Senior Correctional Officer Wattie

MORE BAD DECISIONS FROM NEW SOUTH WALES CORRECTIVE SERVICES COMMISSION

Jason Wattie is a Senior Correctional Officer (SCO).  For those who may not know, a Senior Correctional Officer wears three stripes and is the equivalent to a Sergeant in any other uniformed service such as the Police or Military.  It is my view that a Senior Correctional Officer is a highly respected and sought after rank within the New South Wales Corrective Services.

SCO Jason Wattie was suspended from duty in January 2015 as a result of allegations that he used excessive force against a prisoner at the Amber Laurel Correctional Centre at Emu Plains.  The Centre was designed to hold 56 prisoners who had been refused bail and replaces Police lock-up’s in surrounding districts, yet is manned by Prison Officers rather than Police.

The matter concerning the allegations of excessive use of force, were heard in a court.  It seems to me that the court hearings ended favourably for SPO Wattie, although I have no confirmation of that.  Regardless of the result, the Department in their vindictive, malicious and soul crushing manner chose to dismiss SCO Wattie on 13^th May 2016.  In June 2016, the Public Service Association (PSA), the union representing New South Wales Correctional Officers, appealed to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) for unfair dismissal.  The IRC ordered the Department of Corrective Services to reinstate SCO Wattie on 18^th October 2016.  The Department of Corrective Services in their arrogance refused to reinstate SCO Wattie and appealed to the Full Bench of the IRC.  On 28^th February 2017 the IRC denied the Leave to Appeal, resulting in SCO Wattie being allowed to don his uniform and return to his normal duties.  On 30^th November 2017, the unforgiving and revengeful Department of Corrective Services decided to pursue SCO Wattie to the Supreme Court of Appeal. 

Subsequently, the Department won on this occasion and sacked SCO Wattie.  However on 20^th December 2017, the PSA sought Leave to Appeal in order to appeal the decision that occurred some three weeks earlier.   The PSA was granted a stay in the proceedings and again SCO Wattie was reinstated to duty.  On 28^th February 2018, the final appeal was heard in the Supreme Court.  The decision from that hearing was not handed down until June 2018.  The splendid results were that SCO Jason Wattie won the appeal and his full costs. 

The decision by the Department of Corrective Services Commission to pursue this Officer in such a ruthless and spiteful manner shows a real lack of common sense and demonstrates how they are extremely willing to waste the tax payer’s money.  I do not know the real figure that the Department had to pay to pursue SCO Wattie.  I can only imagine the amount would be several hundreds of thousands of dollars.  That amount of money simply does not make good business sense.  If they were genuinely concerned, they could have spent a few hundred dollars on some re-training if that was considered necessary. 

Being a Correctional Officer is not an easy task.  There is no mention of the actual incident in the article that I have read concerning this matter, however I am aware that prisoners that have newly been arrested and taken to a holding centre such as Amber Laurel Correctional Centre are often under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, may suffer from mental illnesses and can quite often be very violent.   A ‘Use of Force’ by Prison Officers unfortunately is a common event.  It goes with the territory, yet prisoners must be controlled and often have to be restrained.  In those cases the Officers are protected by the Prisons Act to do so.  The Administration being the New South Wales 

Department of Corrective Services Commission, must do all they can to support their Officers instead of ruthlessly pursuing them over matters such as this which has thrown SCO Wattie’s and that of his family, into total chaos.  I have no doubt that he will find it difficult in obtaining promotion within the immediate and near future. 

Had the Commission supported SCO Wattie and others in similar situations, they may find that moral within their Department would rise considerably.

Original article courtesy of PSA Red Tape magazine.

This I believe.

Peter T. Egge

Death of Harry M. Miller

HARRY M. MILLER – JANUARY 1934 – JULY 2018

Sadly, New Zealand born entertainment entrepreneur Harry M. Miller, passed away this last week.  The following is a small extract from my eBook “Australia’s Best Prison Stories” about his life and the time he served within the New South Wales Prisons.

His company brought international acts to the southern hemisphere including artists such as Judy Garland, Louie Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jnr, Ella Fitzgerald, Chubby Checker, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and bands including Herman’s Hermits, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones.  I went to the first Rolling Stones concert when they performed in Australia which was held at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney. During our courtship before we were married, I also took my wife Margaret to the Beach Boys concert which was also held at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney.  Both concerts were sensational and were major milestones leading to a hugely successful career for Harry M Miller.

He strengthened his prominence by collaborating many concerts and theatrical promotions, possibly the most successful being the Australian stage productions of Hair, that ran from 1969 to 1972, during which he was acclaimed for having discovered the 16 year old American singer Marcia Hines, a show I saw twice, also Jesus Christ Superstar from 1972 to 1976 and The Rocky Horror Show from 1974.To this day Miller accredits Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar as his greatest accomplishments. His long list of rock stars included the very famous Joe Cocker and Dusty Springfield, and he acted as an agent and manager for news worthy celebrities of which Lindy Chamberlain was possibly the most prominent, however his client base has included Judy Moran, the wife of the slain Melbourne underworld figure Lewis Moran, Gai Waterhouse, Maggie Tabberer, Deborah Hutton, Alan Jones and Stuart Diver, the only survivor of the 1997 Thredbo landslide.

In 1971 Miller established himself as the largest breeder of Simmental cattle in the Southern Hemisphere, a project that he loved and held his attention up until 1989.   At one stage he became a director of the Australian icon airline Qantas. Harry M Miller received the highest accolade when he was appointed the organiser of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations for Australia in 1977.

My father once told me, “It’s only those people that don’t do anything that don’t make mistakes”. Harry M Miller was most certainly a “doer”. He was a highly innovative man who became part of Australian entertainment history, having been described as audacious, self-confident, a broker and not afraid to go past the accepted boundaries.  

On 28^th August 1979 he created Computicket, the first ever computerized ticket service for main events in Australia however just six months after its inception, due to the lack of cash flow, the company went into receivership on 12^th February 1997.  It was the collapse of Computicket that set law enforcement into a frenzy.  Some call it the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”.  Harry M Miller was a dynamo of entertainment, promotion and management and an example of innovative, entrepreneurial distinction within this country, yet for some reason we must do all we can to seize the tall poppy and cut it down. 

To read more about Harry M. Miller’s life, his time spent within the New South Wales Prisons, and to read the hand written note he sent my brother Phillip following his release from Cessnock Corrective Centre, read my eBook “Australia’s Best Prison Stories”, available through this website or Amazon.

Peter T. Egge