29 October
I have been going back over what happened and wondering what could have been done differently.
Of course, if man X, man Y and CASACIR had done the right thing in the beginning and discussed the water issues with us and come to an arrangement to buy our property, they could have then proceeded unchallenged, they would not have had to be discovered repeatedly breaking the law, they would not have had to commit blatant and deliberate fraud, they would not have had to have a fight on their hands: because everyone else (including the authorities and the tribunal) rolled over but us.
Having said that, and the fault does firstly lie with man X, man Y and CASACIR (who ignored the law, then committed illegal acts, then committed fraud with regard to one of those illegal acts), then with the authorities (who failed to uphold the law), but it also lies with my first barrister, Craig. When Peake falsely told the 2008 tribunal that man X, man Y and CASACIR would absolutely work out the water issues with us, Craig should have asked for the tribunal to halt proceedings until the issues actually were worked out – however, he didn’t do that and perhaps the tribunal believed that man X, man Y and CASACIR had fulfilled the absolute undertaking that Peake gave on their behalf and that the water issues were no longer a problem. If the tribunal members claim that they acted in ignorance because of Peake’s lie on behalf of man X, man Y and CASACIR, then they are also at fault because they did not check to see if the issue had been resolved. And that is just the water issues.
Then there were the ongoing issues of man X, man Y and CASACIR’s repeated lies over various things, their ignoring of legislation including by using land owned and controlled by others for the quarry buffer when they were not allowed to do so; their continued failure to comply with their permit and work authority; their emitting so much dust that they had to have s110 Notice against them; their failure to do the plantings as required when it was required; their noise in excess of allowed levels; their failures to take the interests of others into consideration (other than to dismiss them); and so on – yet they have claimed that they “do not have an arrogant disregard for the people who live in the area of the quarry” in spite of blatantly and continually ignoring and over-riding the pre-existing legislated rights held by others.
In fact, man X, man Y and CASACIR have the extraordinary ability to put the blame for their own conduct onto others – they have failed at every stage to take responsibility for their conduct and have victim-blamed me because I reveal what they have done (e.g. I revealed things that they were not allowed to do but did anyway), or not done (e.g. I revealed the things they were required to do but didn’t), as the case may be.
I refuse to stay quiet about the injustices that have been done to my related parties and me. I refuse to not defend my rights and the rights of others against such bullies. I refuse to shut up – it was me who was unjustly treated by man X, man Y and CASACIR, their legal team, their specialists, the authorities, the tribunal, and then by the various courts[1].
[1] The Victorian Supreme Court, the Victorian Court of Appeal, the Australian Federal Court, the Australian Federal Circuit Court, and then by the Australian High Court.
15 October
What do you do when you discover that your barrister is friends with the opposition? What do you do when you discover that your barrister has had a number of meetings with the opposition without telling you, including when he has said that he was just going out for a “smoko”? What do you do when you discover that your senior barrister has “read”[1] with an opposition barrister’s father who is now a judge of the Court of Appeal (one would have thought, if there was open disclosure, that I should have been told this information)? What do you do when your legal team refuses to follow instructions? What do you do when your legal team keeps saying they will pull the plug on representing you unless you comply with their demands? What do you do when your legal team tell you not to come to a hearing because the judge would look on it with disfavour? And then what do you do when you discover that the same hearing they did not want you at and which they said was not recorded, was recorded and that it revealed some less than pleasant things about their conduct? What do you do when you discover that when your barrister told you that you had to have a solicitor, barrister and senior barrister in the Supreme Court, it was blatantly not true and was costing you mammoth amounts unnecessarily? What do you do when your legal team admits that at least 2 of the causes of action against you had absolutely no legs to stand on yet they refuse to seek summary dismissal on those actions? What do you do when you discover that your legal team have deliberately left you high and dry with absolutely no defences when you actually had a least 5 true and valid defences (including that what you wrote was your own honest opinion, and that it was provably the truth, and that you were therefore entirely justified in what you wrote) in a defamation case? What do you do when your legal team has treated you in the above manner[2], and charged you in the vicinity of $200,000 all up for the pleasure[3] of doing so? fact is, there is very little you can do and they know it. The fact is, they have you over a barrel. It all adds to the injustice system.
[1] Basically doing her training as a barrister
[2] And there was more
[3] Their pleasure, not mine!