53. Mefloquine Dispatches: Psychiatrists don’t get Quinism, 24th March 2023 (Final)
Posted without commentary…
Random Analytica
Random thoughts, charts, infographics & analysis. Not in that order
Tag: Australia
March 23, 2023
52. Mefloquine Dispatches: Queensland Police Service, 11th October 2006
G*, ever forgetful, left her company phone (a Nokia E50 I believe) somewhere on the way to work. When she realised her mistake, she called her number from work. Unfortunately, a meth-head had picked it up and was demanding $50 for it’s return. The Grub is lucky. J* was G* on-again/off-again boyfriend and highly protective of her. He was on the road at the time and if had of got involved who knows what might have happened. Hell, I just wanted to kill the Grub just for being a meth-head but G* decided that we should ring the police instead and get some professional advice.
They had a plan. I had 15-minutes to put it together.
I’ll let the Statement tell the story and I’ll add a couple of notes at the end.
*****
Just a bit more detail on the witness statement.
Point 1: The sentence about my address sounds a bit ominous, but it is just a protection for witnesses giving evidence.
Point 5: I cannot remember who was my sidekick here, but I suspect it was AV* or AS*? I’ll follow-up but after the swap went down, he would have taken G* back to the office as she was quite shaken.
Point 6: The Grub. Target acquired.
Point 7: The Grub. Stand over merchant.
Point 10: This is where it becomes personal for me. When he drops the “Where’s my fucken thank you” he is right in G*s face, sneering at her. He doesn’t just walk away; he does an immediate 180-degree turn around and is walking away fast. I check on G*. She is shaken but ok and my colleague starts to take her back to the office. I go hunting.
Point 12: I’ve had training. The Grub is a zero. He takes some rudimentary precautions but doesn’t see the threat. I’m not a copper though. I blend in.
Point 13: Funny little detail here. The QPS should have arrested the Grub at the swap but were running late. I’m tailing the Grub. The QPS are tailing me, and we are now in contact via mobile phone, but they get caught by a red light. They were actually asking if I was in danger which would allow them, legally, to run the red-light. I think I laughed at that. Not my first rodeo.
Point 15: I have been following the Grub for 30-minutes at this stage. He doesn’t even know. The two QPS officers finally catch up with me.
Point 16: I identify the target as he enters a white building. The QPS officer are right on his hammer and I reckon he got arrested just out of my line of vision. I laugh. Jobs done.
Point 19: Terrible sentence structure. My bad.
Post Note (1): Even though Nokia’s were pretty basic back in the day, replacing company phones was a tiresome chore and expensive. G* would have gladly given anyone $20 – $50 just to find it and return it. As a gift. The Grub was a meth-head zero on the grift.
Post Note (2): I never appeared. My witness statement was enough to convince him to plead. He had a very long rap-sheet. Not sure of the sentence. Don’t care.
Post Note (3): I believe G* & J* are happily married and living in Melbourne now. Another fact-check but a pleasant one.
References
- Witness Statement. Shane Granger on behalf of the Queensland Police Service. [14.11.2006]
March 19, 2023
51. Mefloquine Dispatches: CTC Employment & Training Services, 2011 – 2012 (Final)
It all started with a signature.
My Employment Pathway Plan was signed just one-week before ANZAC Day in 2011. It would end in disaster like most things in my life. I made the mistake of believing that an Employment agency was about, well, employment.
It is a grift. Here is one example.
I cannot blame CTC Employment & Training Services, who were bought out by Intowork in 2015, alone for costing me my last $100,000+ job in 2012. I was struggling with my disease, Quinism. I was also drinking quite heavily, probably due to my undiagnosed PTSD. As much as I love Utopia my first experience of being a consultant to the APS had not lived up to expectations. I’d been in the Army but most of my post university work was for corporations or businesses. The APS works differently.
I was employed at CASA as the Workforce Planning specialist reporting to HR. When the call came in, I was quietly told by a colleague that I might have a problem. My employment service provider, CTC had rung HR enquiring if I “really” worked at the Authority. When I heard it, I went cold immediately. Then I got angry. I remember staggering down the stairs in a rage. I steer myself outside to a quiet area, and I scream down the phone at JL* on my mobile. I can see my breath. Even though it was February it was an unusually cool summer.
