Slippery Mick and his weekend rendezvous

Imagine allowing your child to go with one of the teachers from their school on Saturdays to carry out a program which the teacher claims to be part of their program only to find out that the teacher had been lying about what the student and teacher had been doing. This is the horror faced by one parent of a Carenne student with poor verbal communication skills today.

The parent contacted Carenne Gate after being told by the local Police that there was nothing they could do. The parent had been told that Carenne teacher Michael "Slippery Mick" Auld had been taking the student to do his fire service training on a Saturday only to discover that the Rural Fire Service knew absolutely nothing about it. When the parent went looking for Slippery Mick and his son, he found his car parked outside the local cinema.

The parent confronted Auld who said that the RFS program had been postponed today due to bad weather. When the parent said that the RFS knew nothing about his slippery antics, Auld said that the parent had been lied to.

These antics raise very concerns about just what Auld is doing with students on weekends and why he feels the need to lie to parents if he is doing nothing wrong.

Janelle Kemp's latest fraud

The Western Advocate reported on Saturday that the King Cain Bathurst Wallabies Tri Club which been raising funds on behalf of the John Maclean Foundation for Janelle Kemp's son William had presented the family with a cheque for $5,000. In November 2010, the Carenne Saviours reported to this blog that they believed the Kemp family had defrauded with John Maclean Foundation by failing to tell them their income and benefits they had already received from the community.

In the latest article Kemp says that they intend to purchase a hi-low bed with special mattress to protect William from pressure sores and to support his spine. Investigations by Carenne Gate revealed that the bed Mrs Kemp claims to be purchasing would be supplied under EnableNSW's Aids and Equipment Program.

"These hi-low beds, which are electrically adjustable are provided to eligible patients free under the A&E Program. The bed itself is around $2,500. The mattresses aren't complicated because they need to be able to be flexible, we would provide the standard mattress but some patients opt to buy their own. There wouldn't be $5,000 in the mattress," said a spokesperson from EnableNSW.

A dismayed Carenne parent contacted Carenne Gate when she heard of the news and reported that she was refused any assistance by the Carenne P&C Association when Kemp was president. "I was pretty much told to rack off, that the P&C doesn't provide assistance to individual students," said the parent. This was despite the P&C running a fundraising appeal for Zoe Gavin when she was diagnosed with leukemia.

"It appears that unless you are one of them you get no help from them," said the parent.

In the past, the Kemps have received assistance from Country Energy, the Genie Society, Scoliosis Australia, TADNSW and Carenne Support.

It's time that the Kemps come clean on what they intend to do with the money and what they have done with the money that was donated to them in the past.

Photo Credit: Western Advocate.

Neil Moon's $16,000 lie

Once again corrupt Carenne Special School principal, Neil Moon has defrauded the Bathurst community by making claims that are not true. The Bathurst Bulldogs Rugby Club recently donated $16,000 to the school so that the school could continue its hydrotherapy program.

In a statement to the Western Advocate, Mr Moon said that the $16,000 would go towards funding an "ongoing hydrotherapy program" and possibly the purchase of iPads for students.

Mr Moon neglected to tell his donors that Carenne has had a hydrotherapy program for many years under an agreement with Bathurst Hospital which costs the school nothing. In the past, the department had planned a hydrotherapy pool for the school - the same as the Anson Street Special School in Orange, however Michael Auld and Terry Mahony's lobbying to have the Riding for the Disabled Association moved to the rear of the school ended these plans. It was realised that due to Auld and Mahony's incompetence that there was no room to build the facility, which could have benefited a greater number of students.

According to nedkelly, the school's purchase of iPads is only to secure Christine Porter's position at the school. "Christine claims that they have to be setup and monitored by a speech therapist, so the whole idea of the iPads is to make sure she still has a job even though ADHC are employing therapists independent to Carenne Support."

Neil Moon has once again shown he is not to be trusted and that he will lie and defraud the Bathurst community.

