The ladder of law has
no top and no bottom
- Bob Dylan
'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll'
Peter (Carne) and I have long been associated through the Queensland Community Foundation Board. His passion for philanthropy and for growing awareness of the importance of philanthropy in the corporate world has benefited many organisations beyond those where he has a formal role. – Damien Frawley, Chief Executive Officer at Qld Investment Corporation, August 22, 2017
Cover-up
Attorney general D’Ath is being very tight lipped about what possible ‘serious misconduct’ is being alleged against the ALP appointed Public Trustee, Peter Carne. Her office is hiding behind ‘due process‘. Does anyone have any knowledge of what the public trustee is accused of ? Did someone in crown law finally read one of the many affidavits submitted to the courts outlining the maladministration by the Public Trustee’s office? Somehow I doubt it.
All the Attorney will say is:
“There will be no further comment to ensure proper process is followed.”
The Attorney-General does not mention whether Peter Carne is suspended on full pay or not. This is the usual procedure in cases like these. Instead, why not spend that money pursuing the fraudsters?
On the Public Trustee’s website Mr Carne says the trustee is there during the times of grief and loss when Queensland families need it the most. But herein lies the problem, the public trustee rips off the families and invests the monies with Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC). This statutory corporation lost $billions during the global financial crisis, yet the government insists the monies held by the public trustee is invested with QIC which was set up under former Labor treasurer Keith De Lacy in 1991. Here are some salient figures from the Workers Audit of Qld financial affairs:
“The 2008-09 Budget reveals that the state government through the Queensland Investment Corporation invested $27 billion in financial markets to fund ‘future employee and other obligations’. The government expected a return of the 7% but due to the financial crisis instead received 2% – this produced a deficit of $995 million (p3). The financial crisis has continued to impact on the state government revenue. The 2009-10 Budget reveals that revenue dropped due to lower taxation revenue, decreased coal royalties, and less GST revenue from the Federal Government (p44). This continued in 2010-11, and 2011-12 with natural disasters making the condition even worse.”
QIC now invests in assets privatised by former Labor Premier Anna Bligh. This includes investing in Abbot Point coal terminal, the forestry business and Queensland Rail’s freight, all privatised under Labor in 2009. Peter Carne was appointed by Labor to the board of Queensland Futures Institute (QFI).
What about the right of the public to know how their funds have been misused? A full enquiry is needed and recommendations for real change required. Bernie Neville, one of the people who exposed the corruption has reported these crimes to the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) only to be told that his complaint does not fall under their legislation. This despite the CCC’s website proclaiming that its job is:
- To work with public sector agencies, including the Queensland Police Service (QPS), to fight misconduct, including corruption.
- To investigate cases of potentially serious misconduct.
How many lives has the public trustee’s office destroyed?
Ross Taylor is one, the public guardian working with the public trustee had Taylor abducted from his home by trickery and deception, took his freedom, and locked him up in a high security aged care facility run by the RSL.
Ross has been an anti-war activist all his life. Both the Public Guardian and the Public Trustee refused to tell his friends where Ross was for four days. Here is a video of Bernie Neville and the author seeking his whereabouts at the office of the Public Trustee in Queen Street, Brisbane.
On 21 Oct 2013, friends of Ross went to ask the Public Trustee and his officers why he had allowed a community house (AHIMSA) to be sold. They asked why had the Public Trustee’s officer had refused to prosecute fraudsters, Brian Laver and Will Marcus, for theft and fraud from AHIMSA house. Together they took over $1 million from Carl Ross Taylor, a retired meatworker. Worse still they stole a sadly needed resource from the community.
To this day the Attorney-General has not acted to challenge this fraud.
Police have done nothing.
The Public Trustee did nothing, even though his sole remit was to to act for his client, Carl Ross Taylor.
