8 Interviewee story summaries There was a community petition of over 10% of BAC members who signed the petition, calling on the new board to hold a ‘special general meeting’. There was no response from the new board and no reply to the members’ petition. The Board has breached many rules in the Rule Book, these have been outlined to ORIC to follow through and we are still awaiting a true and correct response. The board recently held an AGM, members and directors did not receive the notices and the AGM had no quorum and they still passed resolutions that had not been outlined in the notices. Again this was a ‘breach’ of the BAC Rule Book and ORIC has been notified. Still awaiting a response. Cissy was extremely worried about the direction that these ‘bullies’ were trying to take Balangarra, particularly after she and the previous board and BAC employees had secured so much funding for all the initiatives they were running. She told us how the ‘bullying’ was increasing in severity. In the meantime – there has been terrible things happening in the background from these directors, things I can’t explain. So today, we have in the background, talks about certain people coming on the Board to kick me and my sister out and others to get access to the monies for self gain, to stop certain families accessing country. There are so many members concerned about the current affairs of BAC under this new directorship. There are people who sit on this board who were in the leadership of Oombulgurri at the time of it being mismanaged and the time of the abuse of women and children and the closure of the community. Cissy felt the need for the fully history of the community and these ‘bullies’ who had taken power again to be fully understood when the current circumstances of BAC are being assessed by outsiders. When the closure of Oombulgurri Community happened, there was no accountability, the people who sat on the board of Oombulgurri, the leadership of people, the schools, the police, the clinic. These people were present at that time. The story needs to be told of what really happened in that community. The stories I heard being told from residents who resided there are horrific, unbelievable that these things occurred to the women and children and also the high numbers of ‘suicide’ that occurred. There needs to be more people talking up. I guess they are still afraid, as the surrounding communities have the perpetrators and victims living in the same place with no real supports. While this is the case, the threats, fear and intimidations will continue to happen. Australian Human Rights Commission 69