"...I Love INLNews.com.......INLnews.com is easy to find but hard to leave....".. Mr Wijat's friend Magic Rabbit http://www.easterlingentertainment.net
Inspirational Quote"The
beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and
not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the
reflection of ourselves we find in them.? Thomas Merton"
This year 25 Queensland Policed were sacked as a result of investgations presented to the Queensland premier by the INL News Investigative team backed up by artilces in www.USAWeeklynews.com,
www.USAWeekendNews.com and
www.INLNews.com
which exposed serioius corruption in the Queensland Police Force, naming names...one of the corrupt Queensland Police exposed by the INLNews Investigatiuve team was Senior Detective Gregory Stormont who is now looking for a job as a watch dog for one of the big drug dealers on the Gold coast of Queensland he used to protect from being prosecuted for drug dealing....unfortunately Detective Gregory Stormont ended up with a serious drug habit himself and as a result often was seen "Nodding Off" at court hearings and Criminal Misconduct Commission hearings,, which he now looks like having to attend to answer questions about his corrupt behaviour when he was a senior police detective with the Queensland Police Force.
Ron Down Under
The MIckleberg Stich by Allan Loval www.smh.com.au/.../06/11/nws_creep.jpg
Running for justice ...one of the three Mickelberg brothers, Peter, chases the then CIB chief, Don Hancock, down the street after losing an appeal in the Perth Supreme Court in February 1999. Photo: WA News
Mint robbers were framed Sydney Morning Herald By Liza Kappelle June 11 2002
A former police officer has admitted that he and another detective lied and faked evidence during the trial of the Mickelberg brothers for the Perth Mint gold swindle 20 years ago. The West Australian Attorney-General, Jim McGinty, said yesterday that Anthony Lewandowski had given an affidavit to the Director of Public Prosecutions admitting he and the former CIB chief Don Hancock, who was murdered last year, had lied and fabricated evidence to convict the Mickelbergs. Raymond, Peter and Brian Mickelberg were convicted in 1983 of swindling $650,000 worth of gold from the mint. Raymond, a former SAS soldier, was released from jail in 1991 after serving eight years of a 20-year sentence. Peter served six years of a 14-year sentence. Brian Mickelberg had his conviction overturned after nine months in jail. He died in a helicopter crash in 1986.
Perth Mint
The Perth Mint Swindle is the popular name of a 22 June 1982 gold robbery at the Perth Mint in Perth, Western Australia. A total of 49 gold bars weighing 68 kg were stolen. The value of the gold at the time was A$653,000. Three brothers, Ray, Peter and Brian Mickelberg were sent to court and were sentenced in 1983 to twenty, sixteen and twelve years in jail respectively. The convictions against all three were eventually overturned. To date the case remains unsolved and continues to be fought by the Mickelbergs who maintain their innocence and allege a conspiracy by the police to frame them. Soon after the robbery police investigations focused on the Mickelberg brothers. According to the police, the Mickelberg brothers stole cheques from a Perth building society and then fooled the mint into accepting those cheques in exchange for gold bullion, which it was alleged, the brothers had picked up by a courier. The gold was picked up by a security company who delivered it to an office in.
The WA Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed the Mickelberg brothers' convictions. www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1145443.html
Police corruption rife in Qld, says former officer
Mark Colvin presents PM Monday to Friday from 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local Radio. Join Mark for the latest current affairs, wrapping the major stories of each day.
TranscripT
This is a transcript from PM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local Radio. You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA and MP3 formats.
PM - Monday, 16 April , 2007 18:35:40Reporter: Lindy Kerin PETER CAVE: A key whistleblower at the Fitzgerald Royal Commission into Police Corruption in Queensland says it's time to repeat the process. Retired police officer Col Dillon served more than three decades in the Queensland police force, and is one of Australia's most highly decorated Indigenous police officers. He's told the ABC's Message Stick program, corruption in the force is still very much alive. Full interview is lower down this page
Among those who died during the Waco Holocaust.
A HOLOCOST OF OVER 80 INNOCENT CHILDREN WOMEN , PRENANT WOMEN AND MEN
EqualJustice Under Law READ THE FULL STORY AND WATCH 30 VIDEOS EXPOSING THE TRUTH AND ALL THE QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED
CONCERNING WHY THE WACO SEIGE HAPPENED, WHO ORDERED IT AND WHAT REALLY DID HAPPED AND WHO WAS INVOLVED
The Queensland Police Service is the law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto of "Firmness with Courtesy" was changed to "With Honour We Serve". The headquarters of the Queensland Police Service is located at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
The Queensland Police was established on January 1, 1864 and started operations with approximately 143 employees, including the first Commissioner of Police D.T. Seymour. The service had four divisions: Metropolitan Police, Rural Police, Water Police, and Native Police. Bicycles were introduced in 1895. At the turn of the century there were 845 men and 135 Aboriginal trackers at 256 stations in Queensland.
1900s
In 1904 the Queensland Police started to use fingerprinting in investigations. The first women police officers were inducted in 1931 to assist in inquiries involving women suspects and prisoners. Following World War II a number of technological innovations were adopted including radio for communication within Queensland and between State Departments. By 1950 the Service was staffed by 2,030 sworn personnel, 10 women police and 30 trackers.
1960s
In 1965 women officers were given the same powers as male officers.
1970s
The Queensland Police Academy complex at Oxley, Brisbane, was completed in 1972. Bicycles were phased out in 1975 and the Police put more cars and motorcycles into service, the Police Air Wing also became operational in 1975 following the purchase of two single-engine aircraft. In 1980, a new computerised message switching system was put into use throughout the State, giving Queensland one of the most effective police communication systems in Australia.
1980s
The 1980s were a turbulent period in Queensland's political history, allegations of high-level corruption in the Queensland Police and State government led to a judicial inquiry presided by Tony Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald Inquiry which ran from July 1987 to July 1989 led to charges being laid against many long serving police including, Jack Herbert, Licensing Branch sergeant Harry Burgess, assistant commissioner Graeme Parker, [1]the Police Commissioner Terry Lewis (who was gaoled and served ten and a half years) and a perjury trial against the State Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
1990s
The Police Powers and Responsibility Act 1997, was passed by the Queensland government on July 1, 1997. The Act provides Police with powers necessary for modern effective policing. Technological introductions in the 1990s include Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Spray, the Glock semi-automatic pistol, extendible batons and hinged handcuffs in 1998,and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) laser-based detection devices and an Integrated Traffic Camera System in 1999 to enforce traffic speed limits.
2000s
The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 came into force in July 2000, consolidating the majority of police powers into one Act. The Queensland Police contribute to the national CrimTrac system and the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), established in 2000. The Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 commenced 1 January 2002 and redefined the responsibilities of the service and the Crime and Misconduct Commission with respect to the management of complaints.
As of 30 June 2002 there were 8,367 sworn staff (20.2% women) and 2,925 staff members at 321 Police Stations, 40 Police Beat shopfronts and 21 Neighbourhood Police Beats throughout the state.
As of June 30 2004, the Queensland Police Service had 9,003 sworn staff (21.8% women) and 2,994 staff members.
Around 2006, some officers received a TASER stun gun.
In mid-2007, approximately 5,000 officers participated in the Pride in Policing march through Brisbane, Queensland's capital.
Mission
To serve the people of Queensland by protecting life and property, preserving peace and safety, preventing crime and upholding law in a manner which has regard for the public good and rights of individuals.
