The Whistleno. 101, January 2020
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“All that is needed for evil to prosper is for people of good will to do nothing”—Edmund Burke The Whistle No. 101, January 2020 Newsletter of Whistleblowers Australia ( ISSN 2205-0299) Reviews and articles BOOK REVIEW $9 more than the standard charges of were hell bent on protecting the Catho- surrounding state schools, like Eliza- lic Church’s good name at the expense Walking towards thunder beth Grove Primary and Elizabeth of the “little ones,” the innocent chil- A review of Peter Fox’s book South Primary which charge $241 a dren, who were sexually abused by year. paedophile priests. The safety and well- Reviewed by Maggie Dawkins The Catholic Church continues to being of children in schools and in find other reasons to justify why parents churches were of little consequence for are keeping away from choosing a decades, until good people like Peter POLICE OFFICER PETER FOX worked in the Hunter region of NSW for 36 years, Catholic Education for their kids. The refused to be silenced. rising to Detective Chief Inspector. latest reason, according to the media Walking Towards Thunder docu- Frustrated with decades of cover-ups by report, is to give families access to ments the cover-ups of the behaviour of the Catholic Church of the sexual abuse affordable Catholic education, as the multiple priests by Church luminaries of children by paedophile priests, Peter driving factor for this initiative. There such as Phillip Wilson and George Pell. took the unusual step of publicly is no mention of the devastating impact It shows how the tentacles of each speaking out in support of victims and the revelations from the Royal Com- branch of our civil society failed our their families. His courageous decision mission into Child Sexual Abuse had on children and their parents. cost him his job, as he joined a chorus the business model of the education of like-minded people who influenced division of the Catholic Church. Until Prime Minister Julia Gillard to establish ‘Mother Church’ openly declares it has the Royal Commission into Institu- learnt valuable lessons, such as putting tional Child Sex Abuse in 2013. kids’ safety and wellbeing first and foremost, by implementing significant policy reforms to keep priests out of the schoolyard and classrooms, enrolment numbers will continue to drop like a stone. There are of course other steps the Catholic Church is reticent to take, such as showing genuine remorse for the victims of child sexual abuse at the Peter Fox hands of priests who were trusted and, in some cases, revered. While reading Peter’s just-published In a speech to the Australian Human book Walking Towards Thunder, I Rights Commission Justice Peter chanced upon an article in my local McClennan who headed the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse, Adelaide newspaper, The Advertiser, which provided context for what the said, “I cannot comprehend how any author achieved against the might and person, much less one with qualifica- Having briefly met Peter, I found power of the Catholic Church. “With tions in theology … could consider the that his writing is an honest reflection only 90 children currently enrolled, St rape of a child to be a moral failure but of the person. He has a distinctly Mary Magdalene’s has had a 44 per not a crime.” Australian turn of phrase. I could hear cent pupil decrease since 2013,” the Care and adequate compensation his voice as I read the words. It is a newspaper reported. appear a way off, as Justice McClennan unique story of dedication and perse- In unison with complicit police, an said he “… was disheartened to read verance, told eloquently. amenable legal system and the NSW media reports about delays in institu- The reader will find themselves State Government of Barry O’Farrell, tions signing up to the national redress chuckling at Peter’s self-deprecating Peter did what he set out to do and let scheme for survivors, which allows humour, in some of the darkest of mo- parents know that Catholic schools them to access counselling, a personal ments of the book. It is easy to connect were not necessarily safe havens for our response and a financial payment.” with him and feel for Peter, as he is children and, importantly, why. This book has a warts-and-all predictably done over by the Cunneen His message has been received, loud authenticity that surpasses others I have Inquiry. His inhumane treatment at the and clear across the country since the read of this genre. Walking Towards hands of the NSW legal system, the Royal Commission into Institutional Thunder is different, because it tells a police and the NSW State government Child Sexual Abuse. Parents have been wider story, from the perspective of a demonstrate