My understanding is that the Department of Corrective Services was inundated with complaints about the news article in the Daily Telegraph dated 26th June 2016, as outlined in my previous blog, titled:
“DIRECTOR LAUREN OLIVER - A disgrace to her uniform and dishonourable conduct towards the memory of thousands of hard working, honest prison officers from yesteryear.
The Director of Media and Communications, Mr. Michael Duffy, issued a limited apology the following day to those Officers who had complained. To the best of my knowledge, this limited apology was not published in the Daily Telegraph.
The apology reads:
There has been criticism by staff of a feature story in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph about Corrective Services NSW. I apologise to everyone who was offended by the way this turned out.
The article was intended to focus on training and recruits, to assist with our recruitment program. The journalist interviewed some recruits and Lauren Oliver, the Director of the Brush Farm Academy.
Ms Oliver gave an interview that was entirely positive about the staff of CSNSW and the work they do. Her use of the terms “old fat white guys” and “old culture” was in response to the use of similar terms by the journalist, in a question about stereotypes of custodial officers seen in films and on television.
The newspaper decided to turn some of Ms Oliver’s general comments into a major part of the story, and to run a large picture of her. We had no control over those decisions. Newspapers do not show articles to subjects before publication.
We did not present Ms Oliver as a spokesperson for custodial corrections, and she did not agree to do the interview on that basis.
Dealing with the media always involves an element of unpredictability. In this case I got it wrong.
Michael Duffy
Director, Media & Communications
I appreciate the fact that Mr Duffy has accepted responsibility and has apologised, however he is not the person who quoted those hurtful and inaccurate aspersions towards Prison Officers from the past.
I am still waiting for an apology from the person who was quoted, and that is clearly Ms. Lauren Oliver. She cannot escape the responsibility of her remarks. She must apologise unequivocally to those many honest, hard working and responsible Prison Officers from yesteryear.
If Ms. Oliver is unable to find it in her heart to accept responsibility for those words that she is quoted as saying, (please read my previous blog), she should resign her position as Director of Brush Farm Prison Officer Training Academy.
In lieu of her apology or resignation, I call on the Commissioner of Corrective Services Mr. Peter Severins, to take extreme disciplinary action against her for her insulting and discriminatory remarks.
I am aware that the Department of Corrective Services Media Section have full knowledge of my blogs. This matter will not go away and I will keep all my readers up to date with any progress or lack thereof through this web page.
This I believe.
Peter T. Egge
“DIRECTOR LAUREN OLIVER - A disgrace to her uniform and dishonourable conduct towards the memory of thousands of hard working, honest prison officers from yesteryear.
The Director of Media and Communications, Mr. Michael Duffy, issued a limited apology the following day to those Officers who had complained. To the best of my knowledge, this limited apology was not published in the Daily Telegraph.
The apology reads:
There has been criticism by staff of a feature story in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph about Corrective Services NSW. I apologise to everyone who was offended by the way this turned out.
The article was intended to focus on training and recruits, to assist with our recruitment program. The journalist interviewed some recruits and Lauren Oliver, the Director of the Brush Farm Academy.
Ms Oliver gave an interview that was entirely positive about the staff of CSNSW and the work they do. Her use of the terms “old fat white guys” and “old culture” was in response to the use of similar terms by the journalist, in a question about stereotypes of custodial officers seen in films and on television.
The newspaper decided to turn some of Ms Oliver’s general comments into a major part of the story, and to run a large picture of her. We had no control over those decisions. Newspapers do not show articles to subjects before publication.
We did not present Ms Oliver as a spokesperson for custodial corrections, and she did not agree to do the interview on that basis.
Dealing with the media always involves an element of unpredictability. In this case I got it wrong.
Michael Duffy
Director, Media & Communications
I appreciate the fact that Mr Duffy has accepted responsibility and has apologised, however he is not the person who quoted those hurtful and inaccurate aspersions towards Prison Officers from the past.
I am still waiting for an apology from the person who was quoted, and that is clearly Ms. Lauren Oliver. She cannot escape the responsibility of her remarks. She must apologise unequivocally to those many honest, hard working and responsible Prison Officers from yesteryear.
If Ms. Oliver is unable to find it in her heart to accept responsibility for those words that she is quoted as saying, (please read my previous blog), she should resign her position as Director of Brush Farm Prison Officer Training Academy.
In lieu of her apology or resignation, I call on the Commissioner of Corrective Services Mr. Peter Severins, to take extreme disciplinary action against her for her insulting and discriminatory remarks.I am aware that the Department of Corrective Services Media Section have full knowledge of my blogs. This matter will not go away and I will keep all my readers up to date with any progress or lack thereof through this web page.
This I believe.
Peter T. Egge
