MARCH 2011: MINISTER REFUSES ANY ACT OF GRACE PAYMENT

LETTER FROM MINISTER GARY GRAY (2ND MARCH 2011) AND DAWN ROWAN’S RESPONSES

Preamble

The attached is a point-by-point set of responses from Dawn Rowan to the Minister’s letter refusing any compensation for the abuses perpetrated on her by the Commonwealth Government.

My (Dawn Rowan’s) responses are preceded by ==>> and highlight the deliberate efforts to mislead in the Minister’s 1½ page letter. I take full and sole responsibility for all the comments here.

==>> The original judgment by Justice Debelle found all four parties – the SA Government, Commonwealth Government, Channel 10 and the ABC TV - guilty and liable for my costs. The Appeal Court (three judges) reversed the liability of the Commonwealth and the two Television networks. The State of South Australia and its representatives remained the guilty party: but these three judges made me responsible (as the innocent party) for my costs (approx. $475,000) and the costs of these three parties. The guilty party – the SA Government – was ordered to pay only its costs! Bizarre!

==>> Further background factual information: see the original 300-page judgment - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/sa/SASC/2002/160.html
Also this summary of the Saga: http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/4728.htm

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HON GARY GRAY AO MP

Special Minister of State

Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity

Ms Dawn Rowan


PO Box 60
ST ANDREWS VIC 3761

REF: C10/1768

Dear Ms Rowan

I am writing in reference to your request for an act of grace payment of approximately $3.5m for alleged psychological injury and financial loss due to the Commonwealth initiating legal action and bankruptcy proceedings and the alleged delay in removing an injunction over your funds.

Dawn Rowan’s response: ==>> This document is malicious, designed to injure/assassinate. Alleged psychological injury? My medical reports provide overwhelming factual evidence of the appalling psychological injuries I have sustained over the past 25 years.

==>> Alleged delay? For five years the Federal Government chose to keep my assets frozen: so that I was not able to freely access bank accounts and any other resources.

In reaching my decision, I have considered the information provided in your correspondence of 10 June 2010 and 2 November 2010, several letters of support and advice from my Department. I am aware of the circumstances of your involvement with the Commonwealth and the decisions made by the former Minister for Finance and Deregulation, the Hon Lindsay Tanner.

==>> ‘Aware of the circumstances?’ I have appealed for any documentation attached to be used by the Minister in arriving at his decision, to be made available to me for comment. Response? Refusal. Therefore this minister has come to this decision based on two documents submitted by me out of a 25-year legal process and thousands of pages of documents in the Commonwealth’s possession. Departmental documents provided to me by Hon. Jenny Macklin and Lindsay Tanner contain evidence of a malicious campaign conducted by some bureaucrats against me. For example: a comment – against medical reports – by some bureaucrats in Jenny Macklin’s department that “Ms Rowan is not suicidal because there is no evidence of her having attempted suicide’!!!!

You have stated: “I believe that the Annulment of the Bankruptcy, rather than a simple waiver of the debt, acknowledges that the procedures by the Commonwealth were improper and should never have occurred at all. It would follow logically that the Commonwealth accepts liability for the extreme suffering on a day-to-day basis I have experienced since 2005”.

I note that you maintain that the Commonwealth bears some liability to you despite the finding of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia in which the Commonwealth was cleared from any liability upon appeal. It is my view that the appeal decision is the final and operative position regarding the Commonwealth’s legal involvement with you. While I consider that you did not frivolously or vexatiously take action against the Commonwealth, you did so knowingly, and the order for costs is an ordinary consequence of such action.

==>> ‘Cleared from any liability’? This is a cowardly statement – hiding behind a legal rather than a moral argument. My application for an act of grace payment was at all times based on MORAL not legal considerations.

==>> Knowingly? What choice does an innocent person have, when scandalized in full public glare with false allegations made about them of sexual abuse, financial corruption, and unethical work practices released under parliamentary privilege (‘coward’s castle’)? AND DEFENDED FOR 25 YEARS BY THE PERPETRATORS AS ‘JUSTIFIED’... even after all allegations had been proved false and malicious in court?