Acting on the ‘sage advice of Queens Counsel‘ Peter Carne refused to prosecute the fraudsters, Laver, Marcus and Sabdia. He was supported by Mr Justice Glenn Martin who lauded the application by the Public Trustee’s barrister, D. B. Fraser QC for giving ‘meticulous and sage advice‘ on the fraudulent transaction transferring Taylor’s home at Sunnybank to his accountant’s family trust account.
Still no justice for Ross Taylor! Or for the Aboriginal Community that tried to buy AHIMSA house so that their youth could have a safe house. But was refused by Carne and his solicitor, Ian Campbell! On whose instructions? The land at 26 Horton Street has ended up in the hands of the Education Department for emergency extensions to West End Primary.
Peter Carne is suspended under s9 of the Public Trustee Act which states in part: “The public trustee must give written notice to the Minister of all direct or indirect financial interests that the public trustee has or acquires in a business or in an entity carrying on a business.“
For those in crown law or government lawyers looking to attack critics of the office of the public trustee, nothing said or written here has not already been said by me and others in the Qld Civil Administration Tribunal and the Supreme Court of Qld.
Ian Curr
13 June 2019
***
Queensland’s public trustee Peter Carne has been suspended after serious allegations were made against him.
Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath says Mr Carne was suspended on Thursday, pending a show cause notice, after serious allegations that “could amount to misbehaviour under the Public Trustee Act“.
Ms D’Ath’s brief statement says Samay Zhouand has been appointed as acting Public Trustee effective immediately.
The public trustee deals with the estates of people who’ve died when no executor has been appointed.
On the website, Mr Carne says the trustee is there during the times of grief and loss when Queensland families need it the most.
© AAP 2019
“Queensland’s Public Trustee accused of profiting off people who lack capacity to manage own affairs” By Stephanie Zillman 24 February 2021 see https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-24/queensland-public-trustee-accused-of-profiting-off-people/13183638
If anyone is interested in doing a letter box drop exposing the PT I can forward you the A5 flyer format. All you need to do is go to Officeworks and get it printed out ( 500 black and white copies will cost $25 ). I have been doing my local suburb, but one person can’t do it all. Of you can help, you’d be getting fit and performing a good deed. Anyone interested can contact me at curls692000@yahoo.com. cheers
Hi There,
I am interested in anything that exposes these corruption fraudsters..
Hello Dei,
You can contact Rosslyn Price (email rosslynprice56@gmail.com) from Expose the Public Trustee committee and attend their regular meetings.
Editor
My stepson lost his Mum at 8 yrs old. Her modest superannuation was placed in good faith with the public trustee till he was 18. By the time he was able to received the funds over half of the money was taken up by admin fees.
How is it that children are being robbed by this corrupt system?
Carne stands absolved by Crimal Corruption Commission … but did he do justice when he authorised the abduction of Ross Taylor from his home in Sunnybank? See
https://bushtelegraph.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/wp-1596699255722697027895.jpg
Massive cost of reform at troubled Public Trustee
It has been an expensive year at the Public Trustee of Queensland since the suspension of boss Peter Carne, with a just-released register revealing how much has been spent by the embattled organisation on external reviews.
Anthony Marx The Courier-Mail
Wednesday, 3 June 2020 6:05PM
https://bushtelegraph.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/wp-1591224062613-336531683-e1591224103778.jpg
Even an honorable state government would be unable to mess with the PTQ as all governments are both financially and morally bankrupt. They all depend on the revenue raised by the PTQ snd would be unable to replace that revenue even if they wished to do so. Alternatives would be too unpalatable to consider. Think in terms of doubling of vehicle registration fees, quadrupling of property transaction charges and halving the salaries of public servants.
A Queensland solicitor has been publicly reprimanded and prohibited from applying to practice for a period of five years following events in which he both dealt with a lawyer’s client “disgracefully” and took advantage of the ageing and unwell man … https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/27210-principal-lawyer-reprimanded-for-engaging-in-disgraceful-conduct-with-elderly-client?fbclid=IwAR3ycTib10ORREBRNIR0L1OTYJB8d1ye5F2qDOAnzV5FxJqeFqSxfufNUso
Has anyone any advice on how to deal with mismanagement thru excessive fees of a trust fund by PTQ? Is there any legal recourse?