Western Advocate gets only half the story

Staff and parents associated with the troubled Carenne Special School were surprised to open Friday's Western Advocate to find that the East Bathurst Rotary Club, under president Terry Mahony donating two Apple iPads valued at $1,200 to Carenne.

The article fails to mention that Mr Mahony was principal of the school in the past and is a director of corrupt school-based charity Carenne Support.

The article also mentions that Christine Porter is the school's speech therapist, despite her not being employed by the school but instead by Carenne Support. It is not the first time Ms Porter has attempted to present herself as being an employee of the department.

According to Carenne whistleblower "nedkelly", Porter likes to take credit for the iPad project at the school, despite having nothing to do with the initial planning for it. "Christine, as usual likes to talk her f---ing self up. She had nothing to do with using iPhones and iPads as communication tools, that was done by other people. Just like her Powered for Participation day, she likes to plagiarise and take the credit,"

"How come children who's parents work at the school get put ahead of others with this? As usual they look after their f---ing mates," said nedkelly.

As usual, the public is being shown only one half of the story by the local media.

Carenne Support director continues to get special treatment under the SNTS

Geoff Salmon, a director of the corrupt organisation Carenne Support who took matters into his own hands when he attacked a whistleblower has once again been given special treatment under the Special Needs Transport Service under which Carenne Support receives most of its income.

It has been reported to Carenne Gate that the arrangement between Mr Salmon and the driver of his son's bus Dick Spears has been restarted after ceasing as a result of its exposure on this blog last year.

In the past, Mr Spears was defrauding the department by claiming he was taking Mr Salmon's son to and from his home near Oberon every day despite on most days taking him to Kelso. It reportedly led to overclaims of around 50 kilometres a day.

Mr Spears has today used his wife as a driver on a second bus to transport Mr Salmon's son too and from Kelso so he can complete his run in a shorter amount of time. Carenne staff have also raised concerns about how Mr Spears uses an old bus which is not roadworthy on these days.

Neil Moon misleads the Bathurst Community on radio, gaffes

Incompetent principal of the infamous and much maligned Carenne Special School, Neil Moon has once again used his weekly interview on local radio station 2BS to spin and attempt to mislead the Bathurst community.

A very nervous Neil Moon told listeners that the fundraiser on Saturday night was well attended and showed the real support that the school had amongst the community. Mr Moon had difficulty with the word community, saying it had strong "secur-security-community" support.

Mr Moon neglected to tell the community that it had 80 people at the Carenne Support Dinner Dance last year and less than 40 at the charity auction and raffles on Saturday night. This shows that the amount of support Carenne has amongst the community has plummeted.

Mr Moon said that they were still counting the money the school had received from raffles and the charity auction at the Waratah but he knew it was a significant amount. This is despite local media reporting the takings as being $5,000 (on 2BS yesterday) and $4,000 in the Western Advocate.

Carenne whistleblower savecarenne told Carenne Gate that the school has no hope while it is under the leadership of Neil Moon. "He is nothing but a pathological liar, you can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, worse still you tell him something and he tells the world."

Nedkelly was equally as scathing - "I said that the f---wit would lie on the radio, he can't lie straight in bed, he is a liar, he is incompetent and he is a bully."

Photo credit: Western Advocate, used under fair use guidelines

Carenne Special School fundraiser to benefit corrupt charity - Carenne Support

The corrupt organisation at the centre of the Carenne Gate saga, Carenne Support Limited will benefit from Saturday night's Carenne Special School fundraiser at the Waratah in Bathurst according to whistleblowers and today's report in the Western Advocate. It is not the first time that Carenne Support has engaged in dishonest fundraising practices, with two Ford Transit minibuses being purchased for it after fundraising in the school's name.

The Western Advocate article claims that the school will be using the funds from the event to purchase much needed therapy equipment and a sensory wall for the junior courtyard. According to Carenne Support after last August's dinner dance where a sex toy made a surprise appearance, Carenne Support had raised enough money to build a sensory wall at the school.

