A man wanted by police for punching a Centrelink worker in the face allegedly stabbed another employee in the back – almost killing her – after a series of bureaucratic bungles.
Joeanne Cassar, 35, was left fighting for life after she was allegedly stabbed by Elijah Chase, 34, at a Centrelink service centre at Airport West, Melbourne last month in an incident that shocked Australia.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Chase should never have been allowed to enter the welfare agency in the city’s north-west that day due to a nationwide ban on him entering government sites.
Chase appeared before the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on Thursday where his attempt to obtain a court-imposed gag order on his alleged offending was withdrawn after opposition by Daily Mail Australia.
Police allege Elijah Chase, 34, stabbed Ms Cassar with a kitchen knife
Joeanne Cassar, 55, had tried to lock her attacker out of the Centrelink building
Police swarmed on the Centrelink in Airport West, Melbourne in May
It can be revealed Chase should not have even been near the Centrelink office on May 23.
Government and police sources have outlined a series of bureaucratic blunders that almost cost a life.
Surrounded by supporters, Ms Cassar arrived at court hobbling on crutches after sustaining what is believed to be life-changing injuries from the savage attack.
She refused to speak with Daily Mail Australia due to ongoing civil action launched against her employer in the days following her assault.
Former Victoria Police commissioner Graham Ashton is in the process of leading an urgent review of service centre security across Australia, with sources telling Daily Mail Australia he has spoken repeatedly with Ms Cassar.
It is understood Mr Ashton’s presence has had immediate results, with customer service staff now authorised to order customers to be screened by security before being admitted onto the site.
It was a direction Ms Cassar had been allegedly overruled on the very day she was stabbed.
A well-placed source told Daily Mail Australia Chase had been well known to rank-and-file workers within the Airport West Centrelink building.
Joeanne Cassar was brutally stabbed while at work
Joeanne Cassar, 55, was stabbed while working at Centrelink in Airport West
‘He’s restricted from every single Services Australia building, which is Centrelink, in Australia so he cannot 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 supposed to only communicate with staff over the phone.
‘It’s personalised servicing effectively,’ the source said.
Chase had received the ban after assaulting a female staffer within the very same building he is alleged to have stabbed Ms Cassar.
‘He assaulted workers and punched a woman in the face,’ the source said.
The alleged assault on December 20, 2021 saw police issue a warrant for Chase’s arrest – one which was only executed 18-months later when he allegedly stabbed Ms Cassar at work.
It remains unclear why he wasn’t locked up in May last year after being charged with more assaults in Brunswick.
Chase is further accused of breaking another worker’s collarbone during an alleged rampage at a JobFind Centre in Coburg.
Last month it was revealed Chase had been wanted on a warrant and for breaching a community corrections order at the time of his alleged attack on Ms Cassar.
A Victoria Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia on Friday Chase had been ‘actively avoiding police’.
Victorian police rushed to Centrelink Airport West after Ms Cassar was stabbed inside on May 23
Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton will head the review
Chase had been picked up on a Melbourne tram while still allegedly armed shortly after the daylight attack.
It is understood police allege he stabbed Ms Cassar with a kitchen knife after she confronted him at the door.
Chase had attended the office earlier that morning where he self-identified that he wasn’t allowed to enter and left without incident.
The breach saw Ms Cassar place the entrance doors on a ‘controlled entry’ status, which sees everyone entering the building screened before the doors open.
A source claimed that directive was overruled by a superior within an hour of the request being made.
‘It was taken away from her at 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 security guard ordinarily positioned within the office had been on his lunch break.
A police source said Ms Cassar told Chase he was not allowed inside and offered to go back inside and find him some assistance.
Witnesses have told Daily Mail Australia Ms Cassar was seen attacking Ms Cassar outside before she bolted back into the Centrelink office with Chase allegedly attacking her from behind.
‘He chased her from the door into the office,’ a witness said.
A 34-year-old man from Essendon was arrested and is assisting police with their investigation into the horrific stabbing on Tuesday
Daily Mail Australia has been told while Ms Cassar was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with critical injuries, Services Australia was already working to reopen the office.
‘The agency had already put plans in place to ensure that door opened the next morning,’ a source said.
‘They already had a replacement crew ready to roll out whether she lived or died.’
A former Centrelink worker, who asked not to be named, said staff were only protected by a ‘panic button’.
While workers enjoyed a brief respite from fears of attack during the Covid-19 pandemic, those increased security measures did not last.
‘We couldn’t leave staplers on our desk because they threw them at us. We couldn’t leave anything like that on our desks because they used them as weapons and threw them us,’ the former worker said.
‘It’s this Leftist wokest ideology that has infiltrated every single government department, every aspect of life and that’s why they had this stupid open door policy and we were all at risk. Every one of us.’
Sources claim while Chase had previously been assessed by doctors from Thomas Embling Hospital – for the criminally insane – he was not found sick enough to be admitted as a patient.
Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten said Mr Ashton’s review would examine what could be done better to prevent and deter future incidents.
‘This review will be carried out as a priority. The impact of this terrible incident on staff is obvious. Some were too distressed to return to frontline work today,’ Mr Shorten told Parliament after the attack.
‘I think it is important, and I briefly mentioned this to the Shadow Minister, that this Parliament expresses its support for all of our public servants, in particular the person who was assaulted yesterday.’
Chase will return to court in July.
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