There was an email in the box late Monday morning ordering that I be available for a session of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal at 9:15am in two days hence. The letter was from a lawyer I had never heard of and also informed me that the lawyer I have been briefing for months was no longer available. My heart fell. This reminded me of the tricks the lawyers at Wyong played as they attempted to ruin my defense of a phony assault case brought by (once again) property managers. They had became so desperate that they made the subpoena for my evidence disappear for almost two years despite my furious efforts to get it served. I went through six or more lawyers trying to find any that wouldn’t expose my private data to the enemy or weren’t my enemy. In the end I put an email to a number of dissociated lawyers across the region begging someone to help me get past the screen of corrupt ones that enveloped everything I did. The mighty Brazel family stood for me and I thank them for giving me back some faith in the law. There is a short story partially written about the period “The True Case of the Disappearing Subpoena”on its way!
It is not suggested that the lawyer who contacted me last is a part of any skullduggery but the situation strikes me as similar.
This tribunal hearing was set early in the morning across the far side of the region on St Valentine’s day. If I had not had a covey of excellent carers assisting me I would have not been physically capable of making the trip. I am not even really capable of busing to nearby shops around here. Once again the staff who assist me under the NDIS are very determined people and will make every effort to ensure my safe passage. I am outraged on their behalf. They should not have to. This case has been bubbling along for months and everybody knew when this would come up except us.
The traffic on the way in was bumper to bumper over the back of the hill running in to Gosford but our lawyer is a local and was impressed by how light it was compared to the busy days. The carer drove down into the covered car park for The Imperial Center. We walked the two hundred meters towards the train station before entering the Gateway Center and making our way to the silent hallway where they had placed the entry of NCAT. I had overestimated my ability to trek the distance and was overwhelmed by pain several times.
Inside the building and outside the bland door that marked the beginning of the secured tribunal zone we joined a queue and stood.
I had expected that the Oxygen bottle in the backpack with its companion regulators and flow valves would really make the security staff suspicious but when it came our turn they bustled us in with great efficiency and in my case, patience. The place was full of people.
The first day of attending the NCAT hearings as Family and Community Services lobbied to evict me and refused to even speak of compromise I was hailed by a guy who introduced himself as Paul White. He told me we should have a friendly chat where no one could hear. He was attempting to take advantage of any ignorance I might show to try and get control of the hearings. He would see if he could maneuver me into a position where he could make claims against me based on his reputation and accuse me of threat or insult or admitting some untoward activity. It hardened me towards him. This person seeped venom and was dishonest and treacherous. After years of just such miserable behavior from the property managers at Budgewoi and their agents I expect that. It is why there is no corner or shadow of my apartment that does not show in the CCTV array that now protects me. The personnel, the contractors and property agents have people just as treacherous and dishonest. The very first peace I had from that behavior in many years was after the cameras were installed and they found no corner to use to claim some falsehood. Unfortunately one of them thought they found a momentary hole as the CCTV was being set-up and we have this eviction attempt. It was a desperate act made as they saw the cameras becoming impossible to fool. People think this will all be unveiled in the court. As though I will offer the video evidence. The contractor was crazy to think there were not cameras looking out from inside. That will be unveiled on social media when or if the time comes . I expect the tribunal will neither recognize my serious health issues and how that affects the claims of the contractor nor will they embrace the years of evidence of harassment. After the hearings I will hold the tribunal and the minister to account publicly if I can. Not just for me but for all those people who needed his protection. If I am driven into homelessness I will die by my own hand rather than the filthy slow and painful death which such an outcome will cause.
On that first day I asked Paul White how he felt about the possibility that he might, one day, be considered a serial killer. I informed him that I felt people who were responsible for causing vulnerable tenants go to their deaths after being evicted were as complicit as priests who didn’t report child sexual abuse by their fellows. Worse! I suggested that it was extremely corrupt that governments filled with property investors had not made legislative reference in both NCAT’s and Family and Community Services’ operations book to recognize the changes in our community that now saw an absolute lack of properties available to people of low income. It was a crime to sell-off government lands and social housing back then as the shortfalls were already obvious and the only relief in the hands of legislators! They didn’t want to limit their ability to enrich themselves by forcing their property purchases to include responsibility for outcomes that they had engineered. I suggested that he oversaw a terrible Socialist tyranny as single people of modest income were shoved into tiny emergency housing apartments that did not allow them dignity or quality of life. Finally I suggested that eviction of vulnerable people constituted a death sentence.