Regions
There are eight police regions in the State of Queensland, each under command of an Assistant Commissioner:
Far Northern Region
Northern Region
Central Region
North Coast Region
Metropolitan North Region
Metropolitan South Region
Southern Region
South Eastern Region
These regions are further divided into districts or divisions.
Rank insignia is worn only by uniformed officers. Officers at the rank of Inspector and above (commissioned officers) have the words 'Queensland Police' embroidered on their epaulettes, which are significantly larger than the epaulettes of lower ranks. Different paypoints apply within the same rank relative to years of service.
Specialist areas
Officers must serve a mininum of three to five years in general duties before being permitted to serve in specialist areas such as:
It is noted that most of the Police Commissions in Queensland above are senior Freemasons.
The Freemasons are a very strong force in the legal, political and police force in Queensland, and Freemasons have a code to protect their own and if any tries to stand up against anyone of their members they quickly bring the full power of the legal, political and police system against them
The Queensland Police Academy complex at Oxley, , was completed in . Bicycles were phased out in and the Police put more and into service, the Police Air Wing also became operational in 1975 following the purchase of two single-engine aircraft. In , a new message switching system was put into use throughout the State, giving Queensland one of the most effective police communication systems in Australia.The 1980s were a turbulent period in Queensland's political history, allegations of high-level in the Queensland Police and State government led to a judicial inquiry presided by Tony Fitzgerald. The which ran from July to July led to charges being laid against many long serving police including, Jack Herbert, Licensing Branch sergeant Harry Burgess, assistant commissioner Graeme Parker, the Police Commissioner (who was gaoled and served ten and a half years) and a trial against the State Premier .The Police Powers and Responsibility Act 1997, was passed by the Queensland government on July 1, . The Act provides Police with powers necessary for modern effective policing. Technological introductions in the 1990s include , the semi-automatic pistol, extendible batons and hinged in ,and Light Detection and Ranging () laser-based detection devices and an Integrated Traffic Camera System in to enforce traffic .To serve the people of Queensland by protecting life and property, preserving peace and safety, preventing crime and upholding law in a manner which has regard for the public good and rights of individuals.Rank insignia is worn only by uniformed officers. Officers at the rank of Inspector and above (commissioned officers) have the words 'Queensland Police' embroidered on their , which are significantly larger than the epaulettes of lower ranks. Different paypoints apply within the same rank relative to years of service. It is noted that most of the Police Commissions in Queensland above are senior Freemasons.The Freemasons are a very strong force in the legal, political and police force in Queensland, and Freemasons have a code to protect their own and if any tries to stand up against anyone of their members they quickly bring the full power of the legal, political and police system against them
Police corruption rife in Qld, says former officer Mark Colvin
presents PM Monday to Friday from 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm
on ABC Local Radio. Join Mark for the latest current affairs, wrapping
the major stories of each day.
Transcript This is a transcript from PM. The program is
broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on
ABC Local Radio.
You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA and MP3 formats. PM - Monday, 16 April , 2007 18:35:40 Reporter: Lindy Kerin
PETER CAVE: A key whistleblower at the
Fitzgerald Royal Commission into Police Corruption in Queensland says
it's time to repeat the process.
Retired police officer Col
Dillon served more than three decades in the Queensland police force,
and is one of Australia's most highly decorated Indigenous police
officers.
He's told the ABC's Message Stick program, corruption in the force is still very much alive.
He's also called for an inquiry to help mend relations between the police and the Indigenous communities.
Lindy Kerin reports
LINDY KERIN: When he retired six years ago, Col Dillon was the country's highest-ranking Indigenous police officer.
He
rose to national prominence during the 1980s, when he blew the whistle
on police corruption at the Fitzgerald Royal Commission.
Now Col Dillon has told the ABC's Message Stick program, things haven't improved and that police corruption in Queensland is rife.
COL
DILLON: The culture that was pre-Fitzgerald is there today and every
bit as strong as what it was pre-Fitzgerald. It may have softened a
little bit after some of the reform processes come into place and so
forth, but there's been backsliding of a great magnitude in terms of
the police doing the services in this State.
LINDY KERIN: Col Dillon is now documenting his policing career.
He says his tell-all book will name corrupt figures who weren't identified in the Fitzgerald inquiry.
COL
DILLON: There will be people out there that will be concerned and have
some apprehension about what may be put to paper by me because there's
no doubt in my mind, and I know for a fact that there are people when
the net was cast to haul in the corrupt, there were quite a few that
got away.
LINDY KERIN: Last December Col Dillon quit his job as
a State Government adviser in Queensland. He resigned in protest over
the handling of the death in custody of an Aboriginal man on Palm
Island.
Col Dillon says he's deeply concerned about the relationship between Queensland police and the Indigenous community.
He says it's time for an inquiry into how the Queensland Police Service operates.
COL
DILLON: To my mind I would say this without any fear of contradiction
that it is high time again for another far reaching inquiry into our
police service and the way that it operates.
LINDY KERIN: The
Queensland Police Service has declined to respond to Col Dillon's
comments. So too has the State's Police Union. A spokesman Ross Musgrove says the union doesn't want to help promote Col Dillon's book.
He
says if the former police officer has a legitimate complaint, he should
take it to the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.
But
the President of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry
O'Gorman, says Col Dillon's comments should be taken seriously.
TERRY O'GORMAN: Col Dillon's got an enormous store of credibility.
He
was an inspector of police and an Aboriginal inspector of police in the
Licensing Squad when he blew the whistle on corruption.
He stayed in the police for a period of time after that.
When
he left the police he worked in Indigenous Affairs for the Queensland
Government, while still keeping in close contact with the Queensland
Police Service.
He's got enormous credibility and the Police
Minister and the Police Commissioner cannot simply brush his
well-founded criticisms aside.
And if he says that the Crime and
Misconduct Commission is so compromised because it's over time fallen
into a pretty ineffective oversight body against the Queensland police
then perhaps an external inquiry needs to be set up.
PETER CAVE: Terry O'Gorman from the Australian Council for Civil Liberties ending that report from Lindy Kerin.
In
a statement this afternoon, the Queensland Police Minister said she
hadn't yet seen the program in which he makes these claims and would
watch it when it goes to air tonight.
Judy Spence says if Mr
Dillon is has any information on corruption in the Queensland Police
Service he should report it to the appropriate bodies.
Queensland Detective Greg Stormont conspires with well known
drug dealer Lisa Quain to break and enter a luxury Gold Coast home and
steal $50,000 worth of Furniture
Judy Spence has been given evidence that can prove Queensland Detective
Greg Storemont conspired with Lisa Quain and other police and criminals
to break and enter a luxury home in Queensland Gold Coast and steal
$50,000 worth of furniture......there were caught out by a long and
expensive investigation by the INL News Group and became very scared
abiut being exposed and ended up returning a lot of the furniture.