==>> This ignores the fact that the three judges conducting the appeal did not disclose previous associations with the guilty parties in this disgraceful episode of character assassination and abuse of political power. It is a criminal offence for judges not to disclose any association with people before the court.

==>> Their ‘unbiassed judgment’, strangely, overturned the previous finding of Malice by the only Supreme Court judge – Justice Debelle – to have read the all the evidence and to have heard all the witnesses.

==>> How can FIVE Government departments (Police Department, Corporate Affairs Commission, Crown Solicitor’s Office and Community Welfare in SA. and one Commonwealth Government – Community Services) ‘lose’ the same cohort of documents without a malicious conspiracy being involved??? Justice Debelle states in his judgment (June 2002: see paragraphs 87-94) http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/sa/SASC/2002/160.html : ‘It is possible to understand that files from one department might have been inadvertently lost or destroyed. Coincidence cannot explain why files from five departments cannot be located.’

==>> This begs the questions which must be asked by Autralian citizens: Why was this done? How was all this coordinated? Who did it? And why? This is not just about me – this is about all of us. We are all potentially abused when our ‘democratically elected’ Government is free to perpetrate these frightening, malicious abuses of power against its own citizens!

==>> And why have the media been so silent about all this?

In accordance with his responsibilities for recovering debts under section 47 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act), the Secretary of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs was required to recover the debt which resulted in you being bankrupted. While I understand this caused you stress, I am satisfied that the Commonwealth’s actions to recover the debt were reasonable and obligatory.

==>> Required to recover the debt? The Commonwealth Government claims to be ‘litigants of best practice’. They claim to be role-models for the Westminster system in Australia. God help us – in this context of denial of the truth, and exquisite practitioners of injustice. We are dealing here with a ‘LEGAL system’ not a ‘JUSTICE system’ – in which the truth is irrelevant. And the Commonwealth are indeed ‘best practice’ exponents of this shocking system!

==>> There is always a discretionary power that can be exercised by our elected politicians. Reasonable and obligatory? That is maliciously misleading.

Although the former Finance Minister exercised his discretion and waived your debt, he did not have the power to annul your bankruptcy.

==>> Didn’t he? The Commonwealth has complete discretion in terms of waiving so-called ‘debts’ owed to them. Check my earlier comment: there are discretionary powers frequently used here (often to politicians and their powerful mates).

As the Commonwealth was the only proved creditor in your bankruptcy, and as the debt no longer existed because it was waived, the bankruptcy was annulled.

==>> Re ‘proved’: This is because the Commonwealth was the only party to pursue me! See above: all three parties had the opportunity to pursue me for costs, but only the Commonwealth CHOSE to waste additional taxpayers’ money pursuing me to homelessness and destitution. Why did the two other parties – the ABC and Channel 10 – never pursue me for this alleged debt?

The former Minister also sought to expedite the annulment of your bankruptcy by waiving an additional amount of $6,283.74 which was owed to the trustee.

You also claim that there was a delay on the Commonwealth’s part in lifting the Mareva injunction. However, I consider that the removal of the injunction, which required a court order, was carried out in a timely manner.

==>> Five years of frozen assets... The Government alleges that’s in ‘a timely manner’???

While you claim to be in financial difficulty, and are reluctant to apply for social security benefits, it is not appropriate to use the act of grace mechanism to circumvent existing mechanisms or legislation which may lead to eligibility for Government benefits. It is open to you to test your eligibility for benefits with Centrelink.

==>> My financial condition has been fully documented for the Commonwealth Government. The word ‘claim’ is a carefully-chosen and misleading abuse of language. This is a smokescreen. This claim for compensation is a totally separate issue. It’s about losses incurred in my 25-year battle to clear my name, and be properly compensated for injuries perpetrated upon me by the Commonwealth Government.

==>> Minister Gray: what would you have done if you had been vilified in this way?

On the basis of all the information before me, I do not consider it appropriate to authorise an act of grace payment to you as I consider that the Australian Government has met its moral duty in providing discretionary relief to you by waiving your debt and there are no special circumstances that warrant payment in this case. Accordingly, I have declined, pursuant to section 33(1) of the FMA Act, an act of grace payment of approximately $3.5m to you.

