Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Lyndoch staff were today sent a message from board chair Sue Cassidy announcing that CEO Doreen Power is on ​”​annual leave​”​.

The chair may be hamstrung, legally, by what she can say at this point, but “annual leave” only creates confusion and uncertainty for staff.

The same statement was made to the local paper and explains nothing.

This is how Lyndoch has rolled for the past four years: full of uncertainty, mistrust, confusion and “who do we believe?”.

So, in the face of this “who do we believe?”, I again defer to my rock solid sources​ ​who have never let me down these past four years while ​we have navigated ​a​ lonely and torrid river toward the truth​.

I can tell you this: Ms Power went to work yesterday and was gone from her office by 4pm, apparently lugging two large bags. They were not suitcases packed for a trip to Port Douglas.

Also in the building yesterday afternoon were board Chair Ms Cassidy and Treasurer Kane Grant who met with the CEO.

They were not checking on her holiday plans.

What I understand is at that meeting, the CEO was given the option to resign, or an independent investigation would be launched into the many allegations surrounding her “management style”.

The board would then use the results of this investigation to make a decision on her future.

Such an investigation would protect the board from any claims by Ms Power of unfair dismissal, because – as we know – the board has fully supported the CEO and everything she has done.

Ms Power now has a choice while on “annual leave”: resign and, most likely, be paid out for the remainder of her contract OR remain on leave and be mired in a full-blown investigation.

But why did the board act NOW? Why not last week? Or last month? Or last year?

My sources tell me there was movement from ​health worker unions and WorkSafe that was about to hit the board with a sledgehammer.

Worksafe and the State Health Minister have been watching Lyndoch closely, and my sources tell me that Wednesday, the day before Ms Power was confronted by the board members, another long list of complaints had been formally lodged with Worksafe by a lawyer.

There can only be so many complaints and allegations about over-work, intimidation, bullying, toxicity and pressure to “do certain things”, before the hammer swings.

The board has legal obligations around staff safety which it must uphold or it may face serious penalties as individuals, including fines and jail.

The State Minister also has a duty of care, as Lyndoch Living is contracted by the State Government to run its state-funded beds at Lyndoch.

This explains a lot.

We all know the seven board members didn’t wake up yesterday morning and suddenly decide the CEO was not the same person they had backed all the way for seven years.

Just three weeks ago, the board refused to let our local MP speak confidentially at its board meeting about the CEO.

But yesterday, after our local MP spoke about the CEO in Parliament on Tuesday, they were all action stations.

Turn out they could be all running for the life boats because with WorkSafe now heavily on the case, it’s either the CEO, or it could be them.

Trouble is, the board has lost community trust and credibility.

We lost faith in them a year ago, not only because they have continually backed the source of all the toxicity and troubles, but they have treated the community with contempt.

They must go.

All of ​those responsible for enabling the culture that has almost killed Lyndoch cannot be a part of its ​healing and its ​renewal.

The next Lyndoch AGM is in October: all board positions should be advertised now, for a complete spill and a new start.

We, as a community, deserve nothing less than a clean sweep.​

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Why didn’t Matthew meet Sue?

A golden opportunity to add significant political pressure to the Lyndoch Living board went begging last week.

Matthew Guy is the State leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition.

Sue Cassidy is the chair of Lyndoch Living…and a member of the local Liberal Party branch.

Despite this direct political relationship, when Mr Guy visited Warrnambool last week to pump up support ahead of the November state election, he did not meet with Ms Cassidy or any other board members about Lyndoch, which is surely one of the most concerning issues facing this electorate.

Mr Guy, on invitation from South-West MP Roma Britnell, instead met privately with Lyndoch resident family members, ex Lyndoch staff and members of Keep Lyndoch Living, to hear their concerns first hand.

These are the stories we have been shouting from the rooftops for the past four years and which I had hoped Mr Guy might know about by now.

He obviously didn’t and while I have no doubt Mr Guy conveyed genuine shock, concern and compassion to this private meeting, nothing has come of it since.

Instead Mr Guy, the next day, called for the board to be more transparent, echoing the same call made by Ms Britnell six weeks ago at the Lyndoch rally.

It has made no difference.

Lyndoch ignored Ms Britnell then and it has ignored Mr Guy now.

The board has not blinked: there has been no response from the chair.

