NSW Premier in waiting AG Mark Speakman should be more concerned with his own reporting issues, rather than US politics.

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

NSW Premier in waiting AG Mark  Speakman is quite concerned about the state of US politics. 



Meanwhile these issues remain outstanding,and they do go to NSW LPAB Annual Reports which he has tabled in Parliament: 

"The fishy smell around Zhu Minshen's Top Education Institute": Clive Hamilton's "Silent Invasion" raises questions for NSW AG Mark Speakman & the LPAB



And as for alternative facts, this feat by the AG and his officers has been achieved by misrepresenting the facts (not decision or opinion) of a decision of the NSW Supreme Court:

Protection provided journalists,whistle blowers and sources by Carlovers v Sahathevan ,Bond v Barry undermined by NSW judicial body overseen by Chief Justice NSW, and AG Speakman

 







See also this, first raised on a related blog, remain outstanding:
NSW Budget 2020 & Contingent Liabilities: HCA decision in Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Levitt suggests hidden potential liabilities, and strategies designed to limit the Dept Of Justice’s $ 492 Million in contingent liabilities
JUNE 23, 2019 / REALPOLITIKASIA

by Ganesh Sahathevan

 

The recent decision of the High Court Of Australia in Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Levitt  may be relevant to the issue of contingent ,possibly hidden liabilities in the books of the various departments of the Government of NSW.

Counsel for the Council of the Law Society Ms CA Webster SC said in submissions:

 

……the Council, either the Law Society Council or the Bar Council, or the Legal Services Commissioner, having adopted the summary procedure, it would only be if someone were to seek to take a matter – no, I withdraw that. There will not have been any possible consideration of the conduct amounting to professional misconduct if anyone is proposing to deal with the matter under section 540, so it must be a subset. But there are, in addition to the matters enumerated, as we say, subject to some very slight winnowing of the numbers over time since our reply was filed, some matters that had been put on hold pending the outcome of these proceedings.

We understand that there are……..matters on hold in the order of 66 matters but, as your Honour Justice Edelman said, that is only going to be the potential effect – a subset of all of the matters that we identify as potentially affected, because it is the way in which the 2004 Act was structured and we do not, and cannot, say that, subject to the way some matters have been applied in the Supreme Court, that the precise language has not been replicated in the 2015 Legal Profession Uniform Law.

 

The response to her submission was as follows:

GAGELER J: ( Counsel for the  respondent Brett Walker SC) , we do not need to hear from you, thank you.

We are not persuaded that the question of statutory construction sought to be agitated in this Court is of sufficient general importance to warrant the attention of the Court. Special leave to appeal is refused with costs..

The hearing commenced at 10:34 AM and was concluded at 10:47 AM 

The above suggests that the Council Of The Law Society ty, acting on behalf of the Legal Services Commissioner (a statutory body under the purview of the AG NSW) was prepared to  try its luck with an appeal for much was at stake ie some 66 other matters, the financial consequences of which remain unknown.

The Council and the Legal Services Commissioner comprise some of the most senior lawyers in this country;it is therefore hard to comprehend that they could not have known that their case was weak( in this case, very weak).

Legal principal and practice aside, the above does look like a case of a government funded entity taking on greater risks of loss so as to conceal liabilities and/or losses that have been kept off the books.

At $ 492 Million the Department of Justice has the second highest level of contingent liabilities.. It is only natural for departmental heads to want to limit any growth in that  figure,especially when one’s department has the second highest level of contingent liability.

Ii is therefore in the best interest of all taxpayers that the AG NSW and the departments under his purview be subject to a complete audit by the Audit Office NSW, to determine the extent of contingent and possibly hidden losses.

 

 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Not new or worthy of consideration" : WA Corruption & Crime Commissioner confirms but dismisses Anne Azza Aly 's referring queries about PAVE, her work to Malaysia

Image
by Ganesh Sahathevan       John McKechnie The issues raised on my related RealpoltikAsia blog in the posting:  ALP's Anne Aly's Phoenix Consulting of Dubai provides covert intel training-Who does she report to in Dubai, and then there is the matter of Malaysia....... were brought to the attention of The Hon John McKechnie QC,the current Commissioner, WA Corruption and Crime ,given the security implications that arise from the connections between PAVE and one David (Dave) Allen, currently Assistant Director Intelligence,WA CCC. McKechnie's response is as follows: Thank you for the email. I am the Corruption and Crime Commissioner. I will decide if and when Mr Allens security clearance should be reconsidered but nothing in this email is either new or worthy of consideration. The Hon John McKechnie QC Readers have now confirmation from no  less a personage than the WA CCC Commissioner himself, a former judge and QC,of the fact of Aly's Dubai connection, and her ref...
Read more

If Damien Tudehope's COVID hotel quarantine fee statements are correct, SLHD revenue reported in financial statements signed by former CEO Teresa Anderson is overstated, and false

Image
 by Ganesh Sahathevan                     Tough talking Damien Tudehope may not have the power to impose th.  bulk of his quarantine fee, if any Readers will recall that former NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller (now a PwC partner) said in his notice that Revenue NSW " will be charging a mandatory quarantine fee". Readers will also recall that the rormer NSW Minister For Financial Services, Damien Tudehope insisted that the quarantine fees charged by Sydney Local Health District, pursuant to the NSW Health Services Act include charges for police security. However, there is nothing  in the SLHD's financial statements for the relevant periods (see links below) to reflect any payment from the COVID quarantine fee revenue being made over to NSW Police. SLHD's revenue must then have been overstated, by the CEO concerned Teresa Anderson.  SLHD Financial Statements https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/annualreport/Publicat...
Read more

Strata managers' aversion to contact with tenants can leave strata managers exposed to personal liability

Image
 by Ganesh Sahathevan      Advice for living in, or buying into, a strata community Strata managers are employed to manage strata schemes which are often home to renters as well as owners. However, in evasion of that which they are paid to do there are instances where strata managers have attempted  to evade their duties by refusing to  deal with tenants.   Even this writer can recall an instance where the strata manager warned that it was against the law for tenants to contact him directly.  The instances where strata managers have refused to deal with tenants occur when the issues raised concern fairly pedestrian maintenance issues, for example blocked plumbing and the like. Having said that, tenants do actually have a legal right to a great many things, including being informed (and presumably make representations) when strata schemes consider re-development. Strata managers who seek to stand in place of strata committees  are even more e...
Read more