Hello Grace,
I have referred your question to others better informed than I. Not being a lawyer, I can’t answer your question from a legal perspective however I can from a literary point of view. This may not suit as you are understandably looking for practical advice. There is a fictional case called Jarndyce and Jandyce in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. It reads:
“Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, over the course of time, become so complicated, that no man alive knows what it means.
The parties to it understand it least; but it has been observed that no two Chancery lawyers can talk about it for five minutes without coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises.
Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit.
The little plaintiff or defendant, who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled, has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world.
Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out.
Ian (with apologies)
Most lawyers are terrified of the kangaroo tribunal, and those ones are dangerous as they will gladly stab you in the back if it means saving their career.
There are a few honorable lawyers, although you will need to pay some fees, and the more evidence you provide, the more effective a good lawyer will be.
Pro bono isn’t generally applicable to guardianship racket matters, and whatever you do, don’t go within cooee of Caxton which is funded by the PTQ, or CRH Law which has very interesting connections. Legal aid and almost all community legal centres are suss.
As far as I know the Public Trustee has its own formula for calculating fees and this is set by statute.
This can give rise to excessive charging because fees are charged on a percentage basis, at least they used to be.
Public Trustee justification for this is that many of their clients don’t have much in their estate and so they lose out.
So they make people with more assets pay fees for no or little service.
As for a legal remedy, there is none because it is the parliament that sets how the fees are charged.
Hence it is a political question.
Any comment?
Geronimo, Your take on the definition of “independent” (5 Oct 2019), is spot on. Add it to non-enforced legislative acts, mediation (i.e. where the parties concerned DON’T have to discuss or attempt mediation!!), no recourse for the general public unless they have won a million in the Lotto….and the list goes on. All these issues cleverly disguised as the “Justice System”. Obviously, apart from defining “independent” , a serious debate is required for the the definition of “justice” ????????
I have heard nothing good about this rogue organisation. Currently being ripped off by these manipulative, scheming public servants who are required to make money to support the Office of the Public Guardian so they rip the guts out of ordinary Australian’s estates. Every Queenslander should demand an inquiry. Contact your local politican now or the Shadow Attorney now. Beware do not go near the Public Trustee. Hopefully an inquiry like the one for the banks will refund every stolen money to the lawful owners.
‘Mr Carne says the trustee is there during the times of grief and loss when Queensland families need it the most.’ Well that much is true, however Carne conveniently neglected to mention that the PTQ is equipped with sharp knives at the ready to carve up the corpse. Such a parasitic, abusive and predatory organization should not be permitted to exist in a civilized country, especially when it is enabled, legalized, protected and even encouraged by politicians of all affiliations.
A little bird has alleged the reason for Carne’s dismissal was exposure of his part in a real estate racket whereby properties misappropriated by the PTQ were sold at bargain prices to friends of Carne, with Aldi bags changing hands. There have long been suspicions regarding the fate of Ahimsa House, especially after its re-sale by an extremely interesting party. Did Carne have a part of this transaction ?
Dear Ian, seems you have the wrong time of death for Ross in your paper.
Ross passed away on Sunday the 28th at 1am.
His nephew and his wife had been with him till eleven on Saturday night and were not sure he would make it through the night.
He passed away from stage 4 kidney failure not from the fall the coroner is happy with all reports and found his fall was just an accident.
As Ross told me himself on the night he went to hospital it was .he just turned to fast and fell. It did not kill him his kidneys did.
You should blame the hospital for making him wait so long to have his leg fixed . If they had fixed it when he came in he might be still here.
Thanks Carolyn
Qld State government ministers and members of the legal profession continue to make claims that the Public Trustee of Qld is independent.
You claim the Public Trustee is ‘independent’.
