Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Update: The deadline for the Warrnambool City Council to lodge its sworn written evidence (affidavits) in defence of its sacking of former CEO Peter Schneider passed at 5pm tonight – and nothing has been lodged with the Supreme Court.

As far as I know, there has also been no request for a further extension.

What does this all mean? I am not a lawyer, but perhaps it means the matter will be settled out of court, or a judgment will be made purely on the sworn statements supplied so far by Mr Schneider and former Mayor Tony Herbert or….

The hearing date is set for 1 February 2021. A lot can and will happen between now and then, including, of course the election of a new Warrnambool City Council.

We shall wait to see how those final numbers fall, but word is that change is firmly in the air, if not an unprecedented number of new councillors being elected in one swoop.

The VEC website is now saying we should have results from as early as Monday.

Have a good weekend.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Does bullying and intimidation just disappear?

It’s seven months since a leaked staff survey at Lyndoch Living revealed poor staff morale and serious allegations of intimidation and bullying that went right to the very top – nothing has been heard of it since.

Was anything done within Lyndoch to address these allegations, and to lift poor staff morale?

This is another question to add to the list for tomorrow’s (27/10) Annual General Meeting, which we cannot attend as it’s by invitation-only Zoom (Lyndoch says a recording will be uploaded later to its website).

It’s a question that should concern us all.

Long-term readers will know that The Terrier has written a series of stories questioning why more than 80 staff had left the aged care home in the past two years, amid allegations of staff being targeted, bullied and devalued.

The special survey was held in response to these stories and the results leaked in March confirmed the toxic environment.

A majority of respondents raised issues of being overworked and under-valued, and claimed management favoured some staff over others.

Two-third of respondents said Lyndoch did not uphold its values, starting from the CEO down.

The survey then went on to report this bombshell:

“A small sample of around 10-15 respondents stated that the CEO’s culture of intimidation, manipulation and bullying greatly impacted their safety, health and wellbeing.

They said they witnessed her bullying others and making decisions in regard to her own self-interests and not the organisation as a whole.”

Sadly none of the allegations in the survey came as a surprise to me, as by March I had spoken to dozens of people who all told the same heartbreaking and terrible stories of being managed out, pushed out, demeaned, isolated, or cut loose.

Lyndoch’s culture, like that of the Warrnambool City Council, had gone bad.

South-west MP Roma Britnell, a former nurse, had been similarly contacted by people seeking her intervention and in March she demanded a meeting with the CEO and Lyndoch board.

Then Covid-19 hit.

And the meeting between Ms Britnell and Lyndoch never happened.

So, I have to ask again, does bullying, intimidation and low staff morale just disappear?

Of course it doesn’t.

As of today, I have never had a response from Lyndoch to requests for a comment on this staff survey, the allegations, or what actions it has taken to address the allegations, but CEO Doreen Power told the local newspaper at the time that she would “take on board” the findings.

Ms Britnell, in a statement, said she continues “to have discussions with Lyndoch Living on a range of matters”, which – I guess – is hopeful.

In the meantime, Lyndoch is about to launch another anonymous staff survey – this one is held every two years – to again take the pulse on staff wellbeing and whether everyone is heading “in the same direction”….rather than, perhaps, out the door.

“I encourage you to be completely honest,” Ms Power has written in an email to staff.

Well, yes, but what happens after the staff are honest, as they were the last time they were surveyed?

That’s what I am hungry to know, as are all those who have left Lyndoch these past five years in less than happy circumstances.

This next survey is being run by Alignment Partners, owned by a fellow named Michael Webb, who has worked in the past with Lyndoch on management-type issues.

So many surveys.

I made a promise to those who entrusted me with their stories that I would not look away until the issues and allegations were addressed and we, as the community who owns Lyndoch, could take comfort that they were being addressed.

It’s the same promise I made to Warrnambool City Council staff who filled out survey after survey for a decade and saw nothing change…until everything blew open.

We may not be able to Zoom in on the Lyndoch AGM tomorrow, but we are watching.