According to Carenne whistleblower Gretel, Carenne Support was the beneficiary from the Waratah fundraiser. She told Carenne Gate - "The fundraiser was to purchase new therapy equipment for some students and for the sensory wall that will all be owned by Carenne Support, it was a Carenne Support fundraiser using the school's name."

Nedkelly told Carenne Gate that it was Neil Moon and Paul Knight's idea to use the school's name to fundraise for the corrupt charity. "Neil and Paul said that the school's name would raise more funds than Carenne Support's, he said that the funds could then be used on therapy programs and products for a few students."

The event demonstrates that the public is still being misled by Carenne Support and Carenne Special School when it comes to fundraising events.

Police claim they are being fed with false information

According to a whistleblower from the police force who must remain anonymous due to the possibility of harassment from others has said that police are being misled by Carenne staff following the admission by senior departmental staff on Monday that most of the information on this blog was being supplied by staff of the school.

The officer said that Neil Moon, Simone Russell, Lee Churches, Peter Richards, Kelly Thompson and Michael Auld have made complaints to Police and said that they claimed that the blog is full of lies and is being fed by people outside of the school. The officer claims that they were told by several Carenne staff that the department has conducted an investigation and found that nobody at Carenne was supplying information or posting on this blog. The officer said that Simone and Scott Russell had made claims to police that they hired a private investigator who had traced everything to Brian Carter. The officer told Carenne Gate -

"It's pretty bad when you have a senior police officer making allegations he knows are false to try and set up someone they don't like."

The officer told Carenne Gate he was concerned about the detectives who were investigating this blog -

"One is a friend of the Russell family who helped Scott get his promotion, another is a close friend of Mark Smith's and the third has a grudge against certain people involved in this mess,"

"The police investigation will get nowhere because it is engineered to protected certain people and nothing else."

Why the Bathurst community can say Neil Moon is a liar

Once again Carenne Special School turns to the Western Advocate, Bathurst's local newspaper to try and counter the effect of this blog.

On Tuesday, an article, written presumably by Neil Moon appeared in the "Update from the Principal" section on page 12 appeared in the newspaper. The article goes on to discuss how much the school has benefited from the Building the Education Revolution funding (or Gillard School Building debacle) which has paid for a new library, connector classroom, high support needs student classroom, toilet renovations and a roof over the centre quadrangle of the school. Mention is also made of the new senior classrooms which opened last year, full of problems which the saviours blamed on Michael Auld having the rooms allocated differently to how they would be used in an attempt to get more from the education department.

Mr Moon fails to mention that only the cover over the quadrangle is part of the BER funding and that the other upgrades have been planned since Terry Mahony was principal and will be funded by the state government, as were the four senior classrooms. Once again, Carenne Special School is attempting to prop up the Labor Party and counter the effect on the blog.

After the new building opened last year, Terry Neal, principal at the time was on the local news saying how the school needed to replace the demountable buildings the school had. Almost immediately, the Carenne Saviours came out swinging saying that the school now has nowhere to build new facilities because Michael Auld had arranged for the land at the rear of the school to be leased to Riding for the Disabled, an organisation he is on the committee of. While Carenne will be receiving a new library and high support needs classroom, these are being built in the school's connected classroom and home economics room. It is a refit not a completely new building program. The high support needs classroom is currently a demountable building which leaks and is full of mould. This refit is being funded by the state government, not the BER program. Neil Moon obviously has no idea what is going on or he is just plain out lying.

The article then goes on to praise the Riding for the Disabled program, claiming that it is "traveling along wonderfully", despite claims that certain students are excluded and it being postponed while Melinda Gavin took a holiday. Mr Moon then says about how the school has a therapy farm behind it, despite this being operated by RDA and is presently on hold as the school had been wrongfully funding it. At the staff meeting on 31 May 2010, staff were told that funding was being investigated and that there could be a fee for each student who attends the farm. Once again, Neil Moon is trying to mislead the Bathurst community.

