Former City of Casey councillor Geoff Ablett says IBAC probe ’ruined lives’

Former Casey councillor Geoff Ablett says IBAC’s probe into corruption allegations shattered him, but he wouldn’t “give them the satisfaction of seeing me take my life”.

Geoff Ablett has spoken out after the IBAC investigation in to the Casey Council. Picture Rebecca Michael.

Former City of Casey councillor Geoff Ablett says IBAC has blood on its hands over its investigation into allegations of corruption.

He has criticised the decision of the Victorian Coroner to not hold an inquest into the death of his friend, Amanda Stapledon.

That decision means neither former commissioner Robert Redlich nor IBAC’s investigators will be publicly questioned by Ms Stapledon’s family about their treatment of her.

IBAC in 2019 accused Ablett of receiving more than $300,000 from property consultant John Woodman in return for favourable planning votes.

Ablett, 68, who played 202 games with Hawthorn including the 1976 and 1978 VFL Premierships and is an older brother of Geelong champion Gary Ablett, broke his silence this week over a three-year investigation he describes as a “character assassination that ruined people’s lives” and left him questioning his own life.

Geoff Ablett played 202 games for Hawthorn.

Former Casey Councillor Geoff Ablett. Picture Sarah Matray

“They tried to break me and while there were times I contemplated suicide, I was determined I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me take my life,” Ablett said.

“It’s been a long haul to get back to knowing and believing in who I am and what my values have always been. The allegations levelled at me were false and very carefully constructed to suit IBAC’s agenda.”

Sadly, Ablett’s wife Joy, who had been in remission from cancer, died in 2021 just four months after the disease returned.

He believes the stress associated with the nature of the IBAC investigation contributed to her death.

Ablett said despite the Victorian Ombudsman having found all allegations of any wrongdoing in planning matters unsubstantiated, he has found work hard to find.

“Three years on and I still haven’t been charged with any wrongdoing and there is a very good reason for that because I am innocent, but people look at me differently,” he said.

Geoff Ablett believes the stress associated with the IBAC investigation contributed to his wife’s death. Picture: Rebecca Michael.

“They find it very awkward and their conversation is brief. I am now a community outcast as people try to distance themselves.

“The IBAC experience I went through took me to some very dark places and that’s why I sought help from the AFL Past Players Association, who were fantastic in helping me by providing a psychiatrist and psychologist.

“That led me to the Monash Psych unit and a fortnightly visit to my GP. The professional help, plus a small group of people who have stuck by me, have helped me enormously.

“I regard myself as a good person who has helped a lot of people through my roles in the community, including 10 years volunteering for RecLink.

Ablett points to what he believes is a flawed IBAC model, one that costs taxpayers tens of millions but where the legal representatives of witnesses aren’t allowed to speak.

He says the 2021 death by suicide of his former Casey colleague in Amanda Stapledon should have led to a Coronial Inquest.

Geoff Ablett at Fair Work Commission in Melbourne. Picture: Tony Gough

Ablett was elected Mayor for 2013-14.

In an interview with former ABC presenter Jon Faine last December, Mr Redlich revealed the agency cleared itself or wrongdoing relating to Ms Stapledon’s death, a practice which he has criticised other agencies for.

“The conclusion was reached … that there was nothing we had done which, we thought, could have contributed to that situation,” Mr Redlich said.

Ablett said it was a clear conflict of interest for IBAC to investigate its own role in Mr Stapleton’s death.

“Amanda was never going to be charged with anything … yet to my knowledge that was never conveyed to Amanda who died believing she could go to jail.

“She knew she was innocent, but I saw Amanda the week before she died and she was a nervous wreck, believing she was being followed. She was the mother of a severely disabled son. Thank you IBAC.

“Under the IBAC model you are tried in the court of public opinion and then hung out to dry.

“They get on with their lives and leave the victims to try and pick up the pieces of their ruined lives.

Geoff Ablett at his home in Junction Village. Picture: Rebecca Michael.

“IBAC is a very authoritarian body which is allowed to operate under their own laws, and I believe the consequences of that have contributed to the deaths of two honest and lovely human beings.”

The IBAC hearing involving Ablett finished in 2019 with the body now working towards writing a report to be presented to parliament.

Ablett says he has nothing to fear from that report: “I never knowingly sat in a council meeting where I had a conflict of interest. There were five meetings out of hundreds where I didn’t declare a conflict because I didn’t know I had one. And in those meetings no major decisions were made.

“I believe a beefed-up police integrity unit would handle cases in a better manner than IBAC, with more care given to those who should be presumed innocent until found guilty. And the investigation shouldn’t be held in a public forum because it impacts too much on those being questioned.

“IBAC is not allowed to unreasonably damage anyone’s reputation. They didn’t just ‘unreasonable damage’ my reputation, they did their best to destroy it completely.”

IBAC has repeatedly declined to answer questions in relation to its treatment of specific witnesses.

A spokeswoman told the Sunday Herald Sun: “IBAC takes the wellbeing of everyone it engages with seriously and ensures they are aware of – and able to access – independent welfare support services.”

Since Ms Stapledon’s death, a witness liaison team has also been introduced to better support witnesses subject to questioning.

A Coroners Court spokeswoman said the investigation into Ms Stapledon’s death will be “finalised in chambers in due course”.