The Long Silence
This is the second holiday season without Manix. The grief doesn't fade, but it changes shape. It hardens into resolve.
We started 2025 asking a simple question: Why aren't the authorities investigating the attack properly?
We end 2025 with a much more disturbing question: Why are Government departments and the Victorian Ombudsman fighting so hard to prevent them?
The Recursive Loop
This year, we learned that the system isn't just "broken" due to incompetence; it is designed to protect itself through a mechanism we call The Recursive Loop.
- Step 1: The Council fails to investigate. We escalate to the Police.
- Step 2: The Police abdicate responsibility, pointing back to the Council.
- Step 3: We escalate to the State Departments responsible for the Domestic Animals Act. They refuse to engage, pointing to the Ombudsman (VO).
- Step 4: The Ombudsman dismisses the role of the State Departments entirely, and tells us to go back to the Council for an "internal review."
It is a bureaucratic trap designed to exhaust victims. You are forced into a loop with the agency that failed you, asking for a review of their own failure. And when you complain about the Ombudsman's failure to oversee this, you are told to ask for an "internal review" of the Ombudsman.
It is a hall of mirrors where no one ever has to look at the evidence.
A Light in the Dark: The VOCC Victory
Not everyone was a disappointment. In August, we secured a significant precedent. The Victims of Crime Commissioner (VOCC) confirmed that the Victims' Charter now applies to local councils when they are investigating dog attacks.
This was a massive win for Victorians. It legally validated our standing. But as we learned later in the year, having rights on paper means nothing if the oversight bodies refuse to enforce them.
The Betrayal of Good Faith
In October, Integrity Oversight Victoria (IOV) intervened. A Senior Complaints Officer facilitated an opportunity for the Ombudsman to "re-engage" and review the evidence they had previously ignored.
We trusted the process. That trust was misplaced.
Instead of a genuine re-engagement, the Ombudsman delivered what we call "The Performative Review." They went silent for weeks, then simply re-issued their original dismissal using the same flawed logic. They effectively undermined the IOV's guidance, treating the process not as an opportunity to fix the error, but as a box-ticking exercise to close the file.
2026: The Election Year Pivot
We did not accept the Performative Review.
We have lodged a Second Formal Complaint with Integrity Oversight Victoria. We are currently negotiating the Particulars of Allegation with the Senior Complaints Officer. We are no longer just asking for a review of a dog attack; we are alleging Institutional Bad Faith.
The Mission for 2026 is clear:
- Investigate the Investigators: We will pursue the IOV complaint until we get a finding on the Ombudsman's conduct.
- Political Escalation: 2026 is a State Election year. If the bureaucracy won't fix itself, we will make it a political liability. We are preparing to take our entire case file—systemic failures, legislative loopholes, and oversight collapse—directly to MPs.
- Fix the Law: We will finalize our policy reforms to close the loopholes that allow dangerous dogs to be distributed as harmless pets.
This fight is no longer just about justice for Manix. It is about exposing the rot in the institutions that are supposed to protect us all.
We aren't going away.
For Manix. For the next victim. For the Truth.