JL* is contrite. She tries to explain. The new girl was unaware of my situation. Didn’t believe my job role. Thought it a bit of a joke. AEF* was her handle. She might even enjoy the job. HR departments and job agencies employ similar profiles.
“She just cost me my fucking job. They are all fucking sharks down here”. I’m not sure if I disconnected the phone before I rage or after. Doesn’t matter. I need to cage my shit. People are looking. I breathe. I gather myself. I go back to work. I might have even gone out for lunch.
When I get back to my desk, I get this cheery email from JL*
*****
CTC must have been worried that I might complain. Part of the “employment services” grift is that they get payments for “milestones”. I must have triggered the three-month in employment milestone. AEF* notices my title or something and thinks it is a joke or that I am a drug dealer? AEF* job that day was to call employers, to double check people so CTC can get paid a bonus payment. I’m not an expert in social security legislation or contracts but in the Finance Industry it is called a ‘clip the ticket’ business.
Approximately one month later I get an email from AEF*. She asks how work is going. It is not cold outside anymore. I have returned from Canberra and am already back in Gympie trying to work out what to do next. CASA has fired me.
In my final interview , the beautiful HR lady, told me that the Authority and I were not the ‘right fit’. My Separation date is the 29th of February, and I am paid approx. $5,000 clear.
My last drinks in Canberra were on a Thursday afternoon on the 1st of March. That weekend my eldest son, aged just six, flew down for a weekend before we returned to Queensland together.
*****
I lied to AEF* because if I walked into that office I might rage.
Not saying that CTC Employment & Training Services got me fired from my $100,000+ job directly.
They just fired the coup-de-grâce.
References
- CTC Employment (Email). JL* on behalf of CTC Employment & Training Services. [9.02.2012]
- Employment Pathway Plan (Contract). CTC Employment & Training Services. [18.04.2011]
- Hi Shane (Email). AEF* on behalf of CTC Employment & Training Services. [12.03.2012]
- Offer of Specified-Term Employment (Letter). BK*on behalf of CASA. [5.03.2011]
- Separation Letter. Corporate Services on behalf of CASA. [29.02.2012]
- Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinism [Accessed 19.03.23]
February 25, 2023
50. Mefloquine Dispatches: STFU, 24th February 2023 (Final)
Let it go, Boyz. No one cares.
To the Lost.
January 12, 2023
49. Mefloquine Dispatches: Peacetime in PNG, 11th January 2023 (Final)
Reflecting the frustration at the treatment of veterans exposed to mefloquine my psychologist reached out to Richard Marles, the recently appointed Minister for Defence and Deputy PM and asked a question about Operation Baritone (March 1997).
The member of Richard Marles staff who responded might be unaware of the Company Group (3/97) that redeployed from Shoalwater Bay to Townsville at short notice. He wouldn’t know about the late-night review of your will and the death photo taken in the old hospital block. Nor blood pressure checks and the RMO signing off on your trip to war on the soldiers back in front of you. Picking up your seven magazines. Loading a pouch full of M26s. Inoculations in front of the Hercules. Lariam tablets being passed man-to-man. Briefings which talk about the rioting, the PNGDF in mutiny, South African mercenaries, Rascals, and the possibility of heavy casualties. The smell of excitement and fear as the clock moves from 24hrs Notice-To-Move (NTM) to 12hrs NTM. It would have been better than the Wild Bunch.
This message shouldn’t be coming from me. You should have been contacted as part of the Use of the Quinoline anti-malarial drugs Mefloquine and Tafenoquine in the Australian Defence Force investigation in 2018. In fact, members from 3 RAR were initially contacted by the Department of Veterans Affairs in relation to a 1996 deployment to Vanuatu. It was quickly shut down and muffled.
If you are reading the bad news here, I’m sorry if you are getting the message from me.
The Butchers Bill – Company Group 3/97
If you redeployed with the Company Group from Shoalwater Bay at the end of Exercise Tasman Thrust 97 and ended up waiting for the Hercules at Garbutt while we were staging, then you were given a Mefloquine Loading Dose (MLD). Don’t bother checking your medical records as it wasn’t written down. I had to prove my exposure via Red Cross records (I basically caught a lucky break).
Here is how you can check if you were given a Mefloquine Loading Dose as part of Company Group 3/97. If you got typhoid on the 22nd of March 1997 then you got an MLD as well. I distinctly remember getting 3-4 injections behind those planes. Check your vaccination records. Here is a personal example.