A memo from the CEO to staff, posted here on Friday, refused to accept that community concerns go beyond a media beat up and there was no mention of Mr Guy.

I asked Ms Britnell why she didn’t strike at the heart of the matter and set up a meeting between the Opposition Leader and the Lyndoch chair?

Mr Guy could have asked Ms Cassidy directly:

Why is Lyndoch Living ignoring the community?

What are you doing about it?

Ms Britnell said she felt it was more important for Mr Guy to hear firsthand from the community.

“The meeting was constructive and feedback I have received from those who attended has been very positive,” she said.

“There will always be differing opinions on what the best course of action is on any given issue at any given time. If I got it wrong on this occasion, I accept that.

“However, the community can be assured that my focus will remain the same – to ensure we have the confidence and assurance the many issues that have been raised are being properly addressed.”

Ms Britnell reiterated that she didn’t “have confidence that the board is doing enough to address the concerns about transparency and workplace culture”.

“Warrnambool and wider south-west community want Lyndoch Living to thrive: I will continue to do everything I can to ensure that happens,” she said.

It’s a fine sentiment, but for all of the heat and light around Lyndoch, nothing has changed.

Our local Liberal MP and the Opposition leader are being ignored.

And the endorsed candidate for Labor, former Warrnambool City Councillor Kylie Gaston, has not said a word about the Lyndoch crisis: not now, not ever.

Nobody has gone for the jugular and demanded the board be sacked, other than us: the community.

We have done it. We have stood up with our slingshot against the Goliath and demanded the board go….and take the CEO with them.

We can see the root of this problem, where it started, and how to fix it.

This is why I continue to poke, prod, probe and challenge those with the power to act, because the community is doing its part – we are working hard – and we will not give up.

[The online petition runs until the end of August. https://tinyurl.com/3nwac5nc]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The community cannot take the Lyndoch Living board to court on behalf of Lyndoch unless they are a general member or board member of Lyndoch, a legal opinion has concluded.

This means the chance for a collective, community court action against the board has come to an end.

Readers will recall that in March, $12,000 was raised in crowdfunding to secure a top barrister’s opinion on whether the board had breached its responsibilities, both individually and collectively.

[For clarity, this opinion applies to a community action on behalf of Lyndoch, not individuals or an individual taking legal action against Lyndoch, which is a separate issue.]

The argument was the board was failing to uphold the original spirit of Lyndoch by its mass rejection of general member applications last year.

The barrister’s opinion started a step back, looking at whether the community could even take legal action against the board on behalf of Lyndoch.

It found they could not:

“…your clients would have no standing to bring any proceedings on behalf of [Lyndoch] if they were not members or directors,” he wrote.

Unfortunately, according to the opinion, the only possible paths remaining for the community are difficult, potentially very expensive, and most likely futile.

“The best they could do is write to the Attorney-General as protector of charitable trusts and provide their complaints to the Attorney-General and hope that the Attorney took some action or at least investigated – there would be no guarantees that anything would come of it,” the barrister wrote.

He then went on to say:

“They could, if they desired, ask the Attorney-General for her fiat (an official order) to commence a proceeding in her name, but a representative would have to be identified as a plaintiff and that person would be liable for costs and to indemnify the Attorney.

“Further, a fiat would only be granted if it could be shown that there was some reasonable basis to commence an action…That could only be achieved after significant investigations are undertaken to identify the directors and members … and any conduct which may provide a basis for complaint – which will not be easy.

“This may all be a moot point for your clients at this stage, but it does seem like they would have had a significant hill to climb.”

A significant hill to climb.

It says it all.

The community has been climbing hills for the past four years to bring greater light and transparency into Lyndoch Living’s board.

We are still climbing.

Note: The crowdfunding balance is lodged in trust with a Warrnambool legal firm. This fund will now be used as a Lyndoch Fighting Fund for future actions and challenges on behalf of the community, residents or staff as the need arises. I will be sure to keep you fully informed, as always.

Second note: The online petition to remove the board and replace it with an administrator is here. (Scroll down to sign). https://tinyurl.com/3nwac5nc You can also sign a paper copy this Sunday, 24 July, from 11am to 1pm at the Wbool Civic Green.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Keep Lyndoch Living community group has today launched a petition via the State Parliament, asking for the removal of the Lyndoch board.