The Public Trustee is answerable to the Attorney General who can be either Labor or LNP. Yvette D’Ath (ALP) is the current Attorney-General (2019).
Peter Carne was appointed as Public Trustee by Labor because of his connections inside the Labor Party.
Also the Public Trustee is required to place assets under its control with the Qld Investment Corporation (QIC) which lost $27 billion during the GFC. Those losses are underwritten by the state government. Campbell-Newman sacked 14,000 public servants as a result of the increased state debt arising from GFC losses.
Another Labor figure, Keith De Lacy (when Treasurer) set up QIC as a statutory body. But the QIC would rather invest in a risky market rather than in public infrastructure like railways, hospitals, schools or publicly owned enterprise. Successive governments would rather sell public assets rather than build them up.
So how do Minister and legal people define ‘independent’?
Ian Curr
3 Aug 2019
The answer to the ‘independent’ issue is found in ‘Men are from Mars’. Just like the men and women in that book, politicians, bureaucrats and the judiciary use a completely different dictionary to the rest of us. In their world, ‘independent’ means a very carefully selected drone whose views are set in concrete well before any review / inquiry / investigation commences. Independent is only one of numerous terms where the establishment meaning differs considerably from common use meaning. Take for instance ‘natural justice’ which in their world means the system is hopelessly rigged against individuals. Not to be forgotten is the CCC, which really means the Crime Cover-up Commission, a quasi-watchdog conceived to protect official criminals.
Ms D’ath told the hearing that “the number of complaints is quite small’’ given how many clients use the Public Trustee but she could not provide a specific figure.
“There will always be, from time to time, aggrieved clients or, can I say, also aggrieved family members who are not clients,’’ Ms D’Ath said.
“Sometimes those family members do not like the fact that they are not managing their loved one’s money…
“There will always be people aggrieved because they personally do not believe that someone else should be managing their money or their loved one’s money.’’
One aggrieved party is Doug Young, a consumer activist and officeholder in the Committee to Expose the Public Trustee as well as the Australian Association to Stop Guardianship and Administration Abuse.
The groups are pushing for a commission of inquiry in Queensland and amendments to state legislation, including the Guardianship and Administration Act.
They also seek continued oversight of the Public Trustee by an independent authority.
“The common denominator amongst us all is the Public Trustee has taken homes, money and assets from our loved ones and spent it on their own fees and bad investments against the will of their clients, who have had their lives severely restricted as a result,’’ he said.
Anthony Marx, The Courier-Mail
Call for Public Trustee probe after flood of complaints
August 2, 2019
The deathadder is full of crap. She is quite aware that her office has received hundreds if not thousands of complaints about the criminal organization trading as the Office of the Public Trustee. Mind you this is not the first time the deathadder has been economical with the truth, in fact it would be accurate to say that her grasp on the truth is typically tenuous. She has been alleged to have deliberately mislead parliament (defined as a criminal offence in the Criminal Code 1899) although official protection agency the Crime Cover-up Commission found (as usual) nothing to investigate.
Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
Fair Science frown’d not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark’d him for her own.
Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heav’n did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Mis’ry all he had, a tear,
He gain’d from Heav’ns (’twas all he wish’d) a friend.
– Thomas Gray
Ross Taylor passed away last Thursday. There was no notice of his death from the home nor from the Public Guardian nor Public Trustee. The circumstances of his death remain uncertain.
The Coroner has been notified.
No information has been given about funeral arrangements.
Friends of Ross are trying to find out and we will notify people when we know.
Ian Curr
31 August 2019
Ross’s funeral will be held at 3.30pm next Tuesday 6th August at Drysdale funeral parlour 27 Butler St Tewantin.
Vale Ross.
“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” – Thomas Hobbes
Ross has had a fall and is in Kawana Public Hospital with a broken leg on the Sunshine Coast.
