THE DAWN ROWAN SAGA: June 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

LINDSAY TANNER'S REPLY TO MANY EMAILS

Thanks to all who wrote to Lindsay Tanner encouraging him to concur with Jenny Macklin's recommendation.

Here's his response:

16/06/2008, at 11:02 AM, Tanner, Lindsay (MP) wrote:

Dear _ _ _ _

Thank you for your email in support of Ms Dawn Rowan, requesting that I waive her debt to the Commonwealth.

I am aware of the history and circumstances of Ms Rowan's case and that a number of representations have been made on her behalf both to the previous Government and this Government.

There are a number of steps still to be undertaken before I can make a decision with respect to Ms Rowan's waiver request, including provision of advice from the relevant Government agencies and from Ms Rowan herself. Upon receipt of this information, I will be in a position to make an informed decision.

I appreciate your concerns and thank you for raising this matter with me.

Yours sincerely

Lindsay Tanner

*****

Rowland's comment: My instinct is that we now leave this with Mr. Tanner and (for those of you who pray) with God. The chances of a waiver? All we can say is that it would not be in the Government's interests for two of its ministers to publicly differ on this matter!

Monday, June 2, 2008

RESPONSE FROM LINDSAY TANNER

3rd June 2008

Dear friends (from Dawn),

I have now received correspondence from Lindsay Tanner's office consisting of an Application for Waiver of Debt (about 9 pages!).

This is a major step forward.

However here are some questions I'm working through at the moment:

* Does a 'debt waiver' legitimize the 'debt'? Justice would require that the notion of 'indebtedness' be removed from my records...

* Is a 'waiving of the debt' equivalent to an annulment of all record of bankruptcy, which I would need to have done to clear my name?

* And what about the million-and-a-half dollars I'm out of pocket as an innocent person, pursued brutally by the Howard Government, in particular, doing 'whatever it takes' to destroy me?

* I've been delighted with the kindness expressed by Jenny Macklin and her staff. In 22 years of personal agony I've never been treated with any respect and concern... until now.

* More good news: The Adelaide newspaper The Independent Weekly has published a brilliant article in last Friday's (30th June) edition on the whole saga. We can't find the story on their website yet: it will probably appear later this week. (Could someone please send it by email to me at dawn.rowan[at]optusnet.com.au and to Rowland at rccroucher[at]optusnet.com.au . Thanks. We'll get it on to the blog asap.)

* If you haven't written to Lindsay Tanner's office encouraging him in this process, please send an email to him at Lindsay.Tanner.MP@aph.gov.au .

We'll keep you all posted!

Regards

Dawn Rowan

Welcome!

This blog tells an amazing story. If you're an Australian, you might naively believe that you live in a country committed in its legal and political institutions to fairness and justice.

As you read on, you will have good reason to doubt all that.

(See Dawn's Documents Blog - http://dawnrowandocuments.blogspot.com/ - for more...)

************************************
JULIAN BURNSIDE QC: 'I have carefully considered your situation... You have exhausted all possibilities of legal recourse... It is now important that your story be known by the public rather than buried... Be more assertive in pushing this issue in the media. Exposure of the Commonwealth's shabby behaviour might cause a change of heart.'
***************************************

Please contact your local Federal member or senator urgently on behalf of Dawn: the more emails and letters sent to people in authority the more likely they will take notice! (See next paragraph for a couple of letters: you can use the raw material to construct your own. Note (January 2008) that they're dated in terms of the election: it's now important to contact the new Labor ministers. But they can still provide the raw material you can use).

Shalom!

Rowland

~~~

Samples of letters on behalf of Dawn Rowan:

Dear [local Federal member]

As a member of your constituency, I am writing to seek your assistance on a matter of justice currently before the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and the Federal Attorney General. In August 1987, a lady called Dawn Rowan worked at Christies Beach Womens' Shelter, Adelaide. It was shut down by the SA Government following unsubstantiated allegations, all of which were subsequently found to be grossly defamatory. Dawn Rowan has since worked to restore her unfairly tarnished reputation and gain compensation.

This she won in the SA Supreme Court, yet now faces bankruptcy and homelessness on legal technicalities. These were exposed on Channel 7s "This Day Tonight" in May 2007 -- see the video onfront page of her advocate at http://jmm.aaa.net.au. Since her home can only be saved by a decision from your Ministers above, may I ask you to please:

1) Assess the justice of her situation for yourself and advise me of your findings,

2) Raise the matter with your Ministers and

3) Advise me of the outcome.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for representing our constituency so well, and wish you well for the election expected later this year.

Yours sincerely,

~~~

2. A letter I wrote to the Diamond Valley Leader newspaper - also to several parliamentarians. (The Leader has published three pages of stories and photos re Dawn's situation. It's the local paper for the area where Dawn lives).

The Editor [ ]

Thank you for your excellent coverage last week of the Dawn Rowan saga. I do not know a worse miscarriage of justice in our nation than this one.

In Ethics 101 I learned that 'not everything that's legal is moral.' In our Westminster system it's apparently 'legal', under parliamentary privilege, to tell a bevy of lies defaming an innocent person, but it's manifestly immoral.

It's OK apparently for five government agencies to 'lose' a cohort of documents relating to this case, but until that government institutes an enquiry, no one is held accountable.

In the appeal process it's apparently legal for a judge not to disclose bias, as Dawn Rowan alleges, when there are a number of close associations on various committees with the leading guilty party.

This saga also suggests that to pursue for costs an innocent person (Dawn Rowan) when at every level of the case the guilty party was declared to be the Government of S.A. is also immoral.

And if Ministers Ruddock and Brough who are hounding Dawn Rowan to bankruptcy had any decency they would also realize that they're being very unwise. People are not going to vote in this election-year for parliamentarians who so manifestly lack compassion.

At a forthcoming bankruptcy hearing we will learn whether an innocent person will be out of her St. Andrews' home and on the street. There's now a very large groundswell of interest and concern about this case. Put Dawn Rowan into a Google search for some evidence of this: she occupies the first 17 of over a million entries!

Yours sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.aaa.net.au

3. And from a S.A. woman-friend:

Dear Senator Minchin,

Please do what you can to ameliorate the dire situation in which Dawn Rowan finds herself in.

I am sure that you are aware that Dawn has saved many lives, come to the aid of women and children fleeing domestic violence and been the compassionate adviser of women whose lives have been blighted by violence and threats. She was warning people about the prevalence of child sex abuse long before that subject became speakable. Like many women in the van, she has been punished for her outspokenness.  This is a terrible thing for young women of our age to understand, but it seems to be the truth still.
She is one of my heroes.  In the 80s her work was an international influence for good and her work seminal in the progress towards understanding families under stress.

She has continued her work despite the misery her life became after the appeal against her successful defamation case.

This woman does not deserve to be pursued into bankruptcy.

Please give this sad case your attention.
http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/

THE DAWN ROWAN SAGA

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

LINDSAY TANNER'S REPLY TO MANY EMAILS

Monday, June 2, 2008

RESPONSE FROM LINDSAY TANNER

SEE ALSO THE DAWN ROWAN DOCUMENTS BLOG

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THE DAWN ROWAN SAGA

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

LINDSAY TANNER'S REPLY TO MANY EMAILS

Monday, June 2, 2008

RESPONSE FROM LINDSAY TANNER

SEE ALSO THE DAWN ROWAN DOCUMENTS BLOG

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