Battalion Group – 1 RAR
I was at Garbutt and had no visibility of this. However, the Australian Government decided to activate the Battalion Group. Once activated it is very likely the RMOs started the vaccination process including anti-malarial treatments. I’d be checking your medical records as well.
For confirmation here is Tony Wright’s 20th anniversary write up of the Sandline Affair. Via the Sydney Morning Herald (circa 2019). From the Archives: Gunpoint in PNG; mercenaries evacuated. Excerpt:
The Federal Government placed a crack Army battalion on heightened alert in a contingency plan to evacuate 12,000 Australian citizens from Papua New Guinea as rebel troops bundled the remaining mercenaries out of the country.
Late last night, 55 mercenaries were put on a chartered Air Niugini jet to Hong Kong.
The confrontation between PNG’s rebellious defence force and the Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, over his aborted plan to use the mercenaries in the Bougainville conflict moved towards a showdown yesterday.
A Battalion Group is not just made up of Grunts. Things were moving very quickly. Some thoughts. Signals and medics were on the first two planes (so you would also be exposed). Airforce personnel assigned would all be exposed. Possibly a 3 RAR company? Certainly SF. Apparently four naval ships were assigned to the initial deployment. If in doubt, double check your medical records.
To the Lost.
November 22, 2022
48. Mefloquine Dispatches: Homelessness (21st November 2022)
Homelessness. Not my first rodeo but it has been a while.
I moved into the cabin, a converted bee aviary in early 2018. It has been home for 4.5-years.
On the 30th of October 2022 I advised my landlady that I was involved in the Royal Commission into Defence & Veteran Suicides.
A week later I was told to leave.
It wasn’t much. No hot running water and no immediate toilet or shower facilities (under the main house, quite the walk in the middle of winter I must tell you). As you can see from the above text there were no problems with my landlady in the previous four and a half years. For what it was worth, it was home.
J* might be looking at more rent and thinks a bloke who stood on a wall for a bit might not be a good option (I wasn’t asked). More likely she is worried about her sketchy son who moved in about two years back and his mates getting up to no good. Her son loved stealing my mower fuel or taxing the odd thing out of the barn that took his fancy.
Whatever the reason, the thing that changed her mind was the Royal Commission.
So, my home for four and a half years is gone.
Anyways, my whole family comes over to help me. The five of us spend the best part of three hours cleaning and tidying up (it’s one room). Literally, my cabin is the tidiest part of the property (as the owner and the kids are filthy) and I’ve hardly been there over the past year. When the clean is done I even buy her a VB ‘tallie’ and leave it in the fridge to say no hard feelings.
Later on the same evening I get a text from J* saying there were things she was not happy with and implying she was going to withhold the bond. Minor stuff but I’ve seen her do it to another tenant. I told her to keep her bond. I’m done dealing with evil people.
I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that even 25-years later my service costs me. Everyday. Sometimes in small ways and then you get days like this.
Joy. Homeless again…
Crack on!
November 4, 2022
47. Mefloquine Dispatches: Dun & Bradstreet (28th September 2004)
Being ‘triggered’ is part of my “thing”. I’ve only noticed it in recent years but on reflection it has been happening for a quarter-of-a-century. Just had one today. I’ll document to help explain things!
Here it goes…
I see a tweet via Luke Henriques-Gomes. This is the tweet:
Straight away and out loud I say this… “I fucking know Dun & Bradstreet”.
I’m better with memory work in 2022. I’m surprised by the date but only by one year (which for me is pretty good).
So, after the Australian Army sent me insane in March 1997, I struggled on for another 18-months, in the Army. Then I went very publicly insane again in October 1998. The Army decided after a long fight to give me an Administrative Discharge (effectively a Dishonourable Discharge) and fine me $500.
By the time I got this lovely letter from Dun & Bradstreet I was on struggle street.
Thank you for your service. Also, thank you Joel…
October 1, 2022
42. Mefloquine Dispatches: FOI – One Document (30th September 2022)
Freedom of Information Directorate
Department of Defence
PO Box 7910
R1-05-A
Canberra BC ACT 2610
30th September 2022
By email: foi@defence.gov.au
Dear FOI Coordinator,
This is a request for the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 for access to the following documents:
On the 26th April 2019 the Army refused my FOI 348/18/19 request. It stated:
“10. Headquarters 1st Division located one document that mentioned Mr Granger, however it did not relate to OP BARITONE 97. No other documents were found that mentioned Mr Granger.”
