Nick Coyle
Freedom of
Information Officer
Screen
Australia
Level 4, 150
William St
Woolloomooloo
2011 18th
June 2012
Dear Nick
Ruth
Harley, in her letter to me dated 10th May, claims that I have been
intimidating, harassing and placing Screen Australia staff at risk with my
correspondence to the organization. Please accept this letter as a formal
request, using Freedom of Information legislation, to acquire copies of the
correspondence Ruth is referring to. Fiona Cameron makes similar claims in her
letter to me dated 12th Nov 2010. I would like copies of the
correspondence that Fiona is referring to also.
In
arriving at her decision to ban me Ruth Harley must have been relying on information
provided to her by the members of the Screen Australia staff who believed that
they were being harassed, intimidated and placed at risk. I would like to get
copies of whatever documents exist in relation to such complaints by members of
SA staff– be they email exchanges, letters, notes taken at meetings, reports,
any form of internal communication within Screen Australia relating to the
correspondence Ruth refers to in her letter to me of 10th May.
In
relation to the Screen Australia Board I would like to be provided with copies
of any documents that Ruth Harley presented to it prior to my banning – either
by way of gaining the Board’s approval for her intention to ban me or informing
the Board of her reason, after the event, for having done so. My intention here
is to find out if the Screen Australia Board (1) voted to ban me, (2) ratified
Ruth Harley’s decision to ban me after the event or, (3) knew nothing of the
ban either before or after Ruth Harley imposed it. If (3) be the case I wish to
acquire copies of any documents that exist pertaining to Glen Boreham and the
Board’s response to my banning in the past five weeks, since the ban was
imposed. Has Glen Boreham or any other member of the Board sighted the
documents Ruth Harley refers to that bear witness to my having harassed,
intimidated or placed Screen Australia staff at risk? If the matter has been
raised in a Board meeting I would like to acquire copies of whatever Screen
Australia Board documents I am entitled to under FOI legislation relating to my
banning.
Because my
being banned has been conducted in such secrecy, with no warning, no evidence
presented and no right of appeal,
because Ruth Harley has made it quite clear that she has no intention of
providing me with copies of the correspondence she is referring to in her
letter of 10th May and no intention of communicating with me, this
FOI request something of a fishing expedition. I don’t know what documents I
need to prove, in court, that Ruth Harley is lying when she claims that I have
been harassing, intimidating and placing at risk members of her staff. I do
know, however, that my innocence of the crimes I have been charged with (and
found guilty of by Screen Australia) can be established if it is demonstrated
beyond a shadow of a doubt that the offending correspondence does not exist. And
it is my contention that the correspondence in support of the Screen Australia
ban does not exist.
I find
myself in the exceedingly odd position of making a Freedom of Information request
for copies of non-existent correspondence. In the event that you cannot produce
the correspondence that Ruth Harley is referring to in a timely fashion (and
that to which Fiona Cameron refers to) I think it fair to work on the
presumption that no such correspondence exists. It would be helpful, Nick, if
you could let me know within what time frame I might expect to get a respond to
my FOI request?
In keeping with my decision to be totally transparent
and accountable in my dealings with Screen Australia in relation to my being
banned I am publishing this letter to you on the internet. I will likewise
publish whatever correspondence you provide me with as evidence in support of
my having been banned. I will let those who follow my blog, fellow filmmakers,
decide, on the basis of facts and not on mere assertions and spin, whether it
is me who is lying or Ruth Harley.
I am also
copying this to the Hon Simon Crean and to the Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman –
despite both having decided to ignore my request that Ruth Harley release the
correspondence she refers to in her letter of 10th May.
best wishes
James
Ricketson
cc the Hon
Simon Crean
Ms Alison
Larkins, Acting Commonwealth
Ombudsman
Wow! More drama here than in your average Aussie movie! Can't wait for next installment. Who is going to get voted out - Ricketson or Harley?
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