He has undergone ‘an operation’, no details have been given by the Office of Public Guardian (OPG) who is responsible for his health and medical treatment. The OPG has not provided any details and is discouraging visits. This is an excerpt of the standard letter sent to Friends of Ross:
“Yes I am the appointed guardian for Carl and we are appointed for Health Care matters.
Carl is currently at Sunshine Coast Uni Hospital after a fall at the nursing home. I have received a phone call this morning from the hospital advising that they have been inundated with calls from Carl’s friends. They are unable to provide anyone any information at this point in time and is requesting everyone call our office as it is interfering with providing care to patients. So I request at this point in time the hospital is not called for an update.”– Public Guardian.
The Public Guardian abducted Ross from his home at Sunnybank on 16 October 2014. His friends sought review of this decision in QCAT. After many delays in QCAT, Ross’s friends took the matter to the court of appeal. It was not the first time they had sought review in the Supreme Court of Queensland. On a prior occasion in 2012 the court sanctioned the transfer of Mr Taylor’s marital home to his former accountant, Mr Suleiman Sabdia. Mr Justice Martin lauded the application by the Public Trustee’s barrister, D. B. Fraser QC for giving ‘meticulous and sage advice’ on the fraudulent transaction transferring Taylor’s home at Sunnybank to his accountant’s family trust account.
An appeal was triggered on 11 June 2015, when Senior Member of QCAT, Ms Claire Endicott’s refused to hear the applicant(s) who wished to challenge any further time wasting by the Public Trustee and Public Guardian regarding a psychologist’s report that recommended Mr Taylor return home to Sunnybank.
Mr Taylor has been locked up in high secure facility many hours away from his friends ever since.
Ian Curr
July 2019
IS THE Public Trustee of Queensland ripe for a royal commission-style forensic review and a top-to-bottom fumigation?
Based on the scathing feedback your diarist received about the agency’s alleged financial dramas and poisonous office environment, as detailed in our column at the weekend, it sure seems that way.
Note to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath: You might want to sit up and pay attention to the litany of horror stories. There’s a lot of anger and bitterness bubbling away out there.
Staff, both current and formerly employed, as well as long-suffering clients provided us with detailed accounts of what sounds like a deeply messed-up organisation.
“Your story on the Public Trustee is just the tip of the iceberg,’’ an ex-employee who spent more than a decade in multiple roles told us.
“Toxic environment is not the word for it. That place needs to be deconstructed and started afresh. If you need to know more about staff bullying, recruitment nepotism, estate interference for friends, undercharging favours etc. let me know. I can give you all the nasty underlying stories of that place.’’
Another current worker stressed that a broken corporate culture was the source of the bulk of the problems.
“A crap culture results in the good, experienced staff leaving. There is no investment in the staff in any way,’’ he said.
LUCKY TO BE GONE
One former client said she felt “lucky to be out of their control’’ after the PT spent about 10 years managing a discretionary family trust.
She claimed that that “the depth of incompetence and financial negligence’’ perpetrated by some employees at the PT was simply staggering.
“It leaves me horrified to imagine how someone who is vulnerable, intellectually challenged or whose power of attorney is controlled by the PT could ever hope to track where their investments go,’’ she said.
A similar story emerged from a gent who said he spent five years and $150,000 in legal fees fighting the PT over the treatment of his 93-year-old aunt, who is still alive.
“They referred to her as an estate and did the most unimaginable things to her finances and her legacy,’’ he said.
“My aunt had to pay the PT’s legal fees combating her family—me!—who was unhappy with the extremely poor treatment of her.’’
BROKEN SYSTEM
Yet another client, Sunshine Coast resident Sue Nunn, said she has asked Shadow Attorney-General David Janetzki to raise the case of her late father during a Parliamentary Estimates hearing with D’Ath on July 26.
“On August 19, 2017, our dear Dad passed away after a long fight with multiple myeloma. Since then, we have been in a protracted and very expensive legal battle with the Public Trustee over his estate. We have tried our best to resolve this issue with them. We are getting nowhere.