You can read the full petition and sign it here: https://tinyurl.com/3nwac5nc

Sign it. Share it. Any Victorian resident can sign.

The petition to the Legislative Council asks for the State Government to work with the Federal Government to “take all possible steps” to replace the board with an administrator.

The administrator would remain until a new Lyndoch board can be elected via public nominations.

It has come to this.

Six weeks after more than 400 people gathered in the cold to call for greater transparency from the Lyndoch Living board, there has been nothing of the sort.

And judging by the non-sensical and insulting comments of the board Chair Sue Cassidy on ABC radio last week, the community will remain cut off, despite our many concerns around the care of our elderly and vulnerable.

The board has no interest or intention in engaging with the general community.

Trust in this board is now completely broken.

I hope this petition draws thousands of signatures between now and when it closes on 31 August.

It will then be tabled in Parliament by our local Member of the Legislative Council Bev McArthur, who delivered a statement to the rally on 5 June and who has continued to offer her full support to this cause.

A paper version of the petition will also be available at a public sign-up on the Warrnambool Civic Green next Sunday, 24 July, from 11am to 1pm. I plan to be there to help out.

Copies will also be available for you to take away to gather physical signatures from those unable to sign online.

All of the signatures – online and on paper – will be collated into one total.

Sign it. Share it. The message is clear: this board has to go.

[Disclosure: I assisted Keep Lyndoch Living to lodge this petition with the Legislative Council to ensure it met all the requirements.]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Lyndoch Living board – metaphorically speaking – slammed MP Roma Britnell at its meeting on Tuesday night but, in so doing, exposed its contempt for the community she serves.

Ms Britnell asked board chair Sue Cassidy if she, Roma, could address the meeting. She could.

As I understand it, there was also a guarantee that Ms Britnell would have a chance to speak to the board openly and confidentially (in camera), without the CEO in the room.

This didn’t happen.

Ms Britnell, armed with concerns from her constituents, arrived to find there was no ‘in camera’ meeting and if she had something to say, she would say it to the board and the CEO.

Things did not go well.

The board pounced and – metaphorically speaking – sent her packing.

Ms Cassidy, of course, has form on this sort of thing.

Yesterday, ironically, it was two years to the day since Ms Cassidy, as a one-term Warrnambool City Councillor, conspired with Crs Kylie Gaston, Mike Neoh and David Owen and threw the CEO Peter Schneider out the door.

Ms Cassidy, Ms Gaston and their two former colleagues are all still under active investigation by the Local Government Inspectorate for that act of bastardry, which resulted in an expensive and ugly court battle for Warrnambool ratepayers and a victory for Mr Schneider.

One of Mr Schneider’s senior employees, City Manager Andrew Paton, is on the Lyndoch board: the board which – metaphorically speaking – has just beaten up our local state MP behind the shelter sheds. That connection must be getting awkward.

On Tuesday night “from 5.35pm to 5.50pm” – as recorded in the board’s autopsy report posted to the Lyndoch Facebook page – Ms Britnell had a first-hand taste of what so many others have endured from Lyndoch’s hierarchy these past five years.

The bodies are piled high.

All of those experienced staff who have been cast out, had their reputations trashed, and been blamed for Lyndoch’s failings.

All of the families, who have tentatively tried to speak up, only to be bullied back into silence.

And the residents who have tried to raise concerns, including one recently who was effectively told they could always move elsewhere if they weren’t happy.

And now it’s our turn. The community is the enemy. We are the problem.

The person elected to represent this community took our concerns right to the heart of Lyndoch and got nowhere.

There will be no greater transparency.

We will not be allowed to become members of Lyndoch Living.

Lyndoch is no longer ours, but theirs.

Rather than listen to the people, the board is too busy congratulating itself for passing re-accreditation while Lyndoch remains in breach of multiple aged care standards across the nursing home, hostel and May Noonan. What a terrific system.

But the community isn’t stupid. We know a Captain Ahab when we see one and the board may wish to cast its eyes back to Seymour Health in 2012 to see how it ends: CEO gone, board gone.

It took the good people of Seymour seven years to win their bruising battle.

We’re up to year seven, and we’re right in the thick of it.

Punches are flying, teeth are being knocked out, eyes are blackened, but I can tell you this:

We’re not giving up.