PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA
Hon. Scott Morrison MP
Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet
PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2000
Dear Mr Morrison
THE STERLING GROUP COLLAPSE and ASIC FIASCO: $36 Million Compensation
I write to you Mr Morrison to inform you that I am one of the pensioners caught up in the collapse of the Sterling Group.
This is the SECOND TIME ASIC’s NEGLIGENCE has impacted heavily and devastatingly on my life. The first time was only a few short years ago during a dispute with a major bank over their lending practices which led to the Hayne Royal Commission into Banking and Finance. That dispute lasted several years and caused untold stress and misery to myself along with thousands of other Australian pensioners, some of whom are still fighting for compensation from the banks.
It was during those years that I became aware of BFCSA and met Denise Brailey for the first time. I remind you of the case of Michael and Kaye Downer. Along with Denise Brailey we wrote to you as the Federal Treasurer at that time. The Downer case was brought to the attention of the CEO of ……. during the BANK Inquiry and also formed part of BFCSA’s lengthy submission to the Royal Commission. Our case was highlighted in the media by a story in the local Sunday Times newspaper, televised by Today Tonight in Perth and nationally on Lateline. The social media campaign was also long and hard and left me completely exhausted at times and wondering if I could keep up the strength to fight.
Mr Morrison, I can’t even begin to tell you the magnitude of stress I suffered during those years and how much it affected my health and led to ongoing anxiety attacks. During these attacks I couldn’t function properly and couldn’t even remember simple things like how many minutes it took to cook vegetables etc and I had to leave notes everywhere to remind myself of things I needed to do or how to do things. There were times I couldn’t even string a sentence together, let alone hold a conversation. Such was my state of mind and lack of concentration at times, on a couple of occasions I was driving very familiar routes to appointments and lost my way there!
On three occasions I was taken by ambulance to the Emergency Departments of two major hospitals with chest pains. Anxiety attack symptoms can mimic heart attack symptoms and can be quite frightening.
It has only been three short years since that horrific time ended. I have since suffered through a marital breakdown 12 months ago. During the final stages of the breakdown I made the decision to go with the Sterling New Life Concept because I thought it offered me financial security moving forward at this stage in my life on my own. After being a homeowner for most of my adult life, the thought of being vulnerable to the rental market was not an option.
The idea of living in a Sterling home and treating it like my own, whilst not having ongoing weekly fees, rates, or maintenance concerns as I grew older was also very appealing.
Learning that I have lost most of the settlement from my marriage through this Sterling nightmare has been shattering and completely devastating, not only to myself but to my two children and extended family as well. I worked for the Government of Australia for almost 30 years and now have very little to show for it, thanks to the lack of due diligence and Duty of Care by many Government agencies, namely ASIC and the Federal Treasurer.
I didn’t work all those years for the Government to end up with NOTHING and no roof over my head, Mr Morrison.
Such was the trauma of the bank dispute I simply cannot recall many of the dates or events surrounding the dispute, my mind simply won’t allow me to revisit it again. I am shocked and horrified that through no fault of my own, that I once again need the help of Denise Brailey in a fight for justice and compensation. To be dealt another even more devastating blow for a second time by the same incompetent government agencies is unspeakably cruel and it’s even more cruel that it’s happened to terminally ill and frail people!
As a result of this current crisis my anxiety levels have gone through the roof again and I was recently referred to a Cardiologist because of increasing daily chest pain. My daughter is suffering from anxiety as a result of worrying about her mother’s future for the second time and she is heartbroken for me. My son is a single father raising two sons of his own without any financial help and it breaks my heart to see them all, knowing I’m no longer in a position to be able to help any of them in any way, nor spoil my two grandsons with ‘grandma treats’.
I have never wanted to be a burden on my children and thought I had taken the right road to keep my independence. The position the Sterling criminals and ASIC have left me in has destroyed any hope of that.
Even though I currently have my son and two grandsons visiting for the weekend, I’ve had to retreat to my bedroom on a couple of occasions to weep in private so I don’t worry them. It’s very hard to act ‘normal’ in front of my grandsons because I don’t want them to see their grandma sad again. It is for my family that I have found the strength tonight to write this letter to you for I have been unable to gather my thoughts together enough to write to Mr Shipton or Mr Frydenberg. Past history through the banking dispute has shown that these letters have all been a waste of time anyway, as was the ones to you Mr Morrison, as Federal Treasurer.
As the Prime Minister of Australia, I believe Mental Health is one of your special interests Mr Morrison, so I’m begging you not to ignore me for a second time. Please put things right for everyone involved in this crisis before many more succumb to serious illness, or even death. Do you want your children to be proud of you Mr Morrison? ……… or ashamed.?
There have been some GREAT Leaders of Australia in the past, ones who the country have been proud of, please be one of them!
Yours faithfully