• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Join Self-Employed Australia
  • Protected Members
    • Tax Audit Support
    • Unfair Contract Help
  • About US
    • Who We Are
    • SEA Board
    • Annual Reports
    • No Spam Policy
    • Content Disclaimer
  • Contact Us
  • Log in/Log out
  • Update your details

Self Employed Australia

"Everyone needs an Advocate"

“Everyone needs an Advocate”

  • Current Advocacy
    • Reforming the ATO
    • Small Business Tax Tribunal
    • Fair Contracts
    • Fixing Disputes/Prompt Payment
    • The ‘Gig’ Economy
  • Past Advocacy
    • Submissions
    • Defending ABN Contractors
    • Work Safety
    • Independent Contractors Act
    • Owner-Drivers
    • International Labour Organisation
    • Independent Contractors: How Many?
  • SEA Submissions
    • Submissions
    • Independent Contractors: How Many?
  • Members-only Articles
    • About ICA
    • Contract Design and Templates
    • Independent Contractors Act
    • Practical Assistance
    • Taxation Matters
    • What is an Independent Contractor?
  • News Categories
  • NotAboveTheLaw

2021: A Victorian Health Department Space Odyssey – Where is Hal?

June 15, 2022 by Self-Employed Australia Leave a Comment

space-odysseyTry this piece of strangeness. We now have ‘proof’ that the Victorian Department of Health makes decisions and does things without any apparent human involvement.

The Department, we assume, must operate like Hal in the great, classic sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hal was the super computer that ran the spaceship without human involvement. Somewhere in the Health Department ‘Hal’ must exist.

The ‘proof’ of Hal is contained in a 4 October 2021 memo to executives in the Health Department. On 29 September 2021 the Victorian WorkSafe Authority announced it was prosecuting the Department of Health over the 2020 Hotel quarantine disaster which resulted in over 800 deaths. The 4 October memo states:

“WorkSafe have advised that no individuals from the department are, or will be, charged.”

Here’s what this means. WorkSafe has found sufficient evidence of breaches of work safety laws to start a criminal prosecution of Health. We updated you on this last week. In other words, the Department did or failed to do things that has resulted in criminal charges being laid. BUT. According to WorkSafe’s advice to Health, no humans committed any of the criminal things. The Department acted criminally but no human acted criminally. Go figure!

But see. We told you so. It’s Hal! And now like the children’s book ‘Where’s Wally?” we have to ask ‘Where’s Hal?’

Here are just some of the questions that must be asked:

  • How did WorkSafe conduct a criminal investigation without interviewing any humans?
  • Or did WorkSafe interview and question humans?
  • If WorkSafe did interview humans, did any of those humans explain how the Department does things without humans making decisions or doing those things?
  • Can humans in the Health Department explain how the Department operates without humans making decisions or doing things?
  • Did WorkSafe meet or see Hal?

Of course, these questions are all nonsense and just as nonsensical as WorkSafe only prosecuting Health but not individuals.

In truth a government department is just a bunch of humans making decisions and doing things. A ‘department’ does not and cannot act criminally. Only humans act criminally. There is no Hal in the Health Department. Only humans.

But WorkSafe is acting on a fantasy, a Space Odyssey.

This is not just an isolated Victorian issue. It cuts to the heart of whether government in Australia operates impartially so that no-one is above the law, including government itself. It’s no joke. It’s serious!

Here’s the Health memo obtained through FOI.

Note the 104-page Charge Sheet but with all important information blanked out!

Filed Under: Campaigns, Covid-19, NotAboveTheLaw, Quarantine, Rule of law, Self-Employed Australia, Self-employment, Work Safety

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Report on Supreme Court hearing, SEA v WorkSafe Victoria, 21 June 2022 June 26, 2022
  • To court we go! Finally, a first step. Prosecuting the Victorian Government June 20, 2022
  • 2021: A Victorian Health Department Space Odyssey – Where is Hal? June 15, 2022
  • Prosecution of Victorian Health over 2020 Hotel Quarantine Disaster—Update June 10, 2022
  • Farewell Judith—and heaps of thanks! June 7, 2022
  • Is your superannuation money safe? Morrison v Albanese May 17, 2022
  • Morrison’s dead flat small business pitch May 11, 2022
  • Albanese plan to smash Australia’s 2 million self-employed May 5, 2022
  • Closing the construction watchdog will harm self-employed tradies April 24, 2022
  • ATO ramps up its aggressive campaign against small and family businesses April 14, 2022

Categories

Footer

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in