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Tonight is an exciting night, because this old terrier gets to showcase the very first work by a new, young storyteller, Jess Chatfield, from the Framlingham Aboriginal community.

Jess is a proud Gunditjmara woman, part of the Maar nation, who grew up at Framlingham about 20kms north east of Warrnambool, and has since returned to live there with her own two children and her extended family.

Jess is the recipient of The Terrier digital indigenous storytelling mentorship, a project made possible thanks to the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas – a national philanthropic fund based in Sydney which, quite frankly, is breathing life into independent, regional journalism in Australia.

Thanks to the support of JNI, I was able to bring Jess together with arguably our best local videographer, Colleen Hughson, from First Ladies Productions, who creates strong, visual stories that empower people and their communities.

As readers of The Terrier know, Colleen’s work has been a game changer in creating local awareness and energy around how we treat our beautiful beaches.

Jess, I have since learned, has that very same fire in her belly that drives storytellers who hope to make a difference, however small, and to inspire their community to find their voice.

In these past months, our best laid plans for this mentorship – like those of the entire world – were knocked sideways by Covid-19.

We had planned to start in March, using space kindly offered by Brophy Family and Youth Services in Warrnambool, until the shutdown hit with full force.

We eventually started in June, from a room at the back of my house that was hastily converted into “an office”, complete with a curious Scottish Terrier pup peering through the door.

A plague. Lockdowns. Zoom. Masks. Social distancing. Floods.

How on earth a journalism mentorship could even get off the ground in such a climate is beyond me, but our little trio has pressed on and we have made it work.

This first video is based on Jess’s own family, and the story of her mother, Louise, an inspiring woman, a true matriarch, for whom family is everything.

It’s also a story about the importance of Country, the power of the magnificent Hopkins River, the connection to the Framlingham bush, and the safety and security of “home”.

Under Colleen’s guidance, Jess has planned, shot and edited every piece of Leenyaar. Warran Pookar. Thookay. (Grandmother. River. Children.)

In so doing, Jess has moved from knowing very little about digital media storytelling, to creating a finished work under the most trying of conditions.

Her second project is now well underway: a narrative of Jess becoming involved in the fight to stop a bluestone quarry near the Hopkins River, not far from the Framlingham forest.

I asked Jess to write some words that I could send to JNI about this whole experience and this is part of what she wrote:

“Since doing this mentorship, I have developed a love for journalism, I love all the different ways of it.

“I have learnt how to use an Ipad (properly). I also learnt how to plan before I make a documentary, I have learnt the importance of the message you get across to your audience…”

And then this wonderful kicker:

“I have been thinking after my mentorship I would love to continue my love for journalism by doing a diploma next year at Deakin University.

“I have found my passion in life.”

Jess is a natural storyteller and I want to say thankyou to Jess, and her family, for sharing so many of these stories with Colleen and I as we bumped along the backroads of Fram.

On we go, Jess, on we go.

This project has been supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Here’s a little surprise I discovered purely by accident – Warrnambool City Councillor Sue Cassidy is now Vice President of Lyndoch Living.

Wow, that is called shooting to the top after just three years on the board.

Ms Cassidy is second in charge on the board of the largest aged care home in Warrnambool and no doubt primed to replace President/chair Kerry Nelson when she retires.

At least two board vacancies should be coming up at next week’s Lyndoch Living AGM, although I can’t be sure, because board vacancies are no longer advertised.

But on my reckoning, Ms Cassidy is one of them and WCC colleague City Growth Manager Andrew Paton is the other.

Abbey, the Unofficial Member of Lyndoch representing the broader community, had hoped to apply.

Of course she had no hope, because to become a board member, you have to first be a member – approved by the board.

At last count, there are no members of Lyndoch Living who are not already connected to Lyndoch.

As I have written before, this is because ever since Lyndoch changed in 2018 from an association to a Company Limited by Guarantee, it runs pretty much as a closed shop.

Board members are now appointed by invitation to what is a volunteer position.

Not only did Abbey have to scale that impossible hurdle, she had to unseat either Mr Paton or Ms Cassidy and they are going nowhere fast.