==>> Regarding the Commonwealth’s having ‘met its moral duty’: I would challenge the minister to a public debate with me where he can attempt to justify his statement that he has ‘met [his] moral duty’ and that ‘there are no special circumstances’ in this case.

I have also enclosed an information sheet with the options you have in respect of the decision.

Yours sincerely

Gary Gray

2 March 2011



Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/

ACT OF GRACE PAYMENT - PLEASE ASK YOUR FEDERAL MEMBER TO ADVOCATE WITH HON. GARY GRAY

Dear (Australian) friends,

On behalf of Dawn Rowan's Support Group, I'm asking a small favour from everyone of you as we reach the end of the campaign for justice for her:

1. Find your local Federal member of parliament (House of Representatives and Senate) from these lists:

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/memlist.pdf

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/contacts/los.pdf

2. Send them a copy of the letter below, with a personal note from you expressing your amazement that this can go on for thirty years!!!, and urging them to intervene/advocate for Dawn with Hon. Gary Gray to make a generous Act of Grace payment.

Thanks everyone (oh, and email me any responses you get).

Rowland

More: http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/4728.htm
http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/

*****


To: The Hon. Gary Gray AO MP 25 January, 2011
Special Minister of State

Dear Minister Gray

I am writing as the convenor of supporters of Ms. Dawn Rowan.

Within the next fortnight I understand from your staff that you will be receiving a submission concerning Ms Dawn Rowan’s Act of Grace payment application.

It will detail the horrendous history of this case, which began in 1981, in which individuals and politico-legal entities have persecuted an innocent woman. The Christies’ Beach Women’s Shelter she led was defunded by the South Australian and Federal Governments due to false allegations against Dawn. She won the subsequent defamation and misfeasance (abuse of public office) case against the S.A. Government, the courts finding her innocent of every charge. The Supreme Court of S.A. determined it to be a ‘shocking defamation’.

Yet, perversely, costs to the value of Dawn’s home were awarded against her! As the proven innocent victim of government slander, she was the only one left with a debt!

You will be aware of the subsequent events: bankruptcy; later annulment of bankruptcy by Hon. Lindsay Tanner; Minister Jenny Macklin’s recommendation of a waiver of Dawn Rowan’s alleged ‘debt’ to the Commonwealth, and now, finally, an Act of Grace application in which her financial, professional and emotional deprivation and suffering will be acknowledged. She spent more than $1.5 million defending herself over 20 years of court hearings.

When Australian citizens/tax-payers have learned that an eight-figure sum of their money has been wasted prosecuting this case against an innocent woman (not to mention the astonishing fact that five Government departments destroyed or mislaid relevant documents relating to the case) they have been demanding some answers.

I want to pay tribute to Ministers Jenny Macklin and Lindsay Tanner, who have acted honourably and with integrity in the penultimate stages of this saga.

I encourage you to be generous in ascertaining and awarding a just and adequate payment as compensation for the suffering all this has caused Dawn Rowan.

I am happy to be contacted by phone or email if further information is required.

Yours faithfully,

(Rev. Dr.) Rowland Croucher
rccroucher@optusnet.com.au

PLEASE CONTACT PENNY WONG - THE NEW FINANCE MINISTER: September 11, 2010

Friends, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced her new cabinet today.

We urge you to contact Hon.Penny Wong, the new Finance Minister (after the retirement of Hon. Lindsay Tanner).

The email doesn't have to be long. Here's where to do it:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/contact.asp?id=00AOU

Let's be courteous (congratulate her), and let her know there are many supporters of Dawn Rowan out in the electorate who will be expecting her to continue the good work Jenny Macklin and Lindsay Tanner have begun to provide some justice for Dawn Rowan.

Hopefully the last step in this long 20+ years of torture and vilification against Dawn - whose innocence has been affirmed during every stage of the court proceedings - will conclude shortly.