I have suggested elsewhere that Paul White is the ninja that Family and Community Services send to deal with any trouble. He does whatever it takes I suspect. I have never understood the present infatuation with Ninjas. There were the dedicated and totally committed guys like the one who sat in the toilet pit of a Japanese castle while the tenants rained urine and feces on his head. All just so he could stick a sharp steel pole into the bowels of a guy who didn’t like his boss. Most of them were nasty little killers who would murder the village dentist because he didn’t bow low enough or, like now, when they were among the people who didnt kiss enough ass at the Castle luncheon.
The innocuous door in the bland hall where so many people fight to preserve their quality of life
It may assist others to identify him by his dress which can be notable when he puts his mind to it. First impression is that he looks like a bit-player from an episode of Peaky Blinders He may be dressing as a 1960’s Mod or engaging in the drama group after the hearings. All would appear very similar. His blue suit is designed to fit very tightly and should look dapper but he may have had a little too much Christmas cheer so the clean lines are bulging quite a bit since that first day we met. He didn’t wear a jacket that day! The jacket looks borrowed from a smaller person. One the chair beside him was a dark chocolate-brown Homburg hat. In television shows they mix brown and blue or black clothing so the character doesn’t look as though he was dressed by a designer. You can wear whatever you want but I would have gone for a gray or black hat. A blue hat over a blue suit probably looks too uniform. A brown hat with a blue suit looks like you dressed in the dark. He had on his feet a pair of two tone brogues. Even more jarring than the hat was where he had finished the line of the dark pants leg with a beige on tan color scheme for his shoes. I saw my carer staring into space trying not to make it obvious she was staring. I think she thought he had been ten-pin bowling and forgotten to change his shoes on the way out. Is that possible? If that is the case we forgive him. It happens to us all.
After what he tried to do to me that first week I was horrified to have to deal with him again. I felt like I had been handed a bag of snakes. Well, not snakes, I don’t dislike snakes and having a bag full might indicate an adventure. Maybe a bag of maggots. No. Hmm, I dont dislike maggots either. There must be something creepy and slithery that can be really distasteful. Whatever it is I felt like I was handling a bag of it! A paper sack rather than a single-use plastic bag! The hate was so remorseless and strong that even my lawyer was reduced to a whisper. She is the head of her department. My carer pushed herself into the seat to try and make herself small. I had dragged her to one of the two chairs between Paul and myself. She was immediately aware of the intensity of the energy scorching the air. I heard her voice try to reassure him that she was just my driver before locking her eyes on a fly turd half-way up the wall and remaining that way. I was wondering if the surface of her retina was drying up in the air-con because she didn’t blink for ages.
We were there because someone had released a generic subpoena asking police to give us information. I think that one or another was served to Family and Community Services. If you hear an undercurrent that suggests the lawyers are trying to get everything done without me getting my sticky fingers on the wording of subpoenas you may be correct. The Police had released some information under subpoena all that time back when I last went to the tribunal. The lawyers need income and so we traveled a hundred kilometers after several days preparation to hear that there had been no further data handed to the tribunal. Paul played whatever game he thought was being played between us while I sat in a bit of a witless slump enjoying the air-conditioning and keeping my face absolutely still in case my visage gave some message I wasn’t aware of. He may be a ninja. I am zazen itself.
While we were enjoying each other’s company in the back room Paul and my lawyer came to some conclusions which were handed to the tribunal on our return to the hearing and released as orders. Here they are
On 14-Feb-2018 the following orders were made:
1. By Determination of member, on 14 February 2018 the hearing was adjourned to a date
to be fixed by the Registrar.
2. By consent, the applicant shall provide to the respondent and the Tribunal, either in
person or by post, a copy of all documents (see note below), on which the applicant intends to
rely at the hearing by xxxxxx.
