Centrelink bans customer: Failures that led to worker at Airport West, Melbourne almost dying

A man wanted by police for punching a Centrelink employee in the face is said to have stabbed another employee in the back – nearly killing her – after a series of bureaucratic bungles.

Joeanne Cassar, 35, had to fight for her life after she was reportedly stabbed last month by Elijah Chase, 34, at a Centrelink service center at Airport West, Melbourne, in an incident that shocked Australia.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal that Chase was never allowed to enter social services in the north west of the city that day due to a nationwide ban on him entering government sites.

Chase appeared before Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where his attempt to obtain a court-ordered gag order for his alleged offense was withdrawn following opposition from Daily Mail Australia.

It can be revealed that Chase shouldn’t have even been near the Centrelink office on May 23.

Government and police sources have outlined a series of bureaucratic blunders that nearly cost a life.

Surrounded by supporters, Ms Cassar arrived at the court limping on crutches after suffering what are believed to be life-changing injuries from the savage attack.

She declined to speak to Daily Mail Australia due to ongoing civil proceedings against her employer in the days following her attack.

Former Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton is leading an urgent overhaul of service center security across Australia, with sources telling Daily Mail Australia that he has spoken to Ms Cassar on several occasions.

It is clear that Mr Ashton’s presence has had immediate results, with customer service staff now authorized to have customers screened by security before they are allowed onto the site.

It was a direction that would have overruled Mrs. Cassar the day she was stabbed.

A well-placed source told Daily Mail Australia that Chase was well known to ordinary employees at the Airport West Centrelink building.

“He’s barred from any Services Australia building, that’s Centrelink, in Australia, so he can’t go into any office at all. He is a banned customer,” the source said.

Under the ban, Chase – who was still receiving Centrelink payments – was only allowed to communicate with staff over the phone.

“It’s effective personalized maintenance,” the source said.

Chase was banned after assaulting a female staffer in the same building where he allegedly stabbed Ms. Cassar.

“He attacked workers and punched a woman in the face,” the source said.

In the alleged attack on December 20, 2021, police issued a warrant for Chase’s arrest – a warrant that was not executed until 18 months later when he allegedly stabbed Ms. Cassar at work.

It remains unclear why he was not jailed in May last year after being charged with more assaults in Brunswick.

Chase is further charged with breaking another worker’s collarbone during an alleged rampage at a JobFind Center in Coburg.

Last month it was revealed that Chase was wanted on a warrant and for violating a community correction order at the time of his alleged attack on Ms. Cassar.

A Victoria Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia on Friday that Chase was “actively avoiding the police.”

Chase had been apprehended in daylight shortly after the attack on a Melbourne tram while reportedly still armed.

It is clear that the police claim that he stabbed Mrs. Cassar with a kitchen knife after she confronted him at the door.

Chase had gone to the office earlier that morning, where he had self-determined that he was not allowed in and left without incident.

In the break-in, Ms. Cassar placed the entry doors on a “controlled entry” status, screening everyone entering the building before the doors open.

One source claimed the directive was overruled by a superior within an hour of the request.

“It was taken from her on a higher level, so the doors had to be opened,” the source said. She was told she didn’t have the power to do it and the doors were opened. They were told they didn’t have the authority to do it.’

When Chase returned, a guard usually posted in the office had taken his lunch break.

A police source said Ms. Cassar told Chase not to let him in and offered to go back in and get him help.

Witnesses told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Cassar attacked Ms Cassar outside before she stormed back into Centrelink’s office as Chase allegedly attacked her from behind.

“He chased her from the door to the office,” a witness said.

Daily Mail Australia has learned that while Ms Cassar was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with critical injuries, Services Australia was already working to reopen the office.

“The agency already had plans in place to ensure the door opened the following morning,” a source said.

“They already had a replacement crew ready to roll out whether she lived or died.”

A former Centrelink employee, who declined to be named, said staff were protected only by a ‘panic button’.

While workers enjoyed a brief respite from fear of an attack during the Covid-19 pandemic, those heightened security measures did not last.

“We couldn’t leave staplers on our desk because they threw them at us. We couldn’t leave something like that on our desks because they used them as weapons and threw them at us,” the former employee said.

“It’s this left wing, wackiest ideology that has infiltrated every government department, every aspect of life and that’s why they had this stupid open door policy and we were all in danger. Every single one of us.’

Sources claim that while Chase had previously been assessed by doctors at Thomas Embling Hospital – for the criminally insane – he was not found to be sick enough to be admitted as a patient.