“The story I have to tell is distressing and unethical. These practices have gone on for years and it’s simply not right.
“We are talking about policies and practices that are systemically broken in this organisation and it needs to be brought to light.’’
CORRUPTION PROBE
This outpouring of angst follows D’Ath’s suspension of PT chief Peter Carne last month for what she claimed was “serious allegations that could amount to misbehaviour’’.
The state’s corruption watchdog subsequently revealed that it was “investigating allegations of corrupt conduct relating to the Public Trustee’’.
Peter Carne was suspended as chief of the Public Trustee last month.
Peter Carne was suspended as chief of the Public Trustee last month.
A PT spin doctor said yesterday the agency “provides a broad range of services to diverse client groups’’ and acknowledged that “some of the people we serve may be dissatisfied with our decision or actions’’.
Anthony Marx,
The Courier-Mail
July 9, 2019 5:28am
Other Stories
Whistleblower slams Public Trustee’s office
Public Trustee forced to pay victim’s compo
Public Trustee exodus after Carne’s shock suspension
Just a note – I had two serious complaints being dealt with by Mr Peter Carne and the office of Governance. Since Mr Carne’s dismissal all correspondence has ceased.
My cynical nature suspects that this the debacle with Mr Carne and the departure of other senior officers is another way to avoid any investigations into any wrong doing. And to delay and deflect issues that will arise at this months meeting.
To: Ms Yvette D’Ath,
Attorney General & Minister for Justice
Re: Public Trustee
As a member of Australian Association to Stop Guardianship and Admin. Abuse and The Committee to Expose the Public Trustee, and with the recent events, including the request for the public trustee to “please explain” and multiple resignations from the office of the Public Trustee, I call on the government to hold a public enquiry into the department.
Lack of integrity in one area would indicate a lack of integrity and professionalism in other areas also.
David Honeyman, under contract to the office of the Public Advocate, has requested details of the fees charged by the trustee. The Public trustee should keep proper financial records, the same should be available to anyone investigatimg the office, not for the public to supply same. The highest level of financial responsibility and onus should be on any trustee, especially the public trustee.
Your urgent attention to this matter would be appreciated and perhaps give the public at least some confidence in the actions of the trustee.
Yours faithfully,
Rosslyn Mirciov, B.Sc. B.K.,
cc: Shadow Attorney General, Mr. David Janetzki, Parliament House, 2 George Street, Brisbane 4ZZZ,,,,by email David Honeyman, Office of thePublic Advocate, G.P.O. Box 149 Brisbane. 4001
The Office of the Public Trustee can only be described as a state government conceived criminal racket which deliberately embezzles the assets of vulnerable Queenslanders which have been put in its clutches by the utterly inept and constitutionally illegitimate QCAT kangaroo tribunal.
https://aasgaa.org
A source claims that Peter Carne was suspended for having an extra-marital affair at work.
If true, it is a strange world where the Attorney General can allow the public trustee to mismanage $$millions of ordinary people’s assets but then ask him to show cause why he should not be dismissed for having sex with a workmate?!
Meanwhile the Office of Public Advocate is conducting an audit of fees charged by the Public Trustee’s office.
If true, I do not think that Peter Carne should be asked to show cause for ‘serious misconduct’ on the basis that he had sex with a workmate unless he gained some advantage from it in the workplace or in his job. Equally, if true, the person he had sex with should not have to leave his or her job or be forced to resign unless he or she gained an advantage or their in favouritism from the public trustee.
No, as far as I am concerned, the public trustee and his office is guilty of a real crime misusing his position by spending monies to obtain ‘meticulous and sage’ advice from Mr DB Fraser QC that claimed Mr Taylor did not have just cause in recovering his home from Suliman Sabdia who de-frauded him by getting a vulnerable person to sign his home over to the Sabdia family trust. This was canvassed in the judgment of Mr Justice Glenn Martin in 2012 mentioned previously, a case where his honour curiously sealed the record from the public. In the court record is the opinion by Mr O’Regan of Counsel that says that same vulnerable old man had every possibility of recovering his family home from the accountant Suliman Sabdia.
