Speaker 1: So, Rick, you have been reading people's emails and letters lately,
Speaker 1: specifically an apology letter that was sent by a senior
Speaker 1: government bureau crap. So can you read it to me?
Speaker 2: I can, because I have a copy of it, and
Speaker 2: it's quite extraordinary. It was written by the former Assistant
Speaker 2: Secretary in the Department of Health and H. K. Russell Herald.
Speaker 2: Everyone calls him Rusty, and he was apologizing for his
Speaker 2: role in this enormous and strange saga, which involved a
Speaker 2: failed plot to take over Meals on Wheels by a
Speaker 2: private company, a consulting firm that was receiving millions of
Speaker 2: dollars in government funding.
Speaker 1: Rick Morton is a senior reporter at the Saturday Paper.
Speaker 1: The letter in front of him from Rusty is to
Speaker 1: the chair of Meals on Wheels. In it, Rusty apologizes
Speaker 1: for his behavior towards Meals on Wheels staffers, saying it
Speaker 1: fell well short of the standards expected of someone like him.
Speaker 2: He goes on to say, I also noted my emotional
Speaker 2: state as it was at the time in relation to
Speaker 2: this project meant I was in effect not fit for duty.
Speaker 2: This is something I have since reflected on and something
Speaker 2: for which I must and will be held accountable for
Speaker 2: as a senior public servant. My regret is not identifying
Speaker 2: this at an earlier point in time.
Speaker 1: From Schwartz Media, I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am today,
Speaker 1: Rick Morton on the failed plot to take over Meals
Speaker 1: on Wheels, the private company and the millions in government money.
Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, February eighteen. Take me back to the start
Speaker 1: of this story wreck, before Rusty got involved, before he
Speaker 1: had to make this apology for his emotional state. Where
Speaker 1: does this begin?
Speaker 2: I mean, things always seemed better at the beginning, don't they,
Speaker 2: Because Rusty was one of the kind of cohort of
Speaker 2: senior public servants who were charged with you know, home service,
Speaker 2: age care reform, meal delivery reform, and way back when
Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen twenty, when the Royal Commission into Age
Speaker 2: Care reports back, the Department decides that Meals on Wheels
Speaker 2: is not going to be able to compete well in
Speaker 2: this new future because lower behold. You won't be surprised
Speaker 2: to learn that there's a lot of marketization happening and
Speaker 2: a lot of competition in age care because we privatized everything.
Speaker 2: So the solution they thought was to get meals on
Speaker 2: wheels into a competitive position. The problem was that the
Speaker 2: department and some people within the department really didn't like
Speaker 2: meals on wheels. They hated dealing with them, they hated
Speaker 2: giving money to them because they were so disparate. There
Speaker 2: were different peak organizations in the different states. Some of
Speaker 2: them did frontline service deliveries, some of them did not.
Speaker 2: And then, of course you've got each individual service which
Speaker 2: is run by community grassroots organizations, but are often hosted
Speaker 2: and subsidized by local councils who don't want to do
Speaker 2: it anymore. And so the government decided to give a
Speaker 2: whole bunch of money directly to a private consulting firm
Speaker 2: that had even less experience in meals delivery, Miles Morgan Australia.
Speaker 1: Okay, so tell me a bit about this company, Miles Morgan, Australia.
