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.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A week ago, hundreds of people gathered in the cold to stand up for Lyndoch Living and call upon the board to tell us what’s going on.

That call has fallen on deaf ears.

The only public comments from Lyndoch chair Sue Cassidy –  as reported by The Standard last Monday – completely side-stepped the string of concerns raised at the rally by local MPs, ex-staff and concerned members of the community.

Statements from Hon Roma Britnell, Hon Bev McArthur, Hon Dan Tehan, former Lyndoch CEO Rhys Boyle, Dr Michael McCluskey, Diane Riordon, Sandy Hockley, and one little terrier, all asked the board for one thing:

Full transparency.

The board, in response, has shrugged its shoulders and shown no sign of changing a thing.

This lack of transparency flies in the face of Lyndoch being a community asset for more than 70 years. 

And it flies in the face of Lyndoch being a registered charity that each year receives tens of millions of dollars from residents and taxpayers.

As one woman in the crowd said last week, “people sell their houses to go into Lyndoch”.

This lack of public accountability means we – the public – are being left in the dark by the board that is appointed to represent us.

So our questions remain: Why are so many Lyndoch staff leaving and going to work elsewhere in aged care?

Why are there so many shocking stories about declining residential care?

Why has Lyndoch cut off community memberships?

Is the $22 million (or whatever the cost is now) medical clinic financially sound?

Based on the report in The Standard, the only comment Ms Cassidy could offer was that the board are volunteers – which is irrelevant – and are community members – which is obvious.

The fact is that Lyndoch is now run like a private company and nobody outside of the tight, Lyndoch circle gets a look in.

The social contract between the board and the community has been completely broken.

As was made clear last Sunday, the community is agitated and people are worried.

People hold genuine concerns about Lyndoch’s financial future, its staffing, its management style, and, first and foremost, the daily care of our elderly citizens.

These concerns are based on fact: both Lyndoch Living nursing home and May Noonan Hostel in Terang are under threat of sanctions. We have no idea how these failings are being addressed and if Lyndoch is on track to be re-accredited in August.

The CEO, again in comments to The Standard, blamed the failings on tougher standards. If this is the case, why is Lyndoch the only aged care home in Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Camperdown, Mortlake and beyond to be failing?

And, as it stands, the $22 million new medical clinic is nowhere near being ready to open by next month, as planned.

This means delays, and most likely cost blowouts, but we have been told nothing.

The Lyndoch board can only ignore the community for so long.

From my standpoint, it’s now on notice.

It’s on notice from our MPs, who gave a public commitment to stand with us, and we are relying on Roma Britnell, Bev McArthur and Dan Tehan to follow through, strongly.

And it’s on notice from a groundswell of people from right across the community who are now speaking up and standing up to fight for Lyndoch, both up front and behind the scenes.

If we care about Lyndoch, we have to see this through and demand full transparency and a board that either connects with the community, or steps aside.

The future of our Lyndoch depends on it.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

For those who couldn’t make it to the Fight4Lyndoch rally last Sunday, here are links to speeches and statements from:

Federal MP for Wannon, Dan Tehan;

Member for Western Region of Victoria, Bev McArthur;

Membership applicant Dr Michael McCluskey;

Former Lyndoch Living nurse Sandy Hockley;

Community advocate Diane Riordon.

Member for South-West Victoria Roma Britnell also gave a terrific speech, but unfortunately a hard copy was only in dot point form, so I have not included it here.

[A video of my speech is available on The Terrier Facebook page.]

I also wish to repeat the simple statement of support offered to the rally by former Lyndoch CEO Rhys Boyle.

Rhys guided Lyndoch for 20 years until his retirement in 2014:

“I support a re-evaluation of the facts to ensure that meaningful and informed decisions are being made that secure the future of Lyndoch,” he wrote.

More than 350 people turned out for the rally on Scoborio Reserve last Sunday, to stand in support of residents, their families and staff, and to hear for themselves the concerns around Lyndoch Living.

Those concerns come down to three main issues:

1. Declining residential care standards, staff shortages and staff resignations;

2.  The financial viability of Lyndoch and, in particular, the sustainability of the $22 medical clinic;

3. The cutting out of the community from Lyndoch, including the end of community/general memberships.

While we await to hear whether the Aged Care and Safety Commission will re-accredit Lyndoch in August, the community fight continues.

For while the commission can act on the first point – residential care – it doesn’t deal with the other two points.

It’s up to us, as the community which owns Lyndoch, to make sure Lyndoch remains transparent and accountable to the community.

After the enormous response to the rally on Sunday, despite the freezing morning, our resolve has only strengthened.