JUST IN: An update from the disabled individual targeted relentlessly by the erstwhile Ministry of Social Development (with reference to the two key previous instalments in the saga,
here and
here).
From the individual directly:
"With regard to their summoning me to a phone meeting yesterday at 11am . . . I sat by the phone for several hours and then stayed close to it all day, waiting for them to call.
They never called.
"So it looks like I'm correct. SInce their correspondence summoning me to be by the phone had threatened to 'stop or reduce' my benefit if I wasn't there for their call . . . how does it work if
they don't turn up and they're using correspondence like that just to set you up?
The Support Person Got Stood Up, Too
"I guess that's their latest ploy. Except that, this time it's a bit different from MY end, in that I actually had a support person there waiting by the phone with me. They've never had to deal with me having any form of support before . . . other than the Human Rights Commission's mediator (who they lied to, in order that she'd think the case could be closed).
"But this time, there was someone sitting right there beside me in person. I've never had that before, and that's probably one of the reasons they've been able to abuse and victimise me in such a full-on manner all the way through this horror story, like they have.
"But this time, I have a support person to bear witness to their latest manouevre. She will verify that
that call never came.
"She advised me to email the main MSD email address at the end of the day to ask for an explanation as to why they did that to me - which I did.
"I also pointed out that my support person had sought a 1.5-hour leave of absence from her employment to be with me during their call - and so they'd mucked someone else around other than just me, this time.
"But, of course, they never responded. They never do. They just send out fallacious and threatening missives to intimidate . . . and you never have ANY right of reply. Even through agencies like the Human Rights Commission, they've demonstrated how they can just dishonestly slide right on past any accountability or even any request by the Commission for any explanations for anything.
"They're rotten to the core . . . and I'm no doubt correct, that this is the beginning of their new, 2025 campaign of victimisation that they've now embarked on."
Stand By for Some 'Whistleblower' Type Revelations from the Support Person (Who, In This Instance, MSD ALSO Stood Up)
I've been advised of something very interesting regarding this support person who has just emerged onto the scene to hopefully act as some degree of buffer between the MSD and their "target".
The support person in question has, for the past two decades, acted multiple times in that role for beneficiaries unable to stand up, on their own, to the wiles of MSD personnel.
She shared with the individual some of
the "strategies" MSD personnel use against beneficiaries to confuse, disorient and get them to react in ways that are unnatural for them, or to be unable to respond and communicate as they would if not under intentional duress.
Said support person says it's absolutely critical that, if a beneficiary is being bullied or psychologically manipulated in this manner by MSD personnel (which is apparently not at all uncommon to some degree or other), that they have a capable support person with them. It changes the entire dynamic, she had told the individual in this saga, with said MSD personnel knowing they can't get away with the same intensity of manipulative and intentionally stressful conduct towards the beneficiary.
Meantime, your committed editor is working on getting an interview myself, with this seasoned support person, with her wisened insights into the tactics of this government agency. I'm keen to roll out the whole list of "tools" she's witnessed them use. It's time for a spotlight to be shone into the darkness of these particular corridors of (misused) power.
Stay tuned.