Speaker 2: The director of Miles Morgan Australia for the entirety of
Speaker 2: this project is Luxman Gonnaratnam. He actually bought the company
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two after serving as its chief executive
Speaker 2: since twenty nineteen. And they were given their first contract
Speaker 2: to kind of look at a feasibility study, and you know,
Speaker 2: come up with a bottle for how meals on wheels
Speaker 2: could deliver meals at an efficient price. But I think
Speaker 2: one thing that's important to know here for context is
Speaker 2: that we now know that Miles morg in Australia had
Speaker 2: likely had bigger designs than just this immediate project. They
Speaker 2: had an eye to, you know, a much longer horizon
Speaker 2: about what they can do in a meals on wheel space,
Speaker 2: and they needed strategic relationships to do this right. And
Speaker 2: what are the strategic alliances that Luxban Gunnaratnam form in
Speaker 2: this sense was the then CEO sometimes general manager of
Speaker 2: Newcastle Meals on Wheels, a man called Damien Isaacs. Mylesborg
Speaker 2: in Australia essentially cements their strategic alliance with Damien Isaacs
Speaker 2: by appointing him as a future Fit brand ambassador from
Speaker 2: July twenty twenty three. The position came with this bonus
Speaker 2: salary for him and apparently his wife of about one
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy thousand dollars and they were both red hot,
Speaker 2: red hot for this, you know the scope of what
Speaker 2: they were able to do with government backing to completely
Speaker 2: transform meals on wheels. And when they get this contract
Speaker 2: extension both Gunneratum and Isaacs, you know, they're jumping for
Speaker 2: joy basically, and there's emails between the two of them
Speaker 2: where they're actually planning to fly to Brisbane where there's
Speaker 2: a conference where a bunch of meals on wheels people
Speaker 2: are attending. And it also happens to be Rusty the
Speaker 2: Health bureaucrat Rusty Herald's birthday. And so Isaacs writes this
Speaker 2: email to Gunneratanum on July seventeen, twenty twenty three, and
Speaker 2: he says, we'd as brother, we are getting Rusty smashed.
Speaker 2: And then Gunna Ratnam, who is a man at least
Speaker 2: in his forties, if not older, he responds to that
Speaker 2: email going, yes, I told him to brace himself as
Speaker 2: the Brown Brothers were in town and brackets much like
Speaker 2: the Blues Brothers, but far better.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I suppose The next question is, I mean,
Speaker 1: what do they do next? Do they get Rusty smashed?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, and I need to be fair to
Speaker 2: Rusty here because Rusty, you know, we have no evidence
Speaker 2: that Rusty knew about this plan. And at the same
Speaker 2: time they're doing all of this. Miles Morgan, Australia have
Speaker 2: spent about one hundred thousand dollars on legal advice through
Speaker 2: a law firm to help ISAACS with what Newcastle Meals
Speaker 2: and Wheels subsequently said under new management was a hostile
Speaker 2: takeover attempt of the New South Wales peak body Meals
Speaker 2: and Wheels New South Wales of the board because Newcastle
Speaker 2: Mills and Wheels CEO ISAACS was a member of the
Speaker 2: board and according to this timeline of events, you know,
Speaker 2: there was influence being brought to bear on the board
Speaker 2: to try and shape it to their vision.
Speaker 1: Right. Okay, So you have this company, Miles Morgan, which
Speaker 1: has won a government contract to transform Meals on Wheels,
Speaker 1: but at the same time they're also getting legal advice
Speaker 1: on how to take over Meals on Wheels what's been
Speaker 1: described as a hostile takeover. So how do they go
Speaker 1: on that?
Speaker 2: Well, there was yeah, not well, but they tried. They tried.
Speaker 2: It was kind of like a Game of Thrones thing
Speaker 2: was happening for a control of the future of Meals
Speaker 2: on Wheels, including the control of the brand and the logo.
Speaker 2: So Gunnar Ratnam, you know, he's possibly we don't know,
Speaker 2: but possibly using taxpayer funds from the contract to pay
Speaker 2: a law firm to get legal advice about how to
Speaker 2: take over Meals on Wheel State Peak Body and then
Speaker 2: gets that same law firm to get advice about collapsing
Speaker 2: or winding up Meals on Wheels Australia, transferring it to
Speaker 2: a company limited by guarantee, and then saying, hey, do
Speaker 2: we get to keep the state trademarks?
Speaker 1: I mean, Rick, what's being attempted here is audacious.
Speaker 2: At the very least, it is audacious, and as my
Speaker 2: editor said, it is a finely threaded needle. And there's
Speaker 2: no better example of that than what happened at the
Speaker 2: Whitehase City Council. So there is a service in Victoria
Speaker 2: which is threatening to be shut down because the local
Speaker 2: council and Whitehorse City Council doesn't want to run it anymore.
