Jim Mynard – The Threat of Fairness (2023)

Preface

‘The Threat of Fairness’ is a portrayal of one journalist’s attitude and thinking toward a career he loved and a career, which in his own mind, he was grateful for the opportunity given to him.

The story tells of his way of doing things, and his views of life in the world of a journalist. Jim took advice from several professionals regarding the structure of government, but everything in the book reflects his view of events. This is also reflected on the public record either in newspaper articles or hidden away in government records, perhaps never to be sourced again.

Because of his honesty and tenacity, Jim made a few bitter enemies however, in doing so, he also made many friends and helped many communities and organisations. Jim was forced to fight bullying, slander, and whatever the costs, stepped up to help protect people against these activities, but not without a heavy cost.

Please read and enjoy ‘The Threat of Fairness’.

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I walked into the Heathcote Post Office, ‘come newsagent’, ‘come bank’, ‘come handy little shop’, on 9 June 2022 to buy a newspaper.

My lifetime work glared up from the Herald Sun as it waited on the stand with a headline in upper case ‘NEWBORN ALARM’, heading an exclusive by Grant McArthur and on page seven ‘Bubs snub alarm’. Then ‘Dire Shortage of Nurses in the West’.

WOW!

I wondered if Grant knew the enormous significance of his article?

Just turn the clock back fifteen years to the City of Casey and read Chapter 21 of ‘The Threat of Fairness’ which is about when Casey was the fastest growing municipality in Australia. A time when the Victorian Labor Party unconsciously and inexcusably used the onset of this emerging nurse shortage to unseat one of the hardest working and highly respected community service directors in Australia.

This travesty was achieved by using lies, outright abuse, misleading press releases, and persistent bullying. All because a Labor Party policy demanded local government chief executives and senior officers be outwardly politically pro Labor, OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!

The Local Government Act forbade the Local Government Executives from answering their critics, from speaking out or answering these lies and smears. They were thereby defenceless against this political bastardry.

This all could have been prevented if not for the apathy of a faltering Liberal Party which could have acted to prevent this, but did nothing!

The recipients of this unrelenting abuse were defenceless against this ceaseless political bastardry.

As a consequence of the unrelenting pressure and constant lies, at least one executive, spent weeks in hospital, lost her career and had her life totally wrecked. The system which allowed this travesty to occur, has still not allowed her the right of reply.

The effluxion of time has proven her right.

Grant McArthur tells of the now massive failure of the MCHS (Victoria’s Maternal and Child Health Services) something evident to politicians more than ten years ago and something that should not be happening.

His article said: “Thousands of new mothers across Melbourne’s west are being left without vital checks for their newborn babies due to crippling specialist nurse shortages.”

This is a replay of the situation in Casey many years ago, a serious planning deficiency which should have set any decent Government and Opposition on a remedial path. Instead, the mess was used as a most effective political tool.

Casey staff recognised possible problems early due to the massive demographic changes which were projected to occur within their municipality, which were bound to attract young families and advised the council. And, it happened! Young families moved to Casey. Why not move to Casey when they could see new homes, easy to obtain finance and top-class community facilities developing.

The MCHS staff in Casey council who predicted a boom in the birth rate and workload, began advertising for the senior nurses they deemed would be required. The babies came, however, the specialised staff didn’t. There just weren’t enough suitably certificated nurses available in Victoria.

The existing nurses in Casey were suddenly overloaded and bore the brunt of young, frustrated parents unable to receive the necessary advice.

Labor councillors, already after the hides of the apolitical Casey Senior Executives, used this pretext to pile more pressure on them and claimed highly qualified nurses would not work at Casey due to “senior staff attitudes”.

The Victorian State Government had promulgated that all children up to age five were to be in the care of triple certificate trained MCHS nurses. This was an impossible task for a council suddenly faced with a birth rate of more than three thousand babies a year with no suitably trained nurses answering their job vacancy advertisements.

A Casey Director was accused in open council of not advising the council of the problem however, I have copies of in-house council reports warning of this future potential serious situation, thereby proving the councillors were advised of this looming issue, well in advance. Despite these reports, which were kept under wrap, the Director was accused of putting the lives of babies at risk, with this being headlined in local newspapers.

For an Officer whose work record shows undying support for young people and families, this had a devastating effect on the Director, which was a travesty almost too difficult to believe, one too difficult to accept, and one too difficult to bear. But I saw it happening and saw the effect these scurrilous aspersions made.

Jim Mynard witnessed these events as they occurred.

Now Jim has given us the complete story, naming names and finally vindicating Ms. Jenny Lee and Mr. Mike Tyler.