Let us encourage Finance Minister Penny Wong to make a generous 'Act of Grace' payment to Dawn Rowan as an acknowledgement of and compensation for the pain she has suffered through this tortuous process.

You might like to send a similar email to the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard -

http://www.pm.gov.au/PM_Connect/contact_your_pm_form

And to these powerful people -

http://www.roboakeshott.com/

Tony.Windsor.MP@aph.gov.au

senator.bob.brown@aph.gov.au

Note: we have no idea how much if anything the above four persons know about the Dawn Rowan Saga: so feel free to summarize the story in your own words and direct them to this blog ( http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/ )

Please use your own words and email me with any responses you receive - rccroucher@optusnet.com.au

Thanks everyone!

(Rev. Dr.) Rowland Croucher (Convenor of Supporters of Dawn Rowan)

UPDATE: 14 JUNE 2010

An email I received from Dawn a couple of weeks ago: "The Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) froze my assets with one hours' notice in a court hearing in Adelaide in 2005. My solicitors notified me it had happened 4 hours later.

"This 'Mareva Injunction' was the legal tool used to take COMPLETE control over every aspect of my finances, house & possessions in an instant ambush, & maintain absolute control for as long as it suited them. This was effortlessly achieved in our Australian 'Democracy' against an INNOCENT person, by gross abuse of power from the unlimited power & tax-payers' money available to the Commonwealth Government.

"For 5 years I have not been allowed access to any more than $500 per week, regardless of major funds needed for defending the Bankruptcy proceedings the AGS then conducted against me over the next 3 years. I was also unable to pay any large expenses such as local council rates, house maintenance, superannuation contributions etc, with predictable results.

"However, when the bankruptcy was annulled in October 2009 through the decency and kindness of Federal Ministers Lindsay Tanner & Jenny Macklin, the AGS ignored their responsibility to REMOVE the injunction, & it took 6 MONTHS to finally get this cruelty cancelled (25th May, 2010)!!!

"1 hour to impose......6 months to remove!!!!!! Double standard?..... Deliberate abuse of power?..... Persecution by the AGS because I had the temerity to stand against their injustice?..."

***

Dawn has just submitted to the Australian Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, a submission for an 'Act of Grace Payment' - compensating her (a little) for the seven-figure sum of $A dollars she has spent fighting for justice in the courts, forfeited in lost earnings and superannuation, not to mention the personal/psychological trauma she has suffered for the past quarter of a century.

I'm writing a brief email to Federal Minister Lindsay Tanner, *and would encourage each of you to do the same*. Put it into your own words, but mine will go like this:

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To: Lindsay.Tanner.MP@aph.gov.au

Dear Mr Tanner: first, thank you for the outstanding act of compassion you have shown to Dawn Rowan in annulling the bankruptcy order against her, and waiving her 'debt' to the Commonwealth.

We, her large group of supporters, have deliberately withheld exerting any pressure on you during recent months, while the Mareva injunction saga was resolved (it happened just a couple of weeks ago).

However, we understand that she is now submitting an application for an 'Act of Grace payment'.

I would urge you to extend your compassion and generosity just this one last time, to compensate her for the horrific financial and personal toll this has taken on her life over the past near-quarter century.

Yours respectfully

(Rev. Dr.) Rowland Croucher.

*****

On behalf of Dawn and her many supporters, could I encourage you to send a similar *brief* email to Mr. Tanner (Lindsay.Tanner.MP@aph.gov.au). Bounce any replies to me. Thanks!

*****

PS. If my fellow-clergypersons/ preachers want to use this material for preaching, try anchoring it in these texts: Luke 18:1-2, 2 Chronicles 19:4-6, Amos 2:6-7, 5:10-13.

NOVEMBER 2009 UPDATE

Hi friends

Here's a little piece I've written for the Victorian Baptist Witness - December edition. So it's mainly about Baptists, but thanks to all others who've stood with Dawn over the past several years...

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In Harold Pinter's Play 'Party-time' people are drinking good wine and chatting with friends and smiling... but something is happening outside in the street, something terrible and oppressive and unjust. There's a moment of silence and discomfort but soon they forget it and go back to their wine and chatting and smiling...