Speaker 2: You know, the Department realized they needed someone to come
Speaker 2: in and save Whitehorse because I'd have some vulnerable Australians
Speaker 2: without meal delivery services, which is part of the age
Speaker 2: care safety in it right, Miles Morgan Australia are the
Speaker 2: preferred people to go in and save that service. The
Speaker 2: government just wants to give them money to go and
Speaker 2: take over it, but they can't because they're not Amalth
Speaker 2: Home Support Package contract holder. So what they do is
Speaker 2: they say, hey, Newcastle Meals and Wheels, can you be
Speaker 2: the host of this service? And so Newcastle Mills and Wheels,
Speaker 2: when Damian Isaac was still the CEO, said sure, let's
Speaker 2: do it. And that's what happened for a short while.
Speaker 1: Okay, So in reality though, it was Miles Morgan Australia
Speaker 1: who was running the whole operation at white Horse.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. They had control of the systems, control
Speaker 2: of the buildings, they were planning the runs, the meal
Speaker 2: delivery of everything, but they couldn't do it officially because
Speaker 2: they weren't a holder of a Commonwealth Home Support Package
Speaker 2: and a proved provider of one of those contracts, and
Speaker 2: so they had to, you know, essentially trick everyone into
Speaker 2: thinking that Newcastle Meals on Wheels was the service provider
Speaker 2: when they had almost nothing to do with it. And
Speaker 2: of course then that became a difficult deceit to uphold.
Speaker 2: When a pesky senator by the name of Jenet Rice,
Speaker 2: a Green senator at the time, starts asking questions and
Speaker 2: demanding to come and have a look.
Speaker 1: And so what happens when she gets there, I love
Speaker 1: this part of it. That's after the break. So Rick
Speaker 1: Miles Morgan is secretly running meals on Wheels in white
Speaker 1: Horse and Senator Janet Rice has just started asking questions
Speaker 1: about this and has decided to visit the site. So
Speaker 1: tell me about her trip there.
Speaker 2: So the Department knows at this point that the white
Speaker 2: Horse Mills on Wheels site is being run by Miles
Speaker 2: mog and Australia. They claim that they didn't know they
Speaker 2: were as heavily involved as they were, which then necessitates
Speaker 2: this Rube Goldberg machine cover up between Miles Borg and
Speaker 2: Australia and the Department with the reluctant acquiescence of Newcastle
Speaker 2: Meals on Wheels, where they say, all right, Jenet Rice
Speaker 2: is coming, milesin bog in Australia, will send home all
Speaker 2: of the staff who have been propping up this service
Speaker 2: and will just send the Newcastle Meals on Wheels. CEO
Speaker 2: Damien Issax, he's still coo at this point to take
Speaker 2: Senator Rice around, do a tour of the site, and
Speaker 2: you know, we'll give him a script to tell him
Speaker 2: what he can and can't say, so we don't tip
Speaker 2: it anyone off. And a Newcastle Meals and Wheels are like,
Speaker 2: what Hang on a second, this isn't right, And they
Speaker 2: actually asked during a board meeting there was a phone
Speaker 2: call with Rusty Herald who was dialed in and they said,
Speaker 2: why do we have to lie to Senator Rice on
Speaker 2: the thirtieth January this is twenty twenty four that you
Speaker 2: know we've been out there running the White House service
Speaker 2: when we haven't. It's been Milesbaugh in Australia. And the
Speaker 2: file note that they made says Russell said the department
Speaker 2: were not aware that MMA were in the White Horse
Speaker 2: as much as they were, and they don't want that,
Speaker 2: and so they MMA are now being managed and will
Speaker 2: not be used after the eighth of March twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: So essentially they agree that they'll send Damien Isaacs with
Speaker 2: a script that was written by Luxhman Gunner Atnam and
Speaker 2: the script literally says to any Meals on Wheels person
Speaker 2: there that day that if you're asked who you work
Speaker 2: for in the first instance, you say Damien Isaacs or
Speaker 2: Newcastle Meals on Wheels, and only if you're pushed do
Speaker 2: you say Miles Morgan Australia.
Speaker 1: I mean this is outrageous. Rick, you got to help
Speaker 1: people to lie to a senator like this.
Speaker 2: Well apparently you can. And they essentially got away with
Speaker 2: it because they split it up like they You sent
Speaker 2: Damien with Senator Rice, and they sent her adviser off
Speaker 2: with another Meals and Wheels member, And of course Newcastle
Speaker 2: Mills and Wheels, who tried to warn about this visit
Speaker 2: being faked anyway, were so concerned by what they saw
Speaker 2: and what actually happened on the ground that they actually
Speaker 2: they rang Senator Rice afterwards to say, heng On, what
Speaker 2: you thought you saw was a complete fabrication. None of
Speaker 2: what you saw today was real. It was a facade
Speaker 2: to try and trick you into thinking that this was
Speaker 2: being managed by us, and it's not. It's a private consultant.