Because Ms Cassidy and Mr Paton have another special job inside Lyndoch and that is as co-directors of Lyndoch Healthcare Pty Ltd.

The third director is Lyndoch CEO Doreen Power.

Lyndoch Healthcare Pty Ltd is the company that oversees the Warrnambool Medical Clinic which was bought by Lyndoch last year for $1.3 million and will be relocated to Lyndoch as part of the $100 million masterplan.

Here is question for the AGM next Tuesday: are the directors of Lyndoch Healthcare Pty Ltd paid? And if so, how much? And did the board select who became directors?

I hate to break it to Abbey, but I don’t think she is going to be elected to the board as a fresh face and neither, most likely, is anybody else.

[The Lyndoch Living AGM is next Tuesday at 4pm and will be Zoomed live by invitation only. Lyndoch has said a recording of the event will be uploaded to its website.]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

What’s happening at Lyndoch Living?

It’s been a long time since I have written about Lyndoch Living – our other high-profile public institution which, in recent years, has become an increasingly closed shop – but with its AGM next week, the time is right to dive back in.

I do so under the tight collar of yet another legal action against The Terrier by Lyndoch Living – my third in 12 months.

This one has been running for some weeks now and I can’t tell you much more than that…for legal reasons.

I often wonder how much money has been spent by Lyndoch on hiring the classy Collins St law firm, K & L Gates, to go after The Terrier?

Perhaps this could be one of the questions at the AGM next Tuesday at 4pm?

Another, more pressing question I planned to ask concerned the $2 million budget blowout for the Swinton Wing upgrade and expansion which had its online, virtual opening in September.

The upgrade was reportedly budgeted at $11 million, but came in at $13 million.

Where did the extra $2 million go?

Another important question I was keen to raise related to the recent fire sale of the Waterfront Living swish apartments which, as long-term readers would know, failed to fully sell since being built in 2014.

This is largely because – according to real estate watchers – those on the south side of the “Rolfanna” apartment complex were in the shade and over-priced.

In 2014, the cheapest apartment in this block was $420,000. 

The last one is now under contract, having been listed at $305,000 – a $115,000 nose dive. Ouch.

A bunch of smaller, less salubrious residential units next to “Rolfanna” are for sale for as little as $185,000.

Did Lyndoch need to liquidate some fast cash to move on to the next part of its $100 million masterplan?

Good question!

Except I won’t be asking questions at the AGM, and neither can you.

That’s because the AGM will be online via Zoom and – unlike the virtual grand opening of Swinton Wing – is strictly invitation only and we haven’t been invited.

I have contacted several families of residents to see if they have been invited and no, they didn’t even know the date of the AGM, which once-upon-a-time was advertised widely and weeks in advance.

[I learned the date just last week, after a couple of emails to the Lyndoch media unit.]

Us mere mortals who have not been invited will have to wait for the video recording to be uploaded to the Lyndoch website, which sounds sort of reasonable….except we are still waiting for the video from the 2019 AGM to be uploaded to the Lyndoch website.

More importantly, we don’t get to ask any questions next Tuesday and – I suspect – that is the whole point.

Those who have been following this Lyndoch story from the beginning (last October), know that Lyndoch – despite being community owned and built on the generosity and support of locals – has changed to a Company Limited by Guarantee and is now a very tight shop.

At last count, it had just 16 members: nine board members, the Lyndoch executive and two life members, so every member is from within Lyndoch itself.

As long-term readers know, everyone from the wider community who has applied to be a member these past 12 months, has been rejected for what we might now call the “Peter Schneider clause“, no reason.

Even Vicki Jellie AM and retired lawyer Lynn Hudson didn’t make the cut.

In this climate of litigation, frustration and obfuscation, I feel we have only one choice and that is to appoint our own Member Of Lyndoch (External) to represent us.

So meet Abbey the Airedale Terrier, also known as a Waterside Terrier (which seems fitting), a breed known for being intelligent, outgoing, alert, confident, friendly and….courageous.

Abbey is just what we need in the kennel and she will be sniffing out some important issues in the lead-up to the Lyndoch AGM that still require answers.

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