Correct me if I am wrong, but on the face of it, the timing of the introduction of this new demand aligns with your ratepayer funded participation in the Webinar conducted by “foisolutions.com.au” (which appears to have had an emphasis on educating participants on how to refuse/deflect FOI requests).  I have no objection to you educating yourself to perform your work to a higher standard, but I hope that you give equal credence to papers such as ‘Fighting fraud in the public sector 111’ (7th PWC Global Economic Crime Survey 2014), or the very current (August, 2020), IBAC paper: ‘Local Government – Building local government integrity during times of crisis or emergency’.

Furthermore, I find it incongruous that you, all of a sudden, assume the power to attempt to impose timelines for my responses to your requests (like asking for a reply by return mail).  I consider that to be downright impertinent when I have found it necessary to ask you: “Please stop using process to delay the provision of information” / “Stop the delay” / “How about some action and not delays?” (Ref. Letter dated 9 Sep. 2020).

I am a concerned ratepayer of SGSC and you are a paid employee of SGSC.  All I am asking of you is that you do your job effectively, efficiently and that you act with due courtesy.  I am not locked into some sort of power game -I just want proper answers to some perplexing questions and, by the way, so should you (especially if you too are a SGS ratepayer).

I do not know (yet), if there has been any misdemeanor, or criminal offence committed in relation to the Karmai Centre Project, but, as you must be aware, there are some ‘oddities’ that need to be looked at.  Nothing is alleged, but please allow me to suggest that if all turns out to not be as it should be, you would not want to find yourself in a position where aiding and abetting, can even remotely be a consideration.

‘The way forward’

As you say, you require me to again agree to the ‘scope of the request’ as outlined by you.  I hereby offer the said confirmation, with the notation, that you have not included the agreed information pertaining to the Council Officer who authorized the contract variations.

Your methodology for progressing this FOI request is now so complicated that it is difficult to follow.  I am currently under heavy medication pending an operation on Tuesday and are impinging on my ability to focus and think clearly, so I am therefore adding the rider to this letter: errors and omissions excepted.

Yours faithfully

John McCombe