NSW Trustee and Guardian Client Abuse – Websites Exposing Public Trustees
About Gary White and the reasons for setting up this website
My name is Gary White. I am an investor and stock market trader. Previously, I worked for many years as a department manager for a large supermarket chain on Sydney’s northern beaches and was responsible for my department’s budgets, finances and general administration. I have also been involved in estate management and looking after the financial affairs of others, including those who have difficulty in managing their finances for themselves.
Like most people in NSW and around Australia generally, I had always respected our Commonwealth and State Governments and their agencies and had thought if there were any individuals working within those agencies doing the wrong thing, there were always our politicians and the Ombudsman one could turn to in order to have matters rectified. It was only when a lady I had known for many years had her finances placed in the hands of the State that I came to learn just how wrong this kind of thinking can be.
To summarise matters the lady, who can only be identified as
Marilyn for legal reasons, had everything she had owned and collected in her lifetime disposed of by NSW Trustee and Guardian (NSWTG) once she was placed in a nursing home. Marilyn was never paid anything for her belongings, with NSWTG justifying not paying her by alleging that her son and I had stolen them. Investigations revealed that NSWTG had paid $2,950.00 out of her funds to a non existent contracting business, including $1,100.00 to have her belongings taken away, when in reality this task had been performed by the local council, the cost of which was covered by her annual council rates.
NSWTG forcibly sold Marilyn’s home against her wishes, and at a bargain basement price, when there was never any financial need for it to be sold in the first place. The real estate agent who had sold the property on behalf of NSWTG was also the owner of the bank account into which NSWTG had paid Marilyn’s funds for the fraudulent charges in relation to the clearance from her property. Complaints to the Ombudsman and the Attorney General were not pursued while the media would not report on what had occurred.
It was the media’s failure to report what has been going on at NSWTG which led to the setting up of this website. People out there in our general community need to be made aware of what State Governments and their Public Trustees are doing to our elderly, vulnerable citizens so that something can be done to put a stop to it.. This website sets out to warn people what to expect if they let the financial affairs of their loved ones get placed in the hands of NSWTG or Public Trustees in other States once they start losing their capacity. It is absolutely essential that families reach consensus amongst themselves as, taking the matter to NCAT when they can’t agree, will only result in NSWTG being appointed financial manager and seeing their loved ones stripped of their assets and having their wealth destroyed. The situation is little better in other States.
I would like to hear from anyone having issues with NSWTG or any of the other Public Trustee authorities across Australia. The more people there are speaking out over what NSWTG and other Public Trustees do to their hapless clients, the greater the chances that mainstream media sources will report their conduct to the broader public. Before 2019 very little information of this kind was ever revealed but since then there has been a fair amount of media coverage, mostly on the Public Trustees in Qld and Tasmania. The ABC has also joined in and through Four Corners and 7.30 taken their reports to the rest of the nation but unfortunately it has totally ignored NSW. We in NSW need to see that change as NSWTG is just as predatory towards its clients as the Public Trustees in any of the other states. Gary can be contacted on 0419 461847.
Advocacy Tasmania
Advocacy Tasmania is a community organisation which assists Tasmanians in their elder years, those suffering physical or mental disabilities and unable to speak for themselves, along with those taking drugs or dealing with alcohol or gambling related addictions. However, since 2021 Advocacy Tasmania has also become the key organisation in Australia to take up the fight against the guardianship system in its attempts to force change. It has done so because it has seen the severe damage this system is doing to the lives of many of those coming to it seeking help. Whilst its fight has been concentrated against the guardianship system in Tasmania, any changes it brings about are likely to have flow on affects across the rest of the country making Advocacy Tasmania a most important organisation that we need to be supporting.
Advocacy Tasmania’s key spokesperson has been its CEO Leanne Groombridge. During her time in that role she has transformed the organisation from one that was little known outside Tasmania to the leading force it is today across Australia in the fight to have the guardianship system changed. She has been able to do so through her in depth knowledge and understanding of the issues people face when they become victims of the guardianship system while she has a genuine concern for the welfare of those coming to her seeking help. At the same time she articulates well and has media skills which enable her to get her message across to the broader public, something which is essential if she is to have the politicians take notice and bring about change.
Advocacy Tasmania relies mostly on both federal and state government funding in order for it to carry out its services. This is also the situation with many other similar organisations across Australia. What makes Advocacy Tasmania very different from the rest is that Leanne Groombridge has called the Public Trustee out in her state over its fee gouging and mismanagement of its clients estates. She has pointed out how clients are given no say in the management of their assets, sometimes even having their personal belongings disposed of without their knowledge or consent, leaving them without any sense of personal respect or dignity. As the Public Trustee is a government owned agency, any criticism of it puts Advocacy Tasmania’s funding at risk and is why similar organisations across the country relying on government funding simply refuse to tackle this very serious issue which is the guardianship system.
