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Hold your tongue or lose your job at DIAC
I have just read an article in the SMH about the tweeteraty at DIAC.
From what I can gather a DIAC employee using the twitter id @Lalegale had 700 followers and used that id to (apparently) make a commentary and disparaged DIAC. There was no id linking her personally to the twitter account and she was to all intents and purposes.
Sandi Logan, her boss in the “communications team” was alleged to have bullied her but in any event someone in DIAC was so affronted by what was described as “...critical tweets about Australia’s immigration detention policies, the security company... at detention centres and government and opposition frontbenchers”
The upshot of all this was that it appears that DIAC went all out to find out who was behind all of this “criticism’ and they then fingered the DIAC employee.
The Court found that contrary to the assertions of the employee that even if her identity was secret the DIAC recommendation that she be dismissed for the “offence” of making harsh or extreme criticisms of politicians or their policies was not protected because of an implied right or freedom of political expression.
The Court found that there was no implied right.
Now this is all very worrying....as I would be the last person to criticise or complain about DIAC or OMARA or The Government...but what I want to know is who made the decision to trawl through the twitterverse to hunt down this private individual who apparently had the temerity to criticise DIAC and its policies...is that the standard that we have come to expect?
Is DIAC so thin skinned it cannot bear the heat of criticism...do they have so much in the way of resources that they will leave no stone unturned to root out the malefactors and the recalcitrants?
The heart of this matter lies not in the conduct of the “employee’ but the extent of the oppression of the individual by a heavy handed and hypersensitive Department.
What a monstrous waste of public resources...next thing they will be telling their staff how to vote!
Yours faithfully
Christopher Levingston
BA. LLB.Accredited Specialist (Immigration Law)
RMA #9301108
Comments
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Tuesday, 20 August 2013I have seen a huge retreat from the Westminster system over our lifetimes. Like the melting of the ice caps - it seems like a slow motion slide to perdition. Ministers refuse to take responsibility and seek to blame their public servants for stuff ups, the heads of the public service are politicised and drawn into the role of ensuring the politician survives - all of it very unedifying and ultimately corrupting. It was inevitable that DIAC would go after the whistleblower because controlling the media has become central to a Department that has no interest in visa applicants as "clients". Their concern isn't with their so called "clients" but with control.
Immigration blog
Aircraft pilots were one beyond criticism or suggestions from other members of the aircraft crew. After it was revealed that this situation caused avoidable crashes it was altered to permit 'underlings' to criticize command decisions leading to the saving of many lives. A lesson there for DIAC perhaps?