew Wilkie MP
· Senator David Pocock
· Senator Lidia Thorpe
· Senator David Van
· Senator Pauline Hanson
· Senator Jacqui Lambie
· Senator Nick McKim
· Senator David Willmer
· Senator Janet Rice
· Senator Malcolm Roberts
· Senator Tammy Tyrell
· Senator David van
· Senator Larissa Waters
· Senator Peter Whish-Wilson
My name is Glen Buckley, a 59-year resident of the Electorate of Chisholm. An Electorate that four generations of my family have lived in.
As my Local MP, Ms Garland you have an expert knowledge of my matter, as I have kept you fully updated since you won the Seat of Chisholm at the last election. I have also met with you, as has my wife, and on more than one occasion. I have kept you constantly updated by email since those meetings.
I have previously extended multiple invitations to continue to make myself fully available to meet with you at your local Electorate Office in Chisholm, or in your Canberra Office, as best suits you, at any time you feel you require an update. It is crucial that you remain fully informed, as you have been to date, and that you can in turn, ensure Minister King remains fully informed, as presumably Minister King has been to date.
I acknowledge that the CASA Board is also required to keep Minister King informed and I make that assumption based on CASAs own Statement of Intent, where it states:
“CASA will promptly alert Minister King and the Secretary of the Department of any event or issue that may materially impact CASAs operations. CASA will also advise Minister King of any submissions, major media releases or speeches and other information which the Government is accountable to the Parliament.”
My allegations are substantive. If I was found to be making these statements in a vindictive or vexatious manner, I fully understand that I would potentially be subject to criminal, and/or civil action.
As you are fully aware my allegations of
· Providing false and misleading information to a Commonwealth Ombudsman Office investigation, by senior members of the CASA Executive and
· Misfeasance in public office against CASAs second most senior, and the longest serving member of the CASA Executive Management, Mr Jonathan Aleck, the CASA Manager for Legal, International and Regulatory Affairs,
are allegations that are substantial and no doubt the CASA Board would be compelled to ensure the Minister is fully briefed.
My intention is to attract media attention to this matter and that should further compel you to ensure that you remain fully conversant with the matter as you are and ensure that relevant persons are kept fully up to date. I have included some media outlets in this email. I have taken this action because the actions of your Office leave me with concerns that there is an attempt to cover up this matter.
These allegations of misconduct cannot continue to be “swept under the carpet”, and I have a reasonable expectation that Minister King is aware that those two allegations exist and has been kept fully informed by the CASA Board, and by your Office. This is a matter that I will continue to pursue, with widespread support of the General Aviation Industry.
You will be aware of two Pilot forums being Aunty Pru and Pprune. The latter has had over 1.000.000 views and thousands of comments. I understand that the Aunty Pru site also regularly updates your office on mine and other aviation matters.
For that reason, and as a lifelong resident of your Electorate, may I request of you as a Constituent, that your Office ensure that Minister King is aware of, and has been provided a copy of this correspondence by your Office.
My previous correspondence to Minister King on these allegations has not been responded to by her Office, therefore I am seeking a confirmation specifically from your Office, that Minister King is personally aware and has considered this correspondence. I do not require any response from Minister King at this stage, other than confirmation from your Office that it has been provided to her and bought personally to her attention, as the Minister responsible for CASA.
If for any reason your Office is unwilling and/or unable to facilitate that request, could you please clearly advise me of such.
I recently received further documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI), and those documents leave me in no doubt at all that CASA has provided false and misleading information to that Commonwealth Ombudsman Investigation.
The provision of false and misleading information has been provided by Dr Jonathan Aleck the CASA Executive Manager of Legal International and Regulatory Affairs and I have increasing concerns that false and misleading information may have also been provided by the Office of the CASA Industry Complaints Commissioner (ICC), although the heavily redacted nature of the documents makes that difficult to confirm at this stage.
If the Office of the CASA ICC has not provided false and misleading information, that Office has as a minimum, facilitated the provision of false and misleading information to the Ombudsman investigation, and had an awareness that false and misleading information was being provided.
Recent documentation obtained by me under FOI, has raised concerns that the CEO of CASA has also been complicit in the provision of false and misleading information. specifically with regards to how long I had been operating in the CASA approved structure that I was operating with.
On this specific point regarding the involvement of the CASA CEO, and her knowledge of the provision of false and misleading information, I will address that topic after receiving further documentation under FOI. A specific allegation against the CEO of CASA is not the purpose of this correspondence but will be addressed at the appropriate time, and as always, you will be provided with a copy of that correspondence.