The robbery was done for a number of reasons including:
1. So well known drug addict Lisa Quain could raise money to feed her
$1,000 a week drug habit and Greg Storemont a few extra dollars in his
back pocket from the sale of the furniture
2. As part of a overall conspiracy involving Queensland
Detective Greg Stormont and his criminal net work of drug lords and
shaby lenders, bikie heavies and drug dealers and users, to
try and create a false charge against the owner of the property where
the furniture was stolen and the borrowers of properties in Red Oak
Drive Tallai in an overall conspiracy to defraud the borrowers of their
$90 million in equity in these properties which the owners of seven
properties in Red Oak Drive Tallai had a sale for $100 million. The
plan was simple. Help Lisa Quain break and enter the property and steal
two housefuls of expensive luxury furniture and get Lisa Quain to make
a false statement to the police that the borrowers of the seven
properties in Red Oak Drive, Tallai and the owner of the property where
the furniture was stolen were involved in stealing the furniture
themselves. This way Queensland Detective Greg Stormont can
create false charges against the owners of the Seven properties in Red
Oak Tallai that they were involved with breaking and entering and
stealing the furniture, have them arrested on these false charges which
would make it more difficult to be able to refinance these properties
away from the 10% to 20% per month interest loans from a gaol cell
trying to defend these false charges. In the mean time the shady
lenders repossesses the properties and they are sold cheap to their
associates, then sold a few year later for million in tax free profits. Queensland Detective Greg Stormont and his criminal net work
of drug lords and shady lenders, bikie heavies and drug dealers and
users were
also desperately wanting to get hold of the ownership of the house
where the $50,000 of luxury furniture was stolen at a cheap price so
they also wanted to set the owner up of that property on a false
charge. This way this robbery could achieve all their aims. They could
use Lisa Quain's false police statement that the owner of the house
where the robbery took place that the owner was involved in having
their own furniture stolen, so when the insurance claim went was made a
as result of the robbery, the owner of the house would be falsely
charged for making a false insurance claim using the false statement of
Lisa Quain, a drug dealer and user, who is a partner with the corrupt
police like Greg Stormont, to support this false charge.
3. Use the robbery to see if there were papers in the house that could
be used to try and set up the owner of the house and the owners of the
seven house in Red Oak Drive Tallai of other false charges so that they
could come back later and get an official police warrant to falsely
make out that papers they stole in the robbery where removed legally
with the search warrant.
The problem now for Queensland Detective Greg Stormont and his criminal net work
of drug lords and shady lenders, bikie heavies and drug dealers and
users is that INL News Group can conclusively prove that papers that were stolen in the robbery by Queensland Detective Greg Stormont and his criminal net work
of drug lords and shady lenders, bikie heavies and drug dealers and
users where in the possession of Queensland Detective Greg Stormont the day before Queensland Detective Greg Stormont obtained the official search warrant.
Like all criminals like Queensland Detective Greg Stormont
4. Use the robbery to steal the original series of books belonging to the INL News Group and its shareholders called the The Triumph of Truth (Who's Watching the Watchers?) which
in over 10,000 pages in six volumes setting out the most serious
corruption and wrongful acts committed by Judges, Magistrates, low
level, middle ranking and senior police, senior politicians, court
clerks, corrupt business people, corrupt lawyers and barristers,
corrupt public trustee officers and others. These books were about to
be made into a series of feature films and television and Internet
series which would have made the INL News Group hundreds of million sof
dollars as ell has have the world know how corrupt the political,
legal, public trustee, business and court system in Australia is.
These books were originally sold to the Western Australian Alexander
Resource Library and were recorded on the computer references in the
Library for two years, however the books were so provative and damaging
to the most powerful people in the political, legal, public trustee,
business and court system in Australia, that even without any court
order, the crown law office in Western Australia demanded that the
library shred the books as though the library never brought them and
just never existed. Normally when a book is written that someone is
upset about it's contents, they issue a legal writ for damages and an
injunction to stop it being published. However the powerful people in
the political, legal, public trustee, business and court system in
Australia did not want to do this as this would bring world publicity
to the contents of the books and they knew they would lose the court
case because everything was the truth in the books and the contents was
simply information that had already been lodged in the Local, District,
Supreme, Federal and High Courts over three decades.
It is noted that the INL News Group has given notice on many occasions
to the Government of Queensland and the Queensland Police Force that
the longer they wrongfully hold onto these books the over $1 billion
damage claim in mounting day by day. and the INL News Group are
preparing to sue the Government of Queensland and the Queensland Police
Force for over $1 billion in damages because the theft of these books
has hindered the INL News Group from making the series of films, TV
series and Internet movies based on The Triumph of Truth (Who's Watching the Watchers?).
If it was not the the INL News Group expensive and lengthy
investigation into this matter, the bulk of the furniture would not
have been returned by Queensland Detective Greg Stormont and his criminal net work
of drug lords and shady lenders, bikie heavies and drug dealers and
users and the INL News Group would not have gathered the conclusive evidence to prove that Queensland Detective Greg Stormont and his criminal net work
of drug lords and shady lenders, bikie heavies and drug dealers and
users were
clearly involved with breaking and entering the house and stealing
$50,000 worth of furniture. The INL News Group have constantly offered
to provide the complete investigation file to the CMC,Judy Spence and
anyone else that wanted ot have it to have this all investigates, but
no one is interested in the truth that would mean Queensland Detective Greg Stormont would be sacked form the police force and end up in jail along with many others from his criminal net work
of drug lords and shady lenders, bikie heavies and drug dealers and
users
Letters written to Judy Spence, the Minister for the Police In Queensland and her response
Please read the following article on www.inlnews.com
and
pass on to as many people and as many authorities as possible as this
sort of behavior by the police has to stop as Australian Citizens are
in danger and besides it is giving Australia a very bad name in the
world as one of the most corrupt and dangerous societies to live,
especially Queensland which seems to be the most corrupt
The CMC
should supina Lisa Quain to get her to tell all about the police
involvement with selling and taking drugs and helping to protect major
drug dealers in Queensland and other states in Australia, Western
Australia where she originally comes form she says has the same
problems with corrupt police, they have been protecting her drug
operation for years, however she is only a very low level drug dealer
who is a young mum you ended up with a $1,000 a week speed habit as a
result of the police who work in with the local bikie gangs supplying
her with a large amount of speed and she then had to keep selling drugs
for and with the police and their associates to support her $1,000 a
week speed habit. Eventually they will provide her with a Hot Shot (a
lethal dose of drugs)and kill her that way so she can not speak out
anymore and tell the world what the police and their criminal drug
dealing partners have been up to. There will simply be an article in
the newspaper that a well know drug dealer and drug addict died of an
overdose of drugs last night and nobody will give a dam. Lisa Quain
needs protection by the CMC and to be looked after and she can help the
CMC clean up the billion dollar drug operation in Queensland and have
many of the corrupt police and drug dealers arrested. That is of course
if the CMC are not corrupt themselves and want to clean up the drug
problem and the corrupt police, in that case the CMC will do nothing,
not bother to bring Lisa Quain in to tell all she knows, and she knows
a lot, believe us. Lisa Quain can bring a lot of powerful people down
and maybe force another royal commission into the Queensland police and
the Federal Police to try and stop the corruption that helps make sure
the multi Billion Drug industry survives in Queensland and keeps
killing out young people and destroying their lives
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Kallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts committed by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their associates-
INL News has been presented with
evidence that senior state Queensland Police officers are involved with
protecting major drugs dealers in the Gold Coast to help with
developing and protecting the multi billion dollar drug industry
thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia who use their illegal
drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest rate real estate loans
at up to 15% interest per month using high profile lawyers trust
accounts to launder the billions in drug profits-
INL News has been
given evidence by well known low level drug dealers and users who have
agreed to help expose the corruption in the Queensland Police Force and
the police involvement at high levels in drug taking and drug selling
in the Gold Coast in Queensland-
the witnesses who have provided sworn evidence to INL are now in hiding for fear of their lives.....