The article ends by mentioning that the school looks forward to working with Denison College on the Trade Training Centre next year. The centre was originally supposed to have been completed much earlier, but the Carenne TTC committee, comprising of Lyn Duncan and Michael Auld managed to have part of the funding allocated to RDA. It is unknown how much RDA received out of the $3.7 million when it was entitled to nothing. This appeared to be just another desperate attempt by Neil Moon to counter what is already on the blog for all to see.

Terry Mahony lied about not knowing about the student going to Lithgow

Repeated claims to the NSW Department of Education and Training and the Bathurst community that Terry Mahony did not know about a student going to Lithgow on a bus return one day per week have been proven complete lies with the release of a document by blog user 'hatho'.

Hatho supports the Carenne Saviour's claims that Brian Carter had taken the student to Lithgow one day per week return at the advice of Ros Luther and Terry Mahony.

Hatho has supplied a copy of a 'Hazard/Incident Report Form' which shows Mr Mahony knew the student was being taken to Lithgow as early as September 2008.

It provides further proof that Carenne Support will lie to suit their own agenda. Carenne Gate bloggers call on an immediate independent investigation into this organisation.

Parent claims Terry Mahony misled special transport over escort

A parent has come forward and claimed that she was asked to sign a pre-written letter in 2008 telling the special transport branch of the education department that she would be happy for Jeremy Russell to be the escort on the bus that her child took to school. The parent claims that Mr Russell had been the escort on the bus for sometime and she was puzzled as to why she would need to sign this.

With the letter was a covering letter explaining that Mr Russell had been trialled on the bus and that if they were happy for him to be the usual escort to sign the attached letter. The attached letter said they had seen him work with Carenne students and made no mention of this trial period.

The parent claims that she was asked to sign a document which was intended to mislead the transport branch.

Carenne Support may have breached fundraising legislation

Following inquiries surrounding Carenne Support's fundraising licence, it has been discovered that the Carenne Special School bus appeal in 2004 and 2005 may have been conducted unlawfully and without a licence.

During my investigations I have discovered that Carenne Support first received a licence to conduct fundraising in NSW on April 3rd 2007, despite the bus appeal being carried out two years earlier. At the time of the bus appeal, the Bathurst community was led to believe that the buses (valued at some $130,000) were for Carenne Special School.

No mention was made at the Carenne Charity Ball in late 2004, which cricket legend Doug Walters attended, nor was it made at the handover of the buses in July 2005.

It has now been revealed that these buses, purchased for Carenne Special School are in fact owned by Carenne Support and one is used for a highly-profitable bus run. Even though donors were misled about the appeal being for the school and not the attached charity, Carenne Support did not hold a licence to conduct or benefit from the appeal at the time it was ran.

In addition to this, Communities NSW advised me today that Carenne Support's fundraising licence lapsed between April 2009 and Janaury 14 2010 as they had not re-applied. Any fundraising appeals conducted during this period are also illegal. You would think that a fundraising licence would be something of importance to a charity and it demonstrates the negligence of those involved in this organisation.

Poll: Would you have supported the Carenne bus appeal?

Knowing that the buses which the Bathurst community rallied together to purchase for Carenne Special School weren't purchased for it, would you have supported the bus appeal if you knew the buses were going to Carenne Support Ltd?

Do you believe that fraud charges should be laid over this?

Minister misleads NSW parliament over legal representation claim

Posted June 20th, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

I have learned that on 5 May, 2009 John Hatzistergos as minister representing Verity Firth, NSW Education Minister, mislead the NSW Legislative Council on questions relating the the representation of a government contractor before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission. The concerns relate to Brian Carter, a former employee of Carenne Support Limited who dismissed him six days before christmas on 19 December, 2008. It claims to be a charity which supports people with a disability in Bathurst and has sought funding from the government on that basis. It is now defending itself by using a technical defence in the Industrial Relations Commission by claiming to be a "trading corporation" as it provides bus services under contract to the Department of Education and Training, earning some $15,000 per month. In late February, Mr Carter received a letter from the NSW Department of Education and Training's Legal Services Directorate claiming that they would be representing the contractor in the Industrial Relations Commission. The letter from Patrick Quinn at the Legal Services Directorate claimed that he had sent a copy of the Notice of Appearance and Employer's response with the letter, the Notice of Appearance was not enclosed. Mr Carter told me that he contacted the Industrial Relations Commission, which faxed him a copy of the Notice of Appearance which listed the Director-General of Education and Training as appearing on behalf of Carenne Support Limited. Shocked with this, Mr Carter sought answers from the education minister herself who ignored his correspondence. He then sought advice from the opposition education minister, who delayed his reply. He then contacted Dr John Kaye MLC for the Greens who placed the questions on the Legislative Council notice paper on 31 March 2009. On 5 May 2009 a response was entered by Mr Hatzistergos on behalf of Ms Firth. Mr Hatzistergos said:

"The Department is not providing legal representation to Carenne Support Ltd before the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW. However the Legal Services Directorate of the Department from time to time provides legal support to non-profit school based organisations that assist in the delivery of education programs,"

"It is understood that Carenne Support Ltd has sought advice from a private solicitor."

It is clear that Mr Hatzsitergos on behalf of Ms Firth clearly misled the parliament. It is clear that the NSW Department of Education and Training was in fact providing legal representation to Carenne Support Limited at the government's expense. This is clearly not appropriate use for government funds. It appears that because a state school benefits from Carenne Support Limited that the government will do favours for it to avoid legal costs. Nathan Rees, Verity Firth and John Hatzisergos all refused to make comment when contacted.

Proof Education Minister knowingly misled parliament as well as the shadow minister

Posted September 13th, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

Conclusive evidence that Verity Firth, NSW Minister for Education and Training misled parliament on 5 May 2009 in relation to a question about whistleblower Brian Carter has been obtained under Freedom of Information. The same document also indicates further misleading statements to shadow education minister Adrian Piccoli.

The document, drafted by NSW Department of Education and Training Industrial Officer Patrick Quinn on 6 March 2009 stated that the department was providing pro bono legal support to its contractor Carenne Support. Mr Quinn appeared for Carenne Support before the Industrial Relations Commission on 3 March 2009.

Concerns were raised about the department representing its contractor which earns some $15,000 per month running two Special Needs Transport Service runs into Carenne Special School. The contractor's managing director prior to 2009 was Terrence Mahony, then principal of Carenne Special School. In that role, Mr Mahony approved payment to a company of which he is a director.

Due to the company being directed by a past principal, current assistant principal and other school community members, Mr Carter, a former casual employee of the department has received no further work at Carenne Special School.

When Mr Carter inquired with shadow education minister Adrian Piccoli on this point, the minister responded that Mr Carter remained on the list of persons who may be employed by Carenne Special School. The minister reiterated this view when asked the question in parliament. Despite this claim, a brief prepared by Mr Quinn for the Minister on 6 March 2009 stated that Mr Carter's employment with the department was effectively on hold pending resolution of the case against its contractor.

Not only did the education minister knowingly mislead parliament about legal representation for Carenne Support but she also misled parliament and the shadow minister about Mr Carter's employment status with the department.

Mr Carter first became aware that he could not work at Carenne Special School on 3 July 2009, when principal Lynette Duncan refused employment citing his case against Carenne Support as the primary reason. This is currently subject to proceedings before the NSW Industrial Court.

This, along with the leaking of confidential correspondence between Mr Carter and his local Labor MP indicate that the NSW Labor Party is involved in the Carenne Gate scandal up to its neck.

I would have thought the actions of Ms Firth and Mr Martin in relation to the Carenne Gate affair would be more serious than a minister having an affair with a younger woman which resulted in John Della-Bosca's ministerial resignation but Premier Nathan Rees, aware of the actions of Ms Firth and Mr Martin refuses to take action. Both should resign from parliament immediately as their lies and deception shows they are unfit to hold any public office.

Carenne Support continues the deception

Posted October 2nd, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

The organisation at the centre of the Carenne Gate affair has continued its deception with a radio interview with its Chief Executive Officer and Lead Therapist on Radio 2BS in Bathurst this morning.