3. By consent, the respondent shall provide to the applicant and the Tribunal, either in
person or by post, a copy of all documents (see note below), on which the respondent intends
to rely at the hearing by xxxxxxxx.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
For the purpose of these directions “document” means:
– Witness statements / statutory declarations or affidavits
– Expert reports
– Photographs
– Any other document to be relied upon
And all documents must be legible and in colour (if the original is in colour).
4. The documents provided by each party must be placed in a folder, each page must be
numbered to provide easy identification by all concerned at the hearing. Folders provided to the
Tribunal and to the other party(ies) must be identical and in the same order. The folder(s)
should be marked with the name of the party and include:
– a chronology of significant events
– all documents required by these directions
And all documents must be legible and in colour (if the original is in colour).
5. If a party requires an extension of time to comply with these directions, an application
should be made in writing to the Registrar no later than the day prior to the date of submission
of documents to the Tribunal.
6. A failure by a party to provide documents in accordance with the Tribunal orders may
result in the party not being able to rely on the documents at the hearing, unless leave is
granted to do so.
7. All evidence from a party’s witness(es) in support of that party(ies) must be in the form of
a statement, statutory declaration, affidavit or expert report as appropriate.
8. The parties are encouraged to obtain advice and to have further settlement discussions
prior to the next hearing.
The applicant is to advise the Tribunal in writing immediately if the matter settles and if the
application is withdrawn.
A separate written notice of the new hearing date will be sent to you
My first comment here is about the fact that I am a seriously ill pensioner and if I could produce this without causing myself extreme discomfort and financial difficulty I would have a comfortable hold on a small business. My second comment would be to ask how many of the litigants who come from impoverished backgrounds would even get as far as this and how many would find their fight ending right here? I am very conscious of all those underprivileged people who kept me alive when I was homeless and broken and what I owe them. Lets keep working to make a world they can thrive in if they try. Actually my comment on hearing this part of the order was a silent but intense (S**T!!!!!!) He then went on to tell us that we were not allowed digital content. I have to look into that
Anyway. That was the gesture for the day.
We had a chat with the lawyer but I was fading as I do after sustained hate and pain. The carer and I wandered slowly back to the car. They always try to get me to wait while they bring the car to me but I am so stuck in that apartment that even with excruciating pain I prefer being somewhere with things to look at and do. I hobbled along shooting a few pictures with the camera and stopping as the pain became too strong. Eventually we arrived back in the Imperial center and as we passed through I stopped at the boot repair and waved my foot at the repairer cheering and telling him that he had fitted this boot with a design we collaborated on thirty years ago. He was unimpressed and maybe even embarrassed. Ah well. He told me where he thought I would find some new boots like it that he would improve for me and we went to the car. I had a small burst of pure Oxygen then. There was nothing I could want less than an immediate ride back to that sweltering and tiny shack. The Oxygen stopped the angina and cleared my vision so I had the carer take me back into the Imperial Center where we had a feed. I was very scattered by now and I was just desperate to stay away from the apartment and in the air-conditioning. It was forty degrees Centigrade outside and hotter in my flat.
They have done a great job with that shopping center. It has recharging stations, wireless hubs and it is clean and has good food. I like Gosford and I am glad to see some of the center is reviving. We shopped a little, looked at plants. It was past my ability to cope no matter how badly I wanted to be away from the apartment. On the verge of collapse and mentally scattered I was delivered to the apartment where I almost sobbed to be back in the heat and among the cluttered piles of supplies.
One of the neighbors here is a woman who is well over eighty years old. She is much beloved by everyone. Today she is in surgery getting her hips replaced. Her friends here are aware how many do not survive surgery at this age and we send love and healing in the hope she will return, and even better, walk without pain
This next text is part of an email sent to the lawyer. It looks like it may be a joke but the fact that there is no formal recognition of the lack of suitable housing and the danger that represents to vulnerable people is deadly serious. Eviction hearings for the weak, the ill, the elderly and the witless often end with a death sentence. So far governments have frantically avoided facing or speaking of the problem. If it is a fact that people may be facing horrific deaths from being homeless after being evicted it is reasonable to expect them to be as desperate as any death row inmate.