Watch
this space for more details soon to be published by INL News for the
world to see what really goes on in the sunny Gold Coast Queensland
Australia, which is fast becoming the crime capital of the world, with
such crimes being developed, supported, maintained and protected by
senior members of the Queensland Police Force-
INL has been told by
one senior ex-police officer that used to be in the major crime squad,
that he had to leave the Queensland Police Force because he could not
stand up against senior police protecting major drug dealers and
allowing them to operate openly with senior police protection in the
Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to either join their
corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police force and keep his
integrity... but again he was too scared to speak up publicly as to
what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his family living in
the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to protect their
illegal business interests and because they are the police, there is no
where to run and no where to hide from these people, who have no
hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure of their silence and
making threats of murder and physical body damage to anyone or their
families that
get in their way.....
INL News has such evidence
well secured in an international location ready to be presented to the
International Court of Justice if those involved with such criminal and
wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to innocent people who are
presently being wrongfully being harassed by The Crime and Misconduct
Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan,
Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others being used by
powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates
which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose
to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts committed by them which
includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major
drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major
crimes committed by public company directors and their assistants...
"...I
texed Lisa Quain today, to ask her how she was... this is the
reply.....having a bad day again, as per usual. trying to correlate the
whole saga of extremely traumatic events.we are trying to put it in
chronological order, with names and phone numbers of witnesses and
government authority contacts or departments that can verify facts
that prove a gross misconduct and negligence or official corruption .
its just too much to cope with. too much occurred . its a HUGE amount
of criminal offences commited against us ! police refused to act on
any of it, that includes hand guns pointed at us. unbelievable , but
all true......."
Subject: CMC used by corrupt Queensland police to cover up crimes police have committed From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Mon, October 29, 2007 10:31 pm
To: Cc: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au media_unit@cmc.qld.gov.au. attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
Urgent Attention Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18
State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3520 Fax: (07) 3221 2534 Email: mailbox@justice.qld.gov.au
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3478 Fax: (07) 3220 2475 Email: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas
Switchboard: (07) 3360 6060 Toll free (outside Brisbane): 1800 061 611 Fax: (07) 3360 6333 Email: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au
Media contact Contact the CMC's Communications Officer (Media) if you have a query, or wish to arrange an interview.
Telephone: (07) 3360 6344 Mobile: 0407 373 803 Fax: (07) 3360 6235
Dear Sir or Madame
I
am the editor of INLNews.com and I have authorized the world wide
publication of the following article on our web site www.inlnews.com
If
you and/or any in your organization and/or anyone mentioned in the
article are unhappy with the article and/or anything in it, please get
your lawyers to email me your objection and any legal threats in
relation to the objection you may have. If I do not hear form you the
article will stay with further articles as follow up ones to be
continued on the same lines with more detailed information
I
look forward to hearing from you if you want to respond to this email
and/or the attached artice that is now on public display on the world
wide Internet.
yours kindly Partick Obi Editor of www.inlnews.com
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts committed by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants-
INL News has been presented with
evidence that senior state Queensland Police officers are involved with
protecting major drugs dealers in the Gold Coast to help with
developing and protecting the multi billion dollar drug industry
thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia who use their illegal
drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest rate real estate loans
at up to 15% interest per month using high profile lawyers trust
accounts to launder the billions in drug profits-INL News has been
given evidence by a well known low level drug dealers and user who
agreed to help expose the corruption in the Queensland Police Force and
the police involvement at high levels in drug taking and drug selling
in the Gold Coast in Queensland-the witnesses who has provided sworn
evidence to INL is now in hiding for fear of their lives.....
Watch
this space for more details soon to be published by INL News for the
world to see what really goes on in the sunny Gold Coast Queensland
Australia which is fast becoming the crime capital of the world, with
such crimes being developed, supported, maintained and protected by
senior members of the Queensland Police Force- INL has been told by one
senior ex-police officer that used to be in the major crime squad that
he had to the leave the Queensland Police Force because he could not
stand up against senior police protecting major drug dealers operating
openly with senior police protection in the Gold Coast Queensland... it
became a choice to either join their corrupt and illegal activities or
leave the police force and keep his integrity... but again was too
scared to speak up publicly as to what he saw for fear of his life and
the life of his family living in the Gold Coast... these people will
stop at nothing to protect their illegal business interests and because
they are the police, there is no where to run and no where to hide from
these people, who have no hesitation of having someone murdered to make
sure of their silence and making threats of murder and physical body
damage to anyone or their families that
get in their way.....
INL
News has such evidence well secured in an international location ready
to be presented to the International Court of Justice if those involved
with such criminal and wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to
innocent people who are presently being wrongfully being harassed by
The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed
by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady
business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for
a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts
committed by them which includes conspiracy to break and enter,
conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold
Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants
Queensland Government logo
Hon Judy Spence MP Member for Mount Gravatt Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport Response to Ministerial Correspondence Received by E-mail Ref: 8893 F1 WK
19 November 2007 Mr Patrick Obi patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Dear Mr Obi
Thank you for your email of 31 October 2007 concerning your allegations against the Queensland Police Service. This matter is receiving attention and you will be advised further as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely Judy Spence MP Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport
As
Yet there has been no further communication from Judy Spence, the
Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport for Queensland.
INLNews.com
does not expect to receive any further communication from Judy Spense,
as it is quite clear that Judy Spence and the rest of the Government in
Queensland are not in the least bit interested in tackling and or
wanting to even admit the existence of the serious multi billion dollar
illegal drug trade in Queensland that ex Major Queensland Crime Squad
Detective Dan Lansky, now working for www.smartventures.com.au and
Chapmans Limited says exists.
Mr Dan Lansky has stated to reporters
of INLNews.com that he left the Queensland Police Force after a long
and successful career because it sickened him so constantly get
instructions from his more senior police officers that that instead of
arresting well known drug lords in Queensland's Gold Coast that her saw
living the life style of the rich and famous on other people's misery,
he was constantly asked to protect the drug lords at the head of the
food chain who make the billions each year out the illegal industry
that thrives with the help of senior Queensland Police like Detective
Greg Stormont, who heads a major criminal drugs and shady loans
syndicate that involves Queensland Police at the most highest rank,
multi millionaire and billionaire businessmen, well respected Lawyers,
CMC Officers, Bikie gangs and standover and hit men.
Ex Queensland
Major Crime Squad detective Dan Lansky says he does not regret for one
minute leaving the Queensland Police Force to work in the high flyer
world of Public listed company with Borris Ganke in Chapmans Limited
and Brett Goldsworthy in www.smartventures.com.au. Dan Lansky says at
least he now makes an honest living, rather than being paid by the
Queensland Government to protect billionaire drugs lords living lavish
life styles in Queensland's Gold Coast, which is fast becoming known as
the drug and crime capital of the world.
If Judy Spence, the
Commissioner of Police, the Premier of Queensland and the Criminal
Misconduct Commission (CMC) and the rest of those in charge of running
Queensland are serious about tackling the billion dollar illegal drug
trade that is now a major part of Queensland's thriving economy, then
they will get the CMC and other law enforcement and investigative
bodies to interview people like Lisa Quain on the lower end of drug
taking and selling drugs to feed her $1,000 a day drug habbit and
people like Dan Lansky who can give clear evidence of his knowledge of
illegal activities within the police force and also have another Royal
Commission into the Queensland Police Force with a specific reference
to exposing and investigating why a multi billion dollars illegal drug
industry can thrive in Queensland right under the noses of State and
Federal Police Authorities whoa re meant to be there to stop such
illegal activity, rather than protect protect such activity and share
in the billion dollars profits made each year form the suffering and
misery of those who pay each week for these illegal drugs.