The CEO of Carenne Support Ltd, Christine Porter told 2BS that she was the therapy co-ordinator for Carenne Special School. This statement is a clear lie when Mrs Porter works for Carenne Support. One of the Carenne Saviours tells me that in the past, the Carenne Support Board of Directors has included the school principal, an assistant principal, parents and community members. This changed this year with the arrival of Lynette Duncan who did not formally become a director of the company.

This tight integration between Carenne Special School and Carenne Support has allowed it to present Carenne Support as being one and the same as the school.

Over 2004 and 2005, the Bathurst community were told that Carenne Special School needed two buses to convey students to and from activities within the community. The Bathurst community banded together and raised a large amount of money for Carenne Special School to purchase the buses. The funding shortfall was filled by the Variety Club of Australia, which local media reported as purchasing the buses for Carenne Special School. Principal and Carenne Support Director, Terry Mahony told the Western Advocate on a number of occassions that the vehicles were for the use of Carenne Special School.

Despite the vehicles being purchased by community organisations for Carenne Special School and having Carenne School written on the side of them, they are owned by Carenne Support and one of them used to generate profit to pay one of its directors and CEO.

Information received from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission reveals that Mrs Porter is a director of the company, despite receiving regular remuneration. Under part of the conditions for Deductible Gift Recipient status from the Australian Taxation Office, directors can not be paid. Carenne Support hides these payments by paying Mrs Porter through her husband's business.

One of the Carenne Saviours says that since Carenne Support began using the wheelchair bus donated to the school, wheelchair-bound students have not been able to go on major excursions because the generation of income is more important than the purpose the buses were provided to Carenne Support by the community.

Concerns also exist about the services provided to the department being approved for payment on behalf of the department by Mr Mahony, a director of the company while he was principal. How could a director of a company approve its own payment under a contract?

In 2005, Director Geoff Salmon told ABC News that Carenne Support was planning to establish a permanent therapy team to service the wider Bathurst area. To date, only selected Carenne Special School students have received therapy.

At the end of 2008, when therapy funding stopped being paid to Carenne Support via the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care, Mrs Porter began telling parents who had therapy performed on their children by DADHC that they should boycott the DADHC service as it was poor compared to Carenne Support's and that allowing money to be siphoned from Carenne Support would jeopardise funding at the school.

This continued deception can not be allowed to continue. Carenne Support and Carenne Special School need to come clean about the exact nature of the relationship between them and return its buses to their rightful owners. It also needs to stop running the school as a business and put student needs first.

RDA Bathurst must come clean on its share of the $3.7m Trade Training Centre Funding

Posted November 8th, 2009 by jules85 on Sydney Indymedia

Carenne Special School was granted part of a $3.7 million grant awarded to the Denison Trade Traning Centre under the Rudd government's Trade Training Centres in Schools program. The overall grant was awarded to the two campuses of Denison College and Carenne Special School.

Carenne Special School's funding was allocated for stock handling enclosures and an aquaculture tank to be built at the school.

An article by the local Bathurst newspaper on 6 March 2009 spoke of local schools windfall and quoted former Carenne Special School principal Lynette Duncan. It also said:

Funding for Carenne School will go towards primary industries, agriculture
and Riding for the Disabled programs.

The question is how much of this funding, given by the federal government to a state government ran school has found its way to the Bathurst branch of the Riding for the Disabled Association? Did the federal government know this was going to happen and does it fall under the criteria for the Trade Training Centre program?

How much of this will be built on land which the NSW Department of Education and Training has leased to RDA? We already know that Michael Auld was pivotal in having the land leased to RDA, without concern for how the school would expand in the future. Given that the only available space around Carenne is now leased to RDA, will the whole thing be built on that land?

How much of the $3.7 million will be apportioned to RDA?

The Carenne Saviours advise that the reason RDA was to receive funding was due to Michael Auld and Lynette Duncan being the only members of the school's TTC committee and Mr Auld being on the board of RDA. This in itself raises some very serious conflict of interest issues.