Firstly, it was this action by the public trustee and his office that assisted the Public Guardian in depriving that same man of his liberty when Centacare abducted that vulnerable person from his family home and placed him in a high secure facility hours from his friends.
Seondly was the failure of the public trustee and his office for not accepting the bid by Mr Sam Watson on behalf of the aboriginal community to buy the property at 24 Horan Street West End for market value. If the public trustee had not placed the offer in the bottom drawer and allowed receivers for Challenger Bank to sell that same property for less than half its market value was an act of maladministration. It deprived Ross Taylor of return on his investment and ultimately, in a society that worships money, cost him comfort and his freedom.
In refusing the offer both Mr Ian Campbell and Mr Peter Carne completed an act of depriving the aboriginal community a safe house for its young people directly opposite the West Primary School. What better place to set up an aboriginal community centre for the young than near an educational facility. What a racist act to deprive them of it!
Now the state is building a new school on that property at 26 Horan Street. What did the state pay for it?
We call on the Attorney General to launch a full public inquiry into this mismanagement by the public trustee and to discover if this case is typical of its administration. What other cases have resulted in the vulnerable and aged being defrauded as Mr Taylor was?
The Public Trustee’s office should not be a self-funded independent statutory authority. It should not be compelled to invest the assets of the people in the Queensland Investment Corporation. A full audit of the public trustee’s investments in QIC needs to be undertaken. Why was the public trustee placed on the board of QIC?
The Public Trustee’s office has escaped public scutiny for too long.
Ian Curr
1 July 2019
Senior Public Servants are unlikely to be clamoring for jobs in the Public Trustees office … toxic work environment, being audited by the Dept. of Justice, allegations of serious misconduct, taking advantage of vulnerable people, investment in shonky financial products, excessive charging of management fees, to name some conditions of employment.
Three senior staff at Queensland’s Public Trustee have resigned, retired or left in the wake of their chief executive’s suspension.
Public Trustee Peter Carne was suspended on June 13, after “serious allegations” were made against him.
Peter Carne, pictured in 2014 while speaking at former premier Wayne Goss’s memorial service.
Peter Carne, pictured in 2014 while speaking at former premier Wayne Goss’s memorial service.Credit:Michelle Smith
Mr Carne oversaw the trustee’s 600 staff, who manage finances of incapacitated people and estates of deceased people across Queensland.
Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath would not say why Mr Carne had been removed, pending a show-cause notice “as a consequence of serious allegations which could amount to misbehaviour”.
Public trustee suspended amid ‘serious allegations’
When asked about the nature of the allegations, a spokeswoman for the Attorney-General said: “it is inappropriate to comment because it is a show cause and no decision has been made at this point”.
The day after Ms D’Ath announced Mr Carne’s suspension, deputy public trustee Mark Crofton announced he would leave his role next month.
Mr Crofton, who is also the official solicitor, remains on leave and will “finish his role on July 19”.
A public trustee spokeswoman would not discuss the reasons for Mr Crofton’s departure but stressed they were “unaware of anyone else being investigated in relation to the suspension of Peter Carne”.
Mr Crofton was acting Public Trustee of Queensland from 2014-16.
Human resources senior director Erica Gallagher will also be leaving the Public Trustee in a matter of weeks, after tendering her resignation.
“The senior director of human resource services has been instrumental in building our professional and capable workforce,” the spokeswoman said.
“Her decision to accept a new executive role is unrelated to the suspension of Peter Carne.”
Capability and performance director Rob Moran tendered his resignation in the weeks after Mr Carne’s suspension.
The spokeswoman said Mr Moran “has been planning his retirement for some time now” and that his decision to leave was not related to Mr Carne’s suspension.
She would not say if any other staff were leaving, citing privacy considerations.
