No & cost to ratepayers of sexual harassment/discrimination/bullying complaints made by staff (or former staff) at the Town of Port Hedland during the period Mal Osborne was CEO (Oct 2012 - June 2016)
Dear Town of Port Hedland,
1)I would like all documents within the Town of Port Hedland's records system that contain information regarding the nature of Mal Osborne's departure from employment as CEO with the Town of Port Hedland. It is difficult from what is on the Port Hedland website to ascertain the reason why several councillors wanted to remove him from the position. I believe council minutes or other documents on the Town's records management system may contain those answers.
2) I would like copies of documents (legal invoices, redacted staff complaints, redacted investigation reports and council minutes) which detail the number and total cost of sexual harassment/bullying and discrimination complaints made during the time Mal Osborne was CEO namely from October 2012 to June 2016. For instance, for council minutes the Town of Port Hedland could highlight all financial invoices for cases for legal expenses that are contained within council minutes.
3)I would like redacted copies of the outcome letters issued to sexual harassment complainants and bullying and gender discrimination complainants during the period (Oct 2012 - June 2016) Mal Osborne was CEO of the Town of Port Hedland.
4) I would like to know whether the respondents in those sexual harassment/discrimination and bullying complaints received any disciplinary action (this could be contained in redacted outcome letters issued to respondents).
5) I would like to know the average time taken to resolve each sexual harassment complaint made at the Town of Port Hedland during the period Mal Osborne was CEO (Oct 2012 - June 2016). This could be established by providing a redacted copy of the original complaint showing the date of the complaint, and a redacted deed of release just keeping the case number or as little as possible to ascertain the date it was resolved.
6) I would like redacted copies of the transcripts of sexual harassment investigation audios (during the time Mal Osborne was CEO - Oct 2012 - June 2016) of the respondent interviews leaving in enough detail to ascertain whether any biased questions were asked and whether the investigators laughed during the investigations.
7) I would like to know whether any respondents in sexual harassment complaints made during the time (Oct 2012 - June 2016) of Mal Osborne being CEO of the Town of Port Hedland had perceived conflicts of interest in terms of their relationship with Mal Osborne. This may be documented in the investigation reports. Please when redacting the investigation reports leave in any perceived or real conflicts of interest.
7) I would like to know for each sexual harassment complaint that occurred during the period (Oct 2012 - June 2016) Mal Osborne was CEO whether the Town of Port Hedland used an internal or external investigator. This could be supplied by way of heavily redacted investigation reports.
Yours faithfully,
Resident of the council Mal Osborne is currently CEO of
Good afternoon,
I am one of the FOI Coordinators for the Town of Port Hedland. I received your email below this morning and I just thought I would email you to let you know the formal process for this type of request.
A FOI application form is required to be filled out in its entirety and an application fee of $30 is required when making this request. An application form can be accessed electronically through the following link: https://www.porthedland.wa.gov.au/about-...
Once you have filled this form in, please email it through to [email address] and a Customer Service Officer will phone you to process your application fee.
If you would like to discuss further, please do not hesitate in contacting me.
Kind regards,
Louise O’Donnell
Governance Advisor
PO Box 41 Port Hedland WA 6721
(08) 9158 9357
[email address]
www.porthedland.wa.gov.au
www.facebook.com/townofporthedland
Good morning,
I have not received a response to my email below.
Please note that under section 12 of Freedom of Information Act 1992 (Act), a Freedom of Information application is required to consist of an address in Australia to which notices under this Act can be sent. In addition, the Act requires an application fee to be paid to the Town.
The request below submitted on 11 August 2019 does not contain an address and an application fee has not been received for it to be considered a valid application. Please provide an address and pay the $30 application fee if you would like your request below to be processed as a Freedom of Information application.
Please respond to me with the relevant details within the next 7 days, otherwise I will consider your request closed due to an improper application being lodged in accordance with section 12 of the Act.
If you require further clarification on this process, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Louise O’Donnell
Governance Advisor
PO Box 41 Port Hedland WA 6721
(08) 9158 9357
[email address]
www.porthedland.wa.gov.au
www.facebook.com/townofporthedland
Dear Louise O'Donnell,
I have lodged a FOI application as per your response directly through to the Town of Port Hedland by email on the appropriate form.
Yours sincerely,
COB RESIDENT
Dear Lara
In response to your emails dated 12 September 2019 and 17 September 2019, I am prepared to narrow the scope for questions 2 through to 8 by limiting those questions to include:
“Individual Grievance files created in 2015 up to and including June 2016, connected to bullying, gender discrimination and sexual harassment”
and "Review all female employees files for any bullying, gender discrimination and sexual harassment for employees with the Town of Port Hedland in the year 2014." This should assist in narrowing the scope whilst giving a greater probability of capturing sexual harassment complaints and gender discrimination complaints since statistics indicate most complainants are women. Also, by including 2014 in the file review (plus 2015+2016 grievance files), it is likely to inform about the state of the Town of Port Hedland's employee grievances leading up to the departure of Mal Osborne.
And as you have stated, question 1 will remain as I originally requested - all documents containing information regarding the nature of Mal Osborne's departure from employment as CEO with the Town of Port Hedland. As I indicated to you previously, yes I am seeking council minutes that inform as to this point, but I am also seeking any other document that would provide information as to the reason/s why the Town of Port Hedland sought to push Mal Osborne out of his position as CEO of Town of Port Hedland.
Yours sincerely,
COB RESIDENT