The other
devastating and sad effect of this thriving billion dollar illegal drug
industry in Queensland is that it is the major cause of the rest of the
crime that takes place in Queensland such as robberies and violence as
the hooked drug users like Lisa Quain have to break and enter house,
cars and rob people in the street to obtain the money to pay for the
drugs they are desperate to obtain each week. Such drug users also
supliment the income they obtain from robberies and violence by selling
drugs for the billionaire drug lords who have corrupt police and other
criminal heavies protecting their business and making sure that low
level drug users and sellers like Lisa Quain are well aware if the try
to expose them in any way they will either end up dead by a bullet
through the head, or just end up being found on some street corner one
morning having died of a hot shot of lethal cocktail of drugs that have
been given to her by her more senior drug dealer under instructions
from the power billionaire drug lords that run the whole illegal drug
industry in Queensland.
It is noted that it is a well established
fact that most of the illegal drugs that are sold in New South Wales
and either grown and/or manufactured in Queensland and transported by
truck, train and plane down daily to New South Wales.
If the
Queensland authorities were serious about stopping the thriving billion
dollar illegal drugs industry in Queensland, which could be down easily
if the Queensland Police stopped protecting drug dealers and sharing in
the yearly profits made from the illegal drug industry, and did the job
they are paid to do by the Queensland people, that is, to stop crime
rather than being involved with perpetuating crime and protecting the
senior criminal fiqures that control crime in Queensland.
It is also
a well know fact that the billionaire drug lords use senior well
respected law firms to launder their drug profits and to keep this
money circulating and making more money but placing these illegal drug
profits into the trust accounts of the well respected law firms and
then the money lend out to desperate business people who need cash in a
hurray for a business deal at up to 20% per month for short term loans.
They then secure these loans against the lenders real estate assets,
knowing they will never be able to keep up with interest payments of
10-20% per month.
Then the next step in the loan scam is that the
lenders use powerful corrupt estate agents like Ray White and LJ Hooker
and corrupt registered valuers like Herron Todd White who all work
together in the Gold Coast to devalue the borrowers home so it is
impossible for them the refinance their homes with a normal bank
lender. Because the false reduced value and market appraisal placed on
the property by the Ray White Estate Agents and Herron Todd White
Valuers means that the borrowers loan to equity ratio is too low for a
normal bank to approve a refinancing of the property to get the
borrower out of the now 20% per month loan that has gone into penalty
rate form the original 10% per month rate .
What happens next is the
drug lord billionaire lender now repossesses the home of the borrower,
sells it up cheap at a mortgagee sale with the buyer being a partner of
the lender. The property is eventually resold year or so later for a
big profit and the finds received form the sale of the property is then
clean tax free money from attack form any of the regulatory and
taxation bodies. The parter of the billionaire drug lord who brought
the house cheap at mortgagee sale lives in the house as his own home so
when it is sold the profit on the house is completely tax free.
In
one instance in a street called Red Oak Drive Tallai, where the
criminal syndicate headed by Queensland Detective Greg Stormont and
his drug lord lenders, lend out about $7 million on properties which
had the potential for making hundreds of millions in development
profits because their large acreage and the sweeping Gold Coast and
Hinze Dam Views. These loans where made in the hope that the borrower
could not pay the loans back and included loans set up fees of about
$100,000 per property besides the 10% per month interest rate that rose
to 20% per month if the interest was not paid on time.Detective Greg
Stormont ran around telling everyone in the street, in Tallai and the
whole gold coast including valuers, estate agents and financiers that
the companies that loaned the money were under investigation for a
serious fraud, Ray White Real Estate Agents and Herron Todd White
Valuers ran around saying the properties has an independent sworn
valuation of $2-$3 million each were only worth about $500,000 to
$600,000 being luxury large homes on about 10 acres each, with sweeping
views of the Gold Coast and the Hinze Dam and only ten minutes drive
from the ocean, ten major shopping centres, 20 minutes drive from the
Gold Coast International Airport and only 50 minutes drive form
Brisbane.
There powerful contacts even managed to get the valuers
government body to instruct all valuers in Queensland to refuse to
value these properties at any price. So that when the borrower had
loans approved from various normal lenders at 8% per annum to refinance
these properties and/or had any of these properties sold, they made
sure that no valuation could be obtained so the refinance and/or the
sale could not go ahead.
This way the 7 properties that had
independent sworn valuations of about $21 million with overall loans of
about $7-8 million, suddenly were un-refinancable and un-sale able and
they could only be sold to cash buyers at mortgagee sales at about
$600,000 with anyone that showed any interest in purchasing the
properties being told by Ray White Real Estate who are considered the
God in real estate advice in the Gold Coast and Herron Todd White
Valuers that these properties were only worth about $500,000 to
$600,000 each and no more. this meant that no one was willing to pay
anymore that these price sin the end the properties started to be sold
for about $600,000 each.
For the borrowing companies this meant they
had loans of about $7 million with sale prices and market appraisals of
about $3.6 million, when only a few months before the borrowing
companies had independent sworn valuations of about $21 million which
meant that there should have been no problem about borrowing up to
about $14 million at 8% per annum, paying out all the high priced 20%
per months loans and having about $5 million in working capital to
purchase a well established cash flow business making ample income to
pay the the the 8% per annum interest on the $14 million loan.
In
stead, the properties were forclosed on and the properties were being
sold to parters and/or friends of the powerful drug
lord/financiers/police at bargain prices of about $600 each.
The new
buyers just have to make this their own home and eventually sell these
properties for millions of dollars as valuable developments sites with
luxury homes on them, with the profits all tax free as clean money as
any profit from the sale of your own home where you live as your
primary residence is completely tax free in Australia.
Now two years later properties in Red Oak Drive are no going on the market for over $2 million,
by the established estate agents who said that in two years ago they were only worth about $600,000.
A nice tidy tax free profit for the criminal Drug Lords/Financiers/Police syndicate and their associates.
The
situation even gets worse. Those that are in a position to threaten to
expose this devious scam, are then frightened to speak about it all
publicly by Detective Greg Stormont using his corrupt contacts in
Queensland's Criminal Misconduct Commission (CMC) to drag innocent
people into secret interrogation hearings where only a high priced
corrupt lawyer at the cost of $3,000 a day can attend and be asked
about these real estate deals and are told that if they speak to anyone
about this they will be arrested by the CMC as under the Queensland Law
it appears that anything that is discussed in these secret hearing is
not allowed to be discussed outside to anyone. You are not even meant
to tell anyone you have been dragged to these secret hearings.
The purpose of Detective Greg Stormont who is fronting for the criminal syndicate, for the CMC hearings to two fold:
1. The frighten the life out of anyone that could be a danger to speak out against the criminal syndicate;
2.
The by pass the well established right to remain silent, so that trick
questions can be asked at these hearings and can be used by the corrupt
police such as Greg Storment to try and create a false charge against
the witness.
Then a charge is laid against the witness that
could have been a danger of exposing the criminal syndicate and then
the police will try and oppose bail, and i n the mean time one of their
corrupt layer mates will extract hundreds of thousand of dollars from
the witness in legal fee defending these false charges against them. In
the end the false charges are dropped when the police are forced by the
courts to produce evidence that proves a criminal offense has been
committed.
In the mean time the witness that has been falsely arrest
has had their reputation destroyed, lost all their assets in legal fees
and had a nervous breakdown. Under Queensland Law it is very difficult
to be able to successfully sue a police officer for charging you with a
criminal offense and then not producing any evidence that satisfies the
court that a criminal offense has been committed, and the charges are
thrown out by the court. Most lawyer will tell a person that you can
not sue a police officer for laying charges that in the end had no
basis.