Leanne Groombridge has taken a very brave and principled stand over these issues in view of her situation. She has not been afraid to take her concerns to the government and, when they refused to act upon her concerns, go to the media and let the public know how the guardianship system is failing those it is supposed to be supporting. She has done so as public pressure is the only means left to bring about the changes that are required. Leanne is a highly regarded and well respected member of the community who has gained a very public profile across Australia through the stand she has taken on guardianship issues. Our movement has been very fortunate to have somebody of her calibre take up these issues as fearlessly and relentlessly as she has done. We all need to be getting in behind her and supporting her in every way that we can.
We would remind everyone though that Advocacy Tasmania is there to serve the Tasmanian community so please keep this in mind if you should wish to contact its staff. NSW Trustee & Guardian Client Abuse is not affiliated with Advocacy Tasmania in any way but strongly supports it and its CEO Leanne Groombridge in the work that they are doing and would urge each and every one of you out there who share our concerns to do likewise. Only by supporting organisations like this, will we ever see changes to this ugly, degrading and dehumanising system masquerading as guardianship protection.
Committee to Expose the Public Trustee of Qld
The Committee to Expose the Public Trustee of Qld has been running officially as a group with a website since 2015 although activism from individuals that formed the group goes back further than this. It became the leading force in Australia around 2019 in exposing public trustee abuses when one of its members gained regular contact with a Courier Mail journalist who in turn had the ear of the Shadow Attorney General at the time. Unfortunately, this contact was lost a couple of years later while the group’s key organiser, Rosslyn Price Mirciov, passed away just recently in July 2023 leaving some question marks hanging over both the group’s future and direction. In addition to its website, the group also has a presence on Facebook.
Australian Public Trustee and Guardian Injustices Exposed (APTAGIE)
APTAGIE is an umbrella organisation uniting the various state based advocacy groups fighting against the Public Trustees in their own states and the guardianship system generally. It provides a national platform for the state based groups to liaise with each other and have their stories told and read by a wider audience. Those not connected with these groups or from states without anti guardianship representation can also approach APTAGIE individually for assistance and advice. The key point with APTAGIE is that it provides the umbrella and support for the state based groups but each state operates separately and independently from each other. This is necessary while the guardianship system is run by the states using differing laws and regulations.
Trusteetering
Trusteetering
is a most attractively and well presented website covering stories on trustee and guardianship abuses which have been published across Australia, predominantly in the mainstream media. It also includes a few stories from overseas. The stories and news articles are listed under the state or territory to which each one is related together with a brief description of each listing to make for easy reference. The reader then simply has to click on the link to the relevant listing to view the entire item.
Trusteetering is a work in progress with a steadily growing number of reports and stories appearing on the site building it up into what is proving to be a most valuable archive for those searching for material published over the years on trustee and guardianship abuses. The person responsible for this site is an active and most valued supporter for our cause and is closely linked with both the NSW and Qld groups. He has helped many have their voices heard after they or their family members have been placed under Public Trustees who have refused to listen to their wishes.
Workers Bush Telegraph
Workers Bush Telegraph is a publication produced at regular intervals with articles and stories on numerous subjects but which usually have themes connected with and affecting working people’s lives. The person behind this publication is Ian Curr of Brisbane who has shown over the years that he is not afraid to cover topics which mainstream media journalists usually will not cover. He had shown this same inclination when discussing topics or interviewing people on his programmes during the years he spent working with the community radio station 4ZZZ.
Guardianship and administration abuse were among the topics he discussed and he became very passionate about these issues after he saw the way the Public Trustee put an elderly man out of his home, which was on prime real estate, in order that they could sell the home for their own benefit. Many of those connected with the QLD movement were given the opportunity to tell their own personal stories of horror at the hands of the Public Trustee through Ian’s programmes.
Australian Association to Stop Guardianship & Administration Abuse (AASGAA)
AASGAA was formed in 2018. Initially it joined forces with the rest of the Australian anti-guardianship movement but then, in 2020, left those groups and announced that its only affiliations and connections were with the now deceased Marti Oakley and her T.S. Radio Network in the United States and Elaine Renoire of the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse (NASGA) which is also in the United States. These overseas organisations have strongly supported Donald Trump’s campaigns in the past and the right to keep and bear arms as described in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Australian anti-guardianship movement has no affiliations with AASGAA or any connections with its affiliates in the United States.