I acknowledge that the Ombudsman Office will maintain the position that CASA has not provided false and misleading information.
The point of false and misleading information is, that it is not recognised as false and misleading information. The task of the provider of false and misleading information is made easier if the recipient requires a low threshold of evidence or chooses not to seek evidence when it is readily available.
This low threshold of evidence also highlights again deficiencies within the Ombudsman Office that reaffirm the same findings as the Robodebt Inquiry, and these are significant matters, that cannot continue to be ignored i.e. accepting information at “face value” rather than seeking supporting evidence when it is clearly available.
Of perhaps more concern is the Ombudsman’s Office considered avoidance to seek evidence that may bring harm to the Government Agency, even when that evidence is abundant and readily available.
Under FOI in have obtained heavily redacted documents although if I may quote from correspondence between the Ombudsman and the CEO of CASA where the Ombudsman Office has scratched the surface at least of identifying that CASA is not being as forthcoming as they are obligated to be, and I quote from that correspondence where the Ombudsman Office states.
“while CASA has not denied its knowledge of Mr Buckleys arrangements for APTA, we feel it has been reluctant to acknowledge the extent of its knowledge of the model to the Office, including that other Operators may have been using a similar model……had CASA been more forthcoming in acknowledging to the Office the more permissive stance it seemed to have taken in allowing Operators to share their Authorisations prior to October 2018, it would have allowed the Office a better understanding of the situation.”
Whilst the Ombudsman Office appears to have almost let that slip by with a rather “wet lettuce” approach which is concerning, it does further indicate that Mr Jonathan Aleck, his direct senior being the CASA CEO, and the CASA Industry Complaints Commissioner have let things “slip” through to the Ombudsman that perhaps were not truthful.
In fact, this presents one of my major challenges and another reason that I am reaching out to make a final request for your assistance.
If the Ombudsman has identified that CASA Employees have apparently misled or as the Ombudsman politely puts it, been ‘reluctant”, and “not forthcoming” in providing information to the Ombudsman Office, it is likely that behaviour would be replicated in a Court of Law, therefore preventing me from seeking justice.
CASA would be obligated, as it is, to conduct itself as a model litigant. I should not need to prove things to be true that the CASA CEO, The CASA Industry Complaints Commissioner and the CASA Executive Manager of Legal, International, and Regulatory Affairs know to be true.
As you are aware, I have past CASA Employees from senior positions within CASA that have approached me, and offered to come forward and expose this matter, simply by “telling the truth”. It is significant. The matter attends to serious misconduct at the highest levels within CASA, and potentially to the Office of the CEO.
It also potentially involves your Office and the Office of Minister King, although the purpose of this correspondence is not to formally make those allegations at this stage, and I await your response, and an upcoming FOI request before I proceed.
For the record I must state that I made two ex CASA employees available to meet with you. “Witnesses’ who would both be Australia’s most qualified ex CASA Employees to address this matter and bring almost immediate truth and clarity to this matter. Both your Office and the Ombudsman are unwilling to accept that offer. You will appreciate my concern that “other forces are at play” here.
I am now seeking the appropriate forum, to initially introduce at least those two past CASA Employee’s to assist in exposing this matter. Please be assured that I have access to a significant number of past CASA employees, that have offered to make themselves available. Not for the purposes of causing mischief, but to try and bring about improvement and good governance to CASA. These are significant matters, that cannot continue to be covered up.
I will use this opportunity to provide a brief chronology regarding your involvement as my Local MP and the Member for Chisholm to date.
· Prior to the last Election, I met you, and you gave me your personal assurance, if you were to win the Seat of Chisholm from the Liberal incumbent that you would assist me and my family in my allegation of “misfeasance in public office” against Mr Jonathan Aleck, CASA Executive Manager of Legal, International and Regulatory affairs, and the allegation that CASA was “providing false and misleading information” to a Commonwealth Ombudsman Office investigation
· Based on your assurances, in the lead up to the election, I was very active with the assistance of members of the Electorate of Chisholm. I distributed many thousands of leaflets in the Electorate calling for a change of representation to yourself. It was not a Liberal/Labor argument, but rather I was calling for a move towards integrity in Government, and at the time, I felt the Labor Party, and you personally, best represented that. A decision that I obviously regret now,
· You went on to win the Seat of Chisholm on 21/05/22.
· Over the next 6 months I made multiple requests of your Office asking you to meet the commitment that you gave me prior to the Election and meet with my family. Those multiple requests went unanswered by your Office.