So Detective Greg Stormont can corruptly use his power as a
police officer and his corrupt contacts in the CMC to have anyone that
could be see to be an enemy of his criminal business associates,
dragged off the street and/or form their home into secret interrogation
star chamber hearings, interrogated against their will and lose their
normal right to remain silent, the charged with a criminal offense that
simply has no basis whatsoever and force the person to spend a fortune
on lawyers to have bail granted and defend these false charges for
about two years. Then finally after spending all their money in high
priced lawyers, had their creditability tarnished and had a nervous
breakdown over all the victimization, Greg Storemont does not produce
the evidence to the court to satisfy the court at a preliminary or
committal hearing that the person has committed a criminal offense and
the charges are thrown out by the court.
Detective Greg Stormont
knows nothing will happen to him and his criminal syndicate members who
in the mean time are living the high life from all the profits of all
their criminal activities.
However, what Greg Stormont does not
understand that the INL News Group have in the past helped Tony Webster
from Western Australia sue a police officer form Kalgoorlie Supreme
Court for damages, called Sergent Lampard. The Master in the Supreme
Court first dismissed the action saying that one can not sue a police
officer. The INL News Group then help Tony Webster take an appeal to
the High Court which ruled in Tony Webster's favour.
Now everyone in Australia can use this High Court case called
Webster
v Lampard as a legal basis to sue a police officer personally for
damages if it is felt hat his has gone beyond his normal call of duty.
There
is no doubt that before long Detective Greg Stormont will be sued for
multi millions in damages and his employers, the Queensland Government
will be jointly and severally liable to pay this damage claim. This
damage claim will be paid from hardworking Queensland tax payers money.
This all could have been avoided if the Queensland parliamentarians
like Judy Spence would take notice of all the evidence that there is
serious and deep routed corruption in the Queensland Police Force and
now also the CMC which is effectively been used by corrupt police like
Greg Stormont and his and his other criminal members of his criminal
syndicate as their personal Star Chamber t frighten the life out of
anyone that could be a danger to them and to destroy other business
people who may be in competition to them.
If something is not
done soon to rectify the situation the it will all end up in the
International Court of Justice and the world wide media will brand
Queensland, their police force and their legal system and the
politicians that run Queensland as the most corrupt place in the world.
Political corruption
World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International,
which measures "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist
among public officials and politicians". High numbers (green) indicate
relatively less corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate
relatively more corruption.
In broad terms, political corruption is when government
officials use their governmental powers for illegitimate private gain.
Misuse of government power for other purposes, like repression of
political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered
political corruption. Illegal acts by private persons or corporations
not directly involved with the government is not considered political
corruption either. All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to these organized crime
activities. In some nations corruption is so common that it is expected
when ordinary businesses or citizens interact with government
officials. The end-point of political corruption is a kleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves".What constitutes illegal corruption differs depending on the country
or jurisdiction. Certain political funding practices that are legal in
one place may be illegal in another. In some countries, government
officials have broad or not well defined powers, and the line between
what is legal and illegal can be difficult to draw. Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion (£494bn)
and the burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom
billion people living in extreme poverty.[1]
Police corruption rife in Qld, says former officer Mark Colvin
presents PM Monday to Friday from 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm
on ABC Local Radio. Join Mark for the latest current affairs, wrapping
the major stories of each day.
Transcript
This is a transcript from PM. The program is
broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on
ABC Local Radio. You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA and MP3 formats.
PETER CAVE: A key whistleblower at the
Fitzgerald Royal Commission into Police Corruption in Queensland says
it's time to repeat the process.
Retired police officer Col
Dillon served more than three decades in the Queensland police force,
and is one of Australia's most highly decorated Indigenous police
officers.
He's told the ABC's Message Stick program, corruption in the force is still very much alive. He's also called for an inquiry to help mend relations between the police and the Indigenous communities.
Lindy Kerin reports
LINDY KERIN: When he retired six years ago, Col Dillon was the country's highest-ranking Indigenous police officer.
He
rose to national prominence during the 1980s, when he blew the whistle
on police corruption at the Fitzgerald Royal Commission.
Now Col Dillon has told the ABC's Message Stick program, things haven't improved and that police corruption in Queensland is rife.
COL
DILLON: The culture that was pre-Fitzgerald is there today and every
bit as strong as what it was pre-Fitzgerald. It may have softened a
little bit after some of the reform processes come into place and so
forth, but there's been backsliding of a great magnitude in terms of
the police doing the services in this State.
LINDY KERIN: Col Dillon is now documenting his policing career.
He says his tell-all book will name corrupt figures who weren't identified in the Fitzgerald inquiry.
COL
DILLON: There will be people out there that will be concerned and have
some apprehension about what may be put to paper by me because there's
no doubt in my mind, and I know for a fact that there are people when
the net was cast to haul in the corrupt, there were quite a few that
got away.
LINDY KERIN: Last December Col Dillon quit his job as
a State Government adviser in Queensland. He resigned in protest over
the handling of the death in custody of an Aboriginal man on Palm
Island.
Col Dillon says he's deeply concerned about the relationship between Queensland police and the Indigenous community.
He says it's time for an inquiry into how the Queensland Police Service operates.
COL
DILLON: To my mind I would say this without any fear of contradiction
that it is high time again for another far reaching inquiry into our
police service and the way that it operates.
LINDY KERIN: The
Queensland Police Service has declined to respond to Col Dillon's
comments. So too has the State's Police Union
A spokesman Ross Musgrove says the union doesn't want to help promote Col Dillon's book.
He
says if the former police officer has a legitimate complaint, he should
take it to the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.
But
the President of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry
O'Gorman, says Col Dillon's comments should be taken seriously.
TERRY O'GORMAN: Col Dillon's got an enormous store of credibility.
He
was an inspector of police and an Aboriginal inspector of police in the
Licensing Squad when he blew the whistle on corruption.
He stayed in the police for a period of time after that.
When
he left the police he worked in Indigenous Affairs for the Queensland
Government, while still keeping in close contact with the Queensland
Police Service.
He's got enormous credibility and the Police
Minister and the Police Commissioner cannot simply brush his
well-founded criticisms aside.
And if he says that the Crime and
Misconduct Commission is so compromised because it's over time fallen
into a pretty ineffective oversight body against the Queensland police
then perhaps an external inquiry needs to be set up.
PETER CAVE: Terry O'Gorman from the Australian Council for Civil Liberties ending that report from Lindy Kerin.
In
a statement this afternoon, the Queensland Police Minister said she
hadn't yet seen the program in which he makes these claims and would
watch it when it goes to air tonight.
Judy Spence says if Mr
Dillon is has any information on corruption in the Queensland Police
Service he should report it to the appropriate bodies.
Letters written to Judy Spence, the Minister for the Police In Queensland and her response
Please read the following article on www.inlnews.com
and pass on to as many people and as many authorities as possible as this sort of behavior by the police has to stop as Australian Citizens are in danger, and besides it is giving Australia a very bad name in the world as one of the most corrupt and dangerous societies to live, especially Queensland which seems to be the most corrupt
The CMC should supina Lisa Quain to get her to tell all about the police involvement with selling and taking drugs and helping to protect major drug dealers in Queensland and other states in Australia, Western Australia where she originally comes from. Lisa Qain says she has the same problems with corrupt police, they have been protecting her drug operation for years, however she is only a very low level drug dealer who is a young mum you ended up with a $1,000 a week speed habit as a result of the police who work in with the local bikie gangs supplying her with a large amount of speed and she then had to keep selling drugs for, and with the police and their associates to support her $1,000 a week speed habit. Eventually they will provide her with a Hot Shot (a lethal dose of drugs)and kill her that way so she can not speak out anymore and tell the world what the police and their criminal drug dealing partners have been up to. There will simply be an article in the newspaper that a well know drug dealer and drug addict died of an overdose of drugs last night and nobody will give a dam. Lisa Quain needs protection by the CMC and to be looked after, she can help the CMC clean up the billion dollar drug operation in Queensland and have many of the corrupt police and drug dealers arrested.