the formidable fire power deserting Catholic schools in droves. NSW cop trying to do his job, a job Peter confronted. I would suggest, it is Catholic Education South Australia Peter clearly loved. a badge of honour to be discredited by responded by reducing its school fees Doing his job clashed with those in that inherently questionable process. from $2,175 to $250 a year — a mere positions of power and influence who 2 The Whistle, #101, January 2020 It would be naïve to suggest that avoidance and possibly criminal activ- Jeff Morris’s story is instructive. He Peter and his wife Penny haven’t been ity. He went to his superiors in the bank. reported problems to managers within adversely affected by the unrelenting They didn’t want to know. He went to the Commonwealth Bank, then went to attacks on Peter’s character. This has tax authorities in Switzerland. They the regulator, the Australian Security been a long and difficult road for them. didn’t want to know either. He went to and Investments Commission. His re- I challenge you to not feel an immense the Swiss federal prosecutor, again with ports went nowhere. It was only when sense of respect for this great Austral- no result. He went to numerous journal- he made contact with politicians and ian, as you close the book. I felt it was ists in Switzerland. They weren’t inter- journalists that his concerns started to a privilege to share his ordeal and know ested. He eventually learned that bank- generate some pressure for change. a little of Peter’s dogged determination ing secrecy, which enabled corruption, This is all described in journalist Adele and downright bravery, which squarely was sacred in Switzerland, and no one Ferguson’s revealing book Banking places him on the right side of history. in the country was willing to expose Bad. Although Jeff was vindicated — The title of the book, Walking problems. his claims and his courage are now Towards Thunder, is borrowed from an widely recognised — the saga took a Irish saying, which advises you to take terrible toll on him, destroying his on the storm ahead. As the saying goes, career and damaging his health and its rain, winds, thunder and lightning relationships. (You can read more of will pass in time and you will emerge Jeff’s story in this issue of The Whistle.) into the peace and calm of the sunlight Jeff’s story is all too common. It has that inevitably follows. Peter and Penny been replicated in countries around the have earned their place in the sun. It is world. If you want to learn more about thanks to people like Peter who faced financial services whistleblowing, turn the wrath of the Catholic Church, to Kate Kenny’s new book Whistle- fellow coppers, the legal system and the blowing: toward a new theory. NSW State Government and lived to Kenny interviewed finance-sector tell the tale. For a formidable and whistleblowers from Britain, Ireland, confronting topic, it’s a cracking good the US and Switzerland. One of them, yarn! mentioned above, was Rudolf Elmer. Their stories have remarkable similari- Peter Fox, Walking towards thunder: Rudolf Elmer ties. the true story of a whistleblowing cop Nearly all of them worked in large who took on corruption and the Church Rudolf finally found a receptive financial organisations, in compliance (Sydney: Hachette, 2019) audience — in other countries. Journal- positions in which they were expected ists in Britain saw him as a hero. Gov- to look for irregularities and violations See page 8 for a report on Peter’s talk at ernment bodies outside Switzerland of procedures. In other words, it was the 2019 Whistleblowers Australia were interested too, for good reason. their job to detect and report problems. conference. Tax avoidance via Swiss banks was They didn’t initially think of them- costing them billions of dollars in lost selves as whistleblowers because, in a Maggie Dawkins is a member of revenue. literal sense, by making reports they Whistleblowers Australia’s national were simply doing their jobs. Some of committee. See the January 2019 issue Even with international support, Rudolf’s path was difficult, to say the them were legally required to report any of The Whistle for her own whistleblow- problems they discovered. The majority ing story. least. Like other whistleblowers, his of the individuals she interviewed had employer did everything possible to discredit him. As well as losing his job, been employed in watchdog roles; he was arrested and charged with steal- BOOK REVIEW their formal Job description involved ing bank documents, and spent 200 finding and highlighting incidents of days in prison. His career was de- wrongdoing, whether this was as an Learning from bank stroyed. His family members were internal auditor, a risk manager, a harassed by private investigators.