Left to right – Margaret, her “Best Friend” Anne Ryan, her other “Best Friend” Sue Chapman, me and Peter Hussey the “wonderful” Irish friend of Margaret and me both. This photo was taken at Goolwa on the 16th of February 2019, a year before Margaret became gravely ill.
Anne Ryan refused to come to Margaret’s funeral, but sent a video eulogy in which she never mentioned my name
Sue Chapman reluctantly came to the funeral but made sure I never laid eyes on her. She refused to give a eulogy.
Peter Hussey sent a video eulogy in which he never mentioned my name.
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Margaret at Goolwa on the 16th of February 2019.
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Complaining to ASIC
By April 2022, I had completely lost patience with the unlawful conduct of the health insurers. ACCC was only one of many complaint avenues that I explored. I hoped if I complained long and often to a wide array of agencies, one agency might eventually decide to do help. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has responsibility for ensuring that companies obey company law obligations. When a company Director ignores Director obligations, ASIC can take legal action.
I searched the ASIC website and wrote a letter to the “Misconduct and Breach Reporting and the Office of the Whistleblower” at ASIC. A copy of my letter to ASIC can be accessed through the link attached to this blog.
Letter to Brendan Facey (ASIC)
Annexe to the letter sent to Brendan Facey
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This summarises my ASIC communications in April and May 2022.
Communication Details | Correspondence Length | How Sent | Response Date | Response Length | Response Said |
Letter of complaint to ASIC dated 18 April 2022 sent by mail to: Mr Brendan Facey Senior Executive Leader, Misconduct and Breach Reporting and Office of the Whistleblower Australian Securities and Investments Commission
GPO Box 9827
BRISBANE Queensland 4001
| 13 pages | Sent by sent by mail to: Mr Brendan Facey Senior Executive Leader, Misconduct and Breach Reporting and Office of the Whistleblower Australian Securities and Investments Commission
GPO Box 9827
BRISBANE Queensland 4001 | 16 May 2022 | 18 lines | Bugger off; we are not interested |
Email received on 16 May 2022 from Shay Thananjeyan at ASIC | 18 lines | Email from Shay.Thananjeyan@asic.gov.au at 5:35 pm on Monday 16 May 2022 | Waste of time trying to respond to ASIC | Zero length | No need to respond to ASIC email saying bugger off, we are not interested |
I received no reply from ASIC in April 2022, but I did get a short email response on the 16th of May 2022.
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16 May 2022 ASIC Email
In summary, the ASIC email from ASIC of 16 May 2022 said this.
Bugger off. We are not interested. |
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This is the complete ASIC 16 May 2022 email.
Your Report of Misconduct - The Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia Ltd ACN 000 026 746 [SEC=OFFICIAL] Our Reference: CAS-98267-T6D5J1
Dear Mr Hankin
THE HOSPITALS CONTRIBUTION FUND OF AUSTRALIA LTD N I B HEALTH FUNDS LTD TEACHERS FEDERATION HEALTH LTD (the Companies) We refer to your report of misconduct to ASIC dated 18 April 2022. We note that you are in a dispute with the Companies about a private health insurance claim and that you also raise concerns about misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to private health insurance policies. You also raise concerns of cartel behaviour within the private health insurance industry.
Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention. Your information, and information provided by others when they report misconduct to ASIC, gives us an understanding of conduct occurring in the marketplace and assists us to identify the best areas to focus our resources. We considered your information against a range of factors (which are set out in our Information Sheet 153 How ASIC deals with reports of misconduct and Information Sheet 151 ASIC’s approach to enforcement) and have determined we will not take action at this time. Your information has been recorded on our internal database. This will assist us if we receive information which raises similar issues in the future. What you can do We note that you have already raised your dispute with The Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia Ltd with the Commonwealth Ombudsman which is the appropriate avenue. You may wish to consider seeking legal advice should you wish to pursue a review of the Ombudsman’s decision; Review of your complaint outcome - Commonwealth Ombudsman. You may also wish to raise your underlying concerns with Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) who may have jurisdiction in this area; APRA. Concerns regarding potential cartel conduct within the insurance industry may be directed to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission; ACCC. If are uncertain about what private action may be available to you to resolve your dispute, you may wish to seek legal advice. If you are unsure about how to access legal advice, contact the Law Society in your state or territory. Please see www.moneysmart.gov.au for information about free legal advisors which may be of assistance to you. ASIC must protect from unauthorised use or disclosure of any information given to it in confidence, including details of your report of misconduct. Accordingly, it is more appropriate that you contact the above agencies directly with your concerns. Please find a link to ‘How ASIC deals with reports of misconduct’, which is an easy-to-read guide about ASIC’s responsibilities and the process we use for assessing your report. We hope you find it helpful in understanding what steps ASIC takes when it receives reports of misconduct. Thank you for talking the time to report your concerns with ASIC.
Kind regards
Shay Shay Thananjeyan Analyst, Misconduct & Breach Reporting Australian Securities and Investments Commission 120 Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000 shay.thananjeyan@asic.gov.au |
Like the Commonwealth Ombudsman, ASIC had zero interest in whether or not the health insurers were breaking the law. I reluctantly decided that trying to achieve anything through ASIC would be a waste of time and energy. I made no further attempt to persuade ASIC to do its job.
I wondered why it was that these highly paid bureaucrats did not give a damn about the welfare of their fellow Australians. Was it truly the case that no bureaucrats were interested in doing the jobs they were (theoretically) paid to do?
Given my miserable experience with ASIC, no wonder it has such a poor reputation as a government regulator. If there are any officers in ASIC who genuinely want to do their jobs, I suspect they eventually give up in disgust, knowing it is a Mission Impossible. Tom Cruise should make a movie about a genuine Mission Impossible instead of the fantasy movies he usually makes.
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Finding any government bureaucrats who would do the job they were paid to do, eventually proved impossible.
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