That is of course if the CMC are not corrupt themselves and want to clean up the drug problem and the corrupt police. In that case the CMC will do nothing, not bother to bring Lisa Quain in to tell all she knows, and she knows a lot, believe us. Lisa Quain can bring a lot of powerful people down and maybe force another royal commission into the Queensland police and the Federal Police to try and stop the corruption that helps make sure the multi Billion Drug industry survives in Queensland and keeps killing our young people and destroying their lives
Stop Press International News Flash
The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Kallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts committed by them, which includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company directors and their associates-
INL News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug profits-
INL News has been given evidence by well known low level drug dealers and users who have agreed to help expose the corruption in the Queensland Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in drug taking and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-
the witnesses who have provided sworn evidence to INL are now in hiding for fear of their lives.....
Watch this space for more details soon to be published by INL News for the world to see what really goes on in the sunny Gold Coast Queensland Australia, which is fast becoming the crime capital of the world, with such crimes being developed, supported, maintained and protected by senior members of the Queensland Police Force-
INL has been told by one senior ex-police officer that used to be in the major crime squad of the Queensland Police, that he had to leave the Queensland Police Force because he could not stand up against senior police protecting major drug dealers and allowing them to operate openly with senior police protection in the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to either join their corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police force and keep his integrity... but again he was too scared to speak up publicly as to what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his family living in the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to protect their illegal business interests and because they are the police, there is no where to run and no where to hide from these people, who have no hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure of their silence and making threats of murder and physical body damage to anyone or their families that get in their way.....
INL News has such evidence well secured in an international location ready to be presented to the International Court of Justice if those involved with such criminal and wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to innocent people who are presently being wrongfully being harrassed by The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts committed by them, which includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company directors and their assistants...
"...I texed Lisa Quain today, to ask her how she was... this is the reply.....having a bad day again, as per usual. trying to correlate the whole saga of extremely traumatic events....we are trying to put it in chronological order, with names and phone numbers of witnesses and government authority contacts or departments that can verify facts that prove a gross misconduct and negligence or official corruption . its just too much to cope with. too much occurred . its a HUGE amount of criminal offenses committed against us ! police refused to act on any of it, that includes hand guns pointed at us. unbelievable , but all true......."
Subject: CMC used by corrupt Queensland police to cover up crimes police have committed From: patrick.obi@inlnews.comDate: Mon, October 29, 2007 10:31 pm
To: Cc: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au media_unit@cmc.qld.gov.au. attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
Urgent Attention Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General, Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3520 Fax: (07) 3221 2534 Email: mailbox@justice.qld.gov.au
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3478 Fax: (07) 3220 2475 Email: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas
Switchboard: (07) 3360 6060 Toll free (outside Brisbane): 1800 061 611 Fax: (07) 3360 6333 Email: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au
Media contact
Contact the CMC's Communications Officer (Media) if you have a query, or wish to arrange an interview. Telephone: (07) 3360 6344 Mobile: 0407 373 803 Fax: (07) 3360 6235
Dear Sir or Madame
I am the editor of INLNews.com and I have authorized the world wide publication of the following article on our web site www.inlnews.com
If you and/or any in your organization and/or anyone mentioned in the article are unhappy with the article and/or anything in it, please get your lawyers to email me your objection and any legal threats in relation to the objection you may have. If I do not hear form you the article will stay with further articles as follow up ones to be continued on the same lines with more detailed information
I look forward to hearing from you if you want to respond to this email and/or the attached article that is now on public display on the world wide Internet.
yours kindly Partick Obi Editor of www.inlnews.com
Stop Press International News Flash
The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts committed by them which includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company directors and their assistants-
INL News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug profits-INL News has been given evidence by a well known low level drug dealers and user who agreed to help expose the corruption in the Queensland Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in drug taking and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-the witnesses who has provided sworn evidence to INL is now in hiding for fear of their lives.....
Watch this space for more details soon to be published by INL News for the world to see what really goes on in the sunny Gold Coast Queensland Australia which is fast becoming the crime capital of the world, with such crimes being developed, supported, maintained and protected by senior members of the Queensland Police Force- INL has been told by one senior ex-police officer that used to be in the major crime squad of the Queensland Police, that he had to the leave the Queensland Police Force because he could not stand up against senior police protecting major drug dealers operating openly with senior police protection in the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to either join their corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police force and keep his integrity... but again was too scared to speak up publicly as to what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his family living in the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to protect their illegal business interests and because they are the police, there is no where to run and no where to hide from these people, who have no hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure of their silence and making threats of murder and physical body damage to anyone or their families that
get in their way.....
INL News has such evidence well secured in an international location ready to be presented to the International Court of Justice if those involved with such criminal and wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to innocent people who are presently being wrongfully being harassed by The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts committed by them which includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company directors and their assistants
Queensland Government logo
Hon Judy Spence MP Member for Mount Gravatt Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport Response to Ministerial Correspondence Received by E-mail Ref: 8893 F1 WK
19 November 2007 Mr Patrick Obi patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Dear Mr Obi
Thank you for your email of 31 October 2007 concerning your allegations against the Queensland Police Service. This matter is receiving attention and you will be advised further as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely Judy Spence MP Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport
As Yet there has been no further communication from Judy Spence, the Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport for Queensland.
INLNews.com does not expect to receive any further communication from Judy Spense, as it is quite clear that Judy Spence and the rest of the Government in Queensland are not in the least bit interested in tackling and or wanting to even admit the existence of the serious multi billion dollar illegal drug trade in Queensland that ex Major Queensland Crime Squad Detective Dan Lansky, now working for www.smartventures.com.au and Chapmans Limited says exists.
Mr Dan Lansky has stated to reporters of INLNews.com that he left the Queensland Police Force after a long and successful career because it sickened him so constantly get instructions from his more senior police officers that that instead of arresting well known drug lords in Queensland's Gold Coast that her saw living the life style of the rich and famous on other people's misery, he was constantly asked to protect the drug lords at the head of the food chain who make the billions each year out the illegal industry that thrives with the help of senior Queensland Police like Detective Greg Storemont, who heads a major criminal drugs and shady loans syndicate that involves Queensland Police at the most highest rank, multi millionaire and billionaire businessmen, well respected Lawyers, CMC Officers, Bikie gangs and standover and hit men.
Ex Queensland Major Crime Squad detective Dan Lansky says he does not regret for one minute leaving the Queensland Police Force to work in the high flyer world of Public listed company with Borris Ganke in Chapmans Limited and Brett Goldsworthy in www.smartventures.com.au. Dan Lansky says at least he now makes an honest living, rather than being paid by the Queensland Government to protect billionaire drugs lords living lavish life styles in Queensland's Gold Coast, which is fast becoming known as the drug and crime capital of the world.