In the Dawn Rowan Saga something terrible and unjust was happening, but fortunately some of us left the party, and were shocked at what we saw, and decided to do something. We were shocked at the corruption-in-high-places, and the desire of people with power to destroy someone who simply wanted to help battered women.

For example, how can five government departments lose the same cohort of documents and no one gets agitated and starts an investigation? How is it that a court can award some of the costs of a guilty party (the South Australian government) against the person declared at all points in the long legal process to be utterly innocent? Many lawyers have told us this sort of thing doesn't happen in Australia! Why would any politician - however malicious their motives - have the audacity to shut down a women's refuge on the basis of lies and 'unsubstantiated allegations'? (Check Wikipedia's article on Dr. John Cornwall - his only claim to fame according to whoever wrote that is what he did to Dawn Rowan!).

I've seen firsthand Dawn's expertise in the area of counselling victims of domestic violence - especially her brilliant therapy with adult survivors of childhood sexual and other abuse. If a government department or anyone wants all this stopped, you've got to ask legitimate questions about conspiracies. 'If you don't have a conspiracy theory about this you're being irresponsible' is a common Dawn Rowan quote.

Thanks to all of you - Alan Marr, and pastors and people and churches - and others - who've helped with your emails, attendance at the Vigils, financial support etc. Dawn has won the first battle: her bankruptcy has been annulled. Lindsay Tanner has verbally agreed to waive the 'debt' to the Commonwealth - though we have yet to see that in writing. The third battle which hopefully will 'win the war' has to do with the sensitive matter of compensation. Don't write to anyone about that, but you can email Lindsay Tanner and simply thank him for the positive attention he's giving to Dawn Rowan's situation (that's all, thanks).

On Sunday November 8th, Dawn's friends at East Doncaster Baptist Church rejoiced with her, and prayed for her. To Dawn, they said, we offer you our love and support and admiration for your courage in this long fight for justice.

(If anyone's been on another planet - or enjoying their party - and hasn't heard about all this, simply Google Dawn Rowan: it's all there).

Rowland Croucher

DAWN'S BANKRUPTCY IS NOW OFFICIALLY ANNULLED!

From Dawn yesterday (2nd October 2009):

"I have in my hand a 'Certificate of Annulment', dated 12 Aug 09, (letter dated 25th Sept 09).

I understand this means that the bankruptcy is 'dead in the water'.

We've also had a verbal commitment from the Minister that the debt to the Commonwealth of Australia is waived although this is yet to be confirmed in writing."

We'll keep you up to date with developments.

After a quarter of a century we're hopefully coming to the end of this saga: thanks everyone for your support, emails, petition signatures, attendance at vigils etc.

===>>> If you'd like to help 'bless' Dawn (who's still broke and in debt) with a decent month-long holiday, please send gifts (tax-deductible for Australians) to Well-Being Australia (BSB: 063 191 Account 1012 2484): email me (rccroucher@optusnet.com.au) a copy of the transaction, and I'll send a receipt for your tax file. Or you can post a cheque to WBA: email me for the address.

Thanks again!

Rowland Croucher

THE PETITIONS HAVE WORKED

1. Mr. Tanner, Australian Minister for Finance and Deregulation, has publicly indicated his desire to resolve the Dawn Rowan 'case'. We are hopefully very close to a settlement.

Click on the links here: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/petitions/finance.htm

Thanks for all your letters, emails, helping at the Vigils, and collecting signatures for the two sets of petitions to the House of Representatives.

For the time being I'm holding the petitions to the Senate you've sent as they address the 'waiver' issue: thanks to all who collected those signatures.

2. Dawn desperately needs a month of Respite. How about we find $10,000 to give her a decent holiday (eg. a month's cruise which she'd love)? You can send gifts to our tax deductible entity, Well-Being Australia (BSB: 063 191 Account 1012 2484): email me (rccroucher@optusnet.com.au) a copy of the transaction, and I'll send a receipt for your tax file.

Thanks everyone! We'll keep you posted as developments occur.

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher (for Dawn Rowan).