· On 16/11/22, after multiple requests and visits to your Office over the 6 months trying to secure an appointment with you, I finally obtained a meeting with you, and at that meeting occurred on 16/11/22, you led my wife and I to believe that you would actively investigate this matter and help us as residents of your Electorate.
· I waited 4 months, without hearing anything at all from you. It became apparent that my matter was not high on your agenda, and presumably you had more important matters to attend to. I sent a follow up email to ascertain if there had been any developments with regards to your offer to assist me in my most serious of allegations of misfeasance in public office and providing false and misleading information to an Ombudsman investigation.
· On 28/03/.23, I received correspondence from your Office which simply and dismissively read.
“Hi Glen, Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. As agreed, we have raised your case directly with Minister Kings Office and they have advised that we are unable to assist further with this matter. I’m sorry we don’t have better news.”
That dismissive response from you as my MP was heart breaking. You were well aware of the impact that this matter had on three generations of my family, all residents of your Electorate, as well as businesses and employees that were dependent on me. You were aware that my wife and I had lost absolutely everything including our family home
Eventually after the enormous toll that Mr Alecks actions and decisions had on me and my family, I fell into a deep depression, made an attempt on my own life, very shortly after receiving your dismissive correspondence and ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
The impact of Mr Alecks actions and decisions was targeted, it was personal, and it was entirely unnecessary. Entirely.
You were aware that I was firmly of the view that Mr Jonathan Aleck had acted with targeted malice towards me, and caused significant harm, you were aware of the substantive nature of my allegations,
Whilst I don’t believe that my 6 decades in the Electorate entitles me to any higher level of assistance than any other Constituent. My family believes we were entitled to at least your best endeavours, which we clearly feel have not been met, and I am forced to question your willingness and ability to assist your Constituents, in matters that they are entitled to your assistance with.
As a Constituent of your Electorate, you have completely failed me, and my family, and to be frank, I question your genuine commitment to your constituents, and your reversal of position leads me to question your integrity.
I am compelled to move forward on this matter because it involves misconduct at the highest levels within the Executive Management of CASA. A most significant and important Government Department. I am not the only one raising allegations against Mr Jonathan Aleck, but as with mine, all attempts are generally covered up by CASA.
I continue to make myself available to meet with you face to face and update you on any aspects to ensure you can remain fully abreast of this matter.
I know that a person with some exposure to the world of politics, Mr Sandy Reith wrote to you encouraging you to personally make yourself aware of the “salient features of this case”, and a copy of that correspondence that was sent to you follows.
“Dear Dr. Carina Garland,
In regard to your officer Jarrod Panther’s reply on your behalf to Glen Buckley, I request that you personally make yourself familiar with the salient features of his case.
I support Glen’s pursuit of justice, he has had wrong treatment at the hands of CASA and its disgraceful treatment of him must be redressed.
It is the duty of a Parliamentary representative to pursue the claim of a constituent. Otherwise, why have single member constituent representatives? This is a fundamental element of our democratic system.
I vigorously implore you to look again at an obvious injustice that has been perpetrated against Glen Buckley and his well-crafted flying training organisation which assisted smaller flying schools and aero clubs to maintain their flying training abilities in the face of a new and far more complex environment of rules, compared to regulations and procedures than pertained in the past (and nothing like the workable system that applies in the USA).
Without the involvement of MPs who are willing to step up and truly represent their constituents at an individual level we deny the basis of single member representatives and responsible government.
Kind regards, and always ready to engage or answer your questions.
Sandy Reith”
The point of mentioning that correspondence is that it reinforces the fact that you that you have received correspondence on this matter from a third Party, and my hope is that you heeded that advice rather than facilitate a cover up of the matter, and that you have ensured you are fully aware of the “salient features” of this case.
Whilst I do not wish to be unnecessarily combative it is essential that I remain upfront, avoid blindsiding anyone, and ensure that there are clear expectations going forward.
Whilst I do appreciate that as a new MP, your capabilities will be somewhat limited, and I think your Offices response to me, is indicative of that, but I do have a reasonable expectation that you will act with integrity and work with your best endeavours to support Constituents of the Electorate of Chisholm, and most especially because of the very marginal nature of that Seat, and the significant harm caused to one of your Constituents,
My specific requests of your Office, and you personally as my Labor MP for the Chisholm Electorate, and as a Member of the Labor Party, therefore purportedly highly motivated to achieve the highest standards of ethics and integrity, are as follows.