Speaker 2: And then at Senator estimates on February fifteenth, so only
Speaker 2: you know. Less than a month later, Briany Mitchell, who's
Speaker 2: the new chair of Newcastle Meals and Wheels in her team,
Speaker 2: wrote to First Assistance Sectary THEA Connolly in the Department
Speaker 2: of Health and said we were gobsmacked to hear that
Speaker 2: Miles Morgan Australia have been provided a new contract, a
Speaker 2: new contract for one point six million dollars to quote
Speaker 2: unquote close out the transition of white Horse meals on
Speaker 2: wheels to Newcastle. And they had sunk at the department
Speaker 2: that's had sunk many millions of dollars into this project
Speaker 2: already and they had almost nothing to show for it.
Speaker 2: And so suddenly miles Borg in Australia gets one point
Speaker 2: six million dollars to do a document handover and a
Speaker 2: transferred to business as usual, which is yeah, it's unfathomable.
Speaker 2: So the Australian National Order Office is investigating all of
Speaker 2: this and they're actually due not too far away from
Speaker 2: now actually to hand down their report.
Speaker 1: So rick at the end of all of this, where
Speaker 1: does it leave meals on wheels? Because despite whatever the
Speaker 1: department might have thought of the service, it is essential
Speaker 1: for so many people. I actually used to go out
Speaker 1: with my Umar and my upah when I was young
Speaker 1: and we would do meals on wheels together, and I
Speaker 1: did and I remember the people who we gave the
Speaker 1: meals to and they're often lonely, elderly people who really
Speaker 1: rely on the service. So I mean, we'll meals and
Speaker 1: wheels continue.
Speaker 2: That is a thank you for making that observation because
Speaker 2: really the biggest value in meals and Wheels is the
Speaker 2: time they spend with the elderly. It's incidental time, but
Speaker 2: it's still time. It's not like they just fling the
Speaker 2: frozen meal through the kitchen window. They might do a
Speaker 2: little bit dusting whether they're there, or sit down and
Speaker 2: have a cup of tea. It's part of the service, right,
Speaker 2: and you can't replace that with a full blown market
Speaker 2: and I think that apartment did recognize that, and I
Speaker 2: think perhaps that's why they got so overly invested in
Speaker 2: this thing to the detriment of meals and Wheels. Funnily enough,
Speaker 2: you know, people want that kind of level of service.
Speaker 2: They don't want another. You know, NDOS comes along and
Speaker 2: then everything gets marketized and then suddenly you know, no
Speaker 2: one's doing anything that they're not getting paid for, whereas
Speaker 2: meals and Wheels was fundamentally different to that. And you know,
Speaker 2: there's a difference between supporting someone to adapt to a
Speaker 2: new world and forcing them out of operation because you
Speaker 2: don't like the model.
Speaker 1: Quick thank you for your time, Thank.
Speaker 2: You Ruby for your volunteer service as a youth. I
Speaker 2: loved it.
Speaker 1: Also in the news today, the Reserve Bank of Australia
Speaker 1: is widely expected to cut interest rates today as the
Speaker 1: bank holds its first meeting of the year. The official
Speaker 1: cash rate has been at a thirteen year high of
Speaker 1: four point three five percent since November twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: and most economists are predicting a cut of point twenty
Speaker 1: five percentage points to four point one percent. And the
Speaker 1: US Secretary of State says Ukraine and Europe will be
Speaker 1: part of any quote real negotiations to end Russia's war
Speaker 1: in Ukraine, attempting to downplay Europe's concerns of being cut
Speaker 1: out of initial talks between Russia and the United States
Speaker 1: set to take place in Saudi Arabia this week. Maco
Speaker 1: Rubio said a negotiation process has not yet begun in
Speaker 1: earnest and Ukraine and other European countries will be brought
Speaker 1: into the fold as talks advance. I'm Ruby Jones. This
Speaker 1: is seven am. Thanks for listening.