“Any retirements or movement to other roles are not related to the suspension of Peter Carne.”
See https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/deputy-public-trustee-leaves-amid-ceo-s-misconduct-probe-20190626-p521kl.html
Our family was destroyed by 3 Trustee companies. Perpetual Trustees lost the value of 2 properties during the administration of our family Trust.Now they want to expedite the distribution of the estate before they restored the real value. Commenced repossession of the only asset remaining which is the family home so they can sell it and avoid restriction of the Trust.
They bullied and intimidated us when we complained. Used undue influence, deceptive and dishonest conduct to destroy our family.
We also had an unfortunate experience with the Equity Trustees who forced our 94 year old mother to sign a Power of Attorney Financial while being treated in the Freemasons hospital in Melbourne. Suffering from dementia she was financially abused by the agent of Equity
Hopefully your readers will appreciate the extent Trustee companies go to in order to do business. Compassion is not in their vocabulary only Greed!!!!!!
What wonderful news !! Here’s hoping this is “the start of the beginning” for exposure of the Public Trustee and its fraud, ineffeciency, lack of transparency and so and so on. Will it flow on to Public Guardian ?? Fingers crossed !
I’m under public trustee and guardian ship in Perth WA. They took my money from my account without my consent. Now they stopped my weekly allowance. What the public trustee wants is sell one of my property. Pay them first. I don’t want it. I applied to the SAT to revoke public trustee and guardianship. I’m still have to settle it financially with my ex. My ex had never responded to me. And the law allowed it to happen. My divorce was done in 2017. And until now haven’t settle yet. My ex is abusive. controling and manipulative. All my children against me. Last SAT hearing the judge release me from guardianship. And I don’t know why they keep the trustee. I don’t trust them. I started become under public trustee because at that time my son applied to become my guardian. and the social worker at the Raoyal Perth Hospital suggested I just take public trustee and guardian. After I dicharge from FH2H , I go back to my house. We have properties to devide beteween me and my ex. I know my ex and my son plaannign something not good for me, that’s why I flew to Singapore and after that I applied visa to China in Singapore and I got it. I knw how to leave Perth without anybody knew it. On that hearing, my son attended and he made silly comment : why my mom now speak Englsih to him. And the tribunal didn’t ask anything from me. I supposedly have to proof to the tribnunal that I’m capable of looking after my health, my financial act.
And my psychiatrist made a wrong judgement about my friend that compaying me while I m attending my appoinment with Dr Babur the psychiatrist. My friend was charged before and she was clear from the charges and allowed to see me. And that’st the only thing that the tribunal was asking me. It’s so bad. the tribunal didn’t do their homework. And I become the victim of their negligence. And I believe that the the public trustee knew that i’m capable of looking after my finance. Eventhe family lawyer that the public trustee appointed also don’t understand about properties. Even the public trustee manager also don’t understand about the properties. And they think that they know better. They should ask my accountant, Lina. She is already helping me more thatn 20 years. I gave her contact number for everyone to aske her questions. She knows me well. How the psychiatrist and others that had hardly talked to me or having contact knows me. My ex support worker knows me better thatn them. They companying me longer, They usually caomapying me anywhere that I want. They just comaping me. I made the decisons. Let’s say I need to go to the bank. I was the only one that deal with the teller or the manager. They just wait for me. Even if the psychiatrist want to make another test is ok. And I have told the public trustee that I have problem with my son. And now why the tribunal asking him to come and make comment.
I told the public trustee that I don’t want to settle with my ex before I revoke the public trustee. I don’t want them to take my hard work money to them. I want to make my own decision. Now I’m in China alone. The internet in china is not good.
I want to prove to everyone that I’m ccapable of looking after myself. Please help me find ways to quickly revoke the public trustee. I’m running out of money now. I have been like this for the last 6 years because my ex purposely dragged the settlement and the family lawyer from the public trustee also didn’t make any move. Yet he wants the money. It’s not fair. I can only have money after I settle.