Some random full bird. Read that document and made a call about me. He didn’t have to, yet he did. Then he felt the need to “share”.
I think he might also be referring to the night I went insane in 1998. I think he “shared” just to be a bastard.
Upon reflection, I’d be very interested in reading that document now. Thank you.
Should you have any questions in relation to this request, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
For your review and consideration
Shane Granger
30th September 2022
If you need help…
Thank you for your interest. More Mefloquine Dispatches can be found here.
UPDATES
TBC
September 9, 2022
41. Mefloquine Dispatches: FOI – The Last Signalman (9th Sep 2022)
9th September 2022
By email: foi@defence.gov.au
Dear FOI Coordinator,
Before I make the declarations, I’d like for you to consider the following.
I won’t be able to point to a single document or set of events that would assist in this search. I’ll try but I’m likely to fail the direct request you are seeking. That said. I put forward this FOI request because it is important.
So, a quick story before the declarations.
It is the 6th June 2019. I have recently been released from the Cooinda Mental Health Service, my first MH hospitalisation (unfortunately, not my last). I am trying to work out the MyService website. It is almost as awful as the Centrelink services I have become accustomed to as my health deteriorates.
I fckn hate medals. Hate the glorification of the military. Hate ANZAC Day. Anyways, I finally got a gong and Wayne Swan pins it on me, so I think it is all good. Except, it isn’t good. I wear it once and I’m so shitty wearing it I give it away to my second son (who thinks it has some value). Back to 2019…
I’m doing the whole MyService thing on the MyGov site and they ask me do you want to sign up for the Covenant and I’m like, OK… Should be cool right?
I’m going through the process to get a nice letter from the DVA Minister, the Secretary (oh, Liz) and a pin I could wear instead of the gongs. Even though I hate it all I can find a way through. Until…
Some fuckwit at DVA doesn’t understand rank. There is no drop-down for Signalman. Signaller sure. Bombardiers aplenty… Language matters.
I go berko of course. Even put in an official complaint (completely ignored).
Back to official declarations.
This is a request for the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 for access to the following documents:
Any Australian Army documents that detail the last document that included Signalman
Should you have any questions in relation to this request, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
For your review and consideration
Shane Granger
9th September 2022
If you need help…
Thank you for your interest. More Mefloquine Dispatches can be found here.
UPDATES
13th Sep 2022: Permission for administrative release of documents
12th Sep 2022: Defence FOI Acknowledgement
August 25, 2022
40. Mefloquine Dispatches: Accessing Superannuation, 17th April – 3rd May 2019
I’m very sick. Before being admitted to hospital I use the last of my dollars in the bank to pay a month of rent in advance. I ring my NEIS (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme) provider who immediately cancels my payments. When I leave hospital, I must reapply for Newstart. At approximately $700 per fortnight, it only just covers rent and food.
I am in a bad way mentally, physically, and financially.
I understand I can access up to $10,000 via my super due to financial hardship. I’ve assisted a few people in this regard in the past. I put in the application with the following cover letter:
I get the answer back via a phone call and follow-up email two weeks later. The answer is No.
I’ve been sober for more than 550-days to this point but this tips me over. I’m also reacting badly to the anti-psychotics I’ve been prescribed. I’ve just been released from hospital and now staring down the barrel of homelessness (again). I don’t care anymore. I buy a flagon and get to work.
Ironically, I’ve been doing a financial planning internship for two years. I’m doing the reading on compassionate grounds, but the bar is set very high. Too high for me in fact. The suggestion of going to the Department of Human Services and asking for mercy is laughable. I re-read the email from MLC as the wine kicks in and I have a thought. Don’t I get some money from the DVA?
I send the DVA a request for more information. They respond the very next day.
It is $6.20 per fortnight but meets the criteria for a pension payment. I’ve been on it for eight months. I forward the pension verification to MLC.
My application for accessing my superannuation is approved the next day.
It shouldn’t be this hard.
If you need help…
Thank you for your interest. More Mefloquine Dispatches can be found here.
Random Analytica 