If Judy Spence, the Commissioner of Police, the Premier of Queensland and the Criminal Misconduct Commission (CMC) and the rest of those in charge of running Queensland are serious about tackling the billion dollar illegal drug trade that is now a major part of Queensland's thriving economy, then they will get the CMC and other law enforcement and investigative bodies to interview people like Lisa Quain on the lower end of drug taking and selling drugs to feed her $1,000 a day drug habit and people like Dan Lansky who can give clear evidence of his knowledge of illegal activities within the police force and also have another Royal Commission into the Queensland Police Force with a specific reference to exposing and investigating why a multi billion dollars illegal drug industry can thrive in Queensland right under the noses of State and Federal Police Authorities whoa re meant to be there to stop such illegal activity, rather than protect protect such activity and share in the billion dollars profits made each year form the suffering and misery of those who pay each week for these illegal drugs.
The other devastating and sad effect of this thriving billion dollar illegal drug industry in Queensland is that it is the major cause of the rest of the crime that takes place in Queensland such as robberies and violence as the hooked drug users like Lisa Quain have to break and enter house, cars and rob people in the street to obtain the money to pay for the drugs they are desperate to obtain each week. Such drug users also supliment the income they obtain from robberies and violence by selling drugs for the billionaire drug lords who have corrupt police and other criminal heavies protecting their business and making sure that low level drug users and sellers like Lisa Quain are well aware if the try to expose them in any way they will either end up dead by a bullet through the head, or just end up being found on some street corner one morning having died of a hot shot of lethal cocktail of drugs that have been given to her by her more senior drug dealer under instructions from the power billionaire drug lords that run the whole illegal drug industry in Queensland.
It is noted that it is a well established fact that most of the illegal drugs that are sold in New South Wales and either grown and/or manufactured in Queensland and transported by truck, train and plane down daily to New South Wales.
If the Queensland authorities were serious about stopping the thriving billion dollar illegal drugs industry in Queensland, which could be down easily if the Queensland Police stopped protecting drug dealers and sharing in the yearly profits made from the illegal drug industry, and did the job they are paid to do by the Queensland people, that is, to stop crime rather than being involved with perpetuating crime and protecting the senior criminal fiqures that control crime in Queensland.
It is also a well know fact that the billionaire drug lords use senior well respected law firms to launder their drug profits and to keep this money circulating and making more money but placing these illegal drug profits into the trust accounts of the well respected law firms and then the money lend out to desperate business people who need cash in a hurray for a business deal at up to 20% per month for short term loans. They then secure these loans against the lenders real estate assets, knowing they will never be able to keep up with interest payments of 10-20% per month.
Then the next step in the loan scam is that the lenders use powerful corrupt estate agents like Ray White and LJ Hooker and corrupt registered valuers like Herron Todd White who all work together in the Gold Coast to devalue the borrowers home so it is impossible for them the refinance their homes with a normal bank lender. Because the false reduced value and market appraisal placed on the property by the Ray White Estate Agents and Herron Todd White Valuers means that the borrowers loan to equity ratio is too low for a normal bank to approve a refinancing of the property to get the borrower out of the now 20% per month loan that has gone into penalty rate form the original 10% per month rate .
What happens next is the drug lord billionaire lender now reposesses the home of the borrower, sells it up cheap at a mortgagee sale with the buyer being a partner of the lender. The property is eventually resold year or so later for a big profit and the finds received form the sale of the property is then clean tax free money from attack form any of the regulatory and taxation bodies. The parter of the billionaire drug lord who brought the house cheap at mortgagee sale lives in the house as his own home so when it is sold the profit on the house is completely tax free.
In one instance in a street called Red Oak Drive Tallai, where the criminal syndicate headed by Queensland Detective Greg Storemont and his drug lord lenders, lend out about $7 million on properties which had the potential for making hundreds of millions in development profits because their large acreage and the sweeping Gold Coast and Hinze Dam Views. These laoans where made in the hope that the borrower could not pay the loans back and included loans set up fees of about $100,000 per property besides the 10% per month interest rate that rose to 20% per month if the interest was not paid on time.Detective Greg Storemont ran around telling everyone in the street, in Tallai and the whole gold coast including valuers, estate agents and financiers that the companies that loaned the money were under investigation for a serious fraud, Ray White Real Estate Agents and Herron Todd White Valuers ran around saying the properties has an independent sworn valuation of $2-$3 million each were only worth about $500,000 to $600,000 being luxury large homes on about 10 acres each, with sweeping views of the Gold Coast and the Hinze Dam and only ten minutes drive from the ocean, ten major shopping centres, 20 minutes drive from the Gold Coast International Airport and only 50 minutes drive form Brisbane.
There powerful contacts even managed to get the valuers government body to instruct all valuers in Queensland to refuse to value these properties at any price. So that when the borrower had loans approved from various normal lenders at 8% per annum to refinance these properties and/or had any of these properties sold, they made sure that no valuation could be obtained so the refinance and/or the sale could not go ahead.
This way the 7 properties that had independent sworn valuations of about $21 million with overall loans of about $7-8 million, suddenly were un-refinanceable and un-sale able and they could onlt be sold to cash buyers at mortgagee sales at about $600,000 with anyone that showed any interest in purchasing the properties being told by Ray White Real Estate who are considered the God in real estate advice in the Gold Coast and Herron Todd White Valuers that these properties were only worth about $500,000 to $600,000 each and no more. this meant that no one was willing to pay anymore that these price sin the end the properties started to be sold for about $600,000 each.
For the borrowing companies this meant they had loans of about $7 million with sale prices and market appraisals of about $3.6 million, when only a few months before the borrowing companies had independent sworn valuations of about $21 million which meant that there should have been no problem about borrowing up to about $14 million at 8% per annum, paying out all the high priced 20% per months loans and having about $5 million in working capital to purchase a well established cash flow business making ample income to pay the the the 8% per annum interest on the $14 million loan.
In stead, the properties were forclosed on and the properties were being sold to parters and/or friends of the powerful drug lord/financiers/police at bargain prices of about $600 each.
The new buyers just have to make this their own home and eventually sell these properties for millions of dollars as valuable developments sites with luxury homes on them, with the profits all tax free as clean money as any profit from the sale of your own home where you live as your primary residence is completely tax free in Australia.
Now two years later properties in Red Oak Drive are no going on the market for over $2 million,
by the established estate agents who said that in two years ago they were only worth about $600,000.
A nice tidy tax free profit for the criminal Drug Lords/Financiers/Police syndicate and their associates.
The situation even gets worse. Those that are in a position to threaten to expose this devious scam, are then frightened to speak about it all publicly by Detective Greg Storemont using his corrupt contacts in Queensland's Crminal Misconduct Commission (CMC) to drag innocent people into secret interrogation hearings where only a high priced corrupt lawyer at the cost of $3,000 a day can attend and be asked about these real estate deals and are told that if they speak to anyone about this they will be arrested by the CMC as under the Queensland Law it appears that anything that is discussed in these secret hearing is not allowed ot be discussed outside to anyone. You are not even meant to tell anyone you have been dragged to these secret hearings.
The purpose of Detective Greg Storemont who is fronting for the criminal syndicate, for the CMC hearings to two fold:
1. The frighten the life out od anyone that could be a danger to speak out against the criminal syndicate;
2. The by pass the well established right to remain silent, so that trick questions can be asked at these hearings and can be used by the corrupt police such as Greg Storement ro try and create a false charge against the witness.
Then a charge is laid against the witness that could have been a danger of exposing the criminal synidicate and then the police will try and oppose bail, and i n the mean time one of their corrupt layer mates will extract hundreds of thousand of dollars from the witness in legal fee defending these false charges against them. In the end the false charges are dropped when the police are forced by the courts to produce evidence that proves a criminal offense has been committed.
In the mean time the witness that has been falsely arrest has had their reputation destroyed, lost all their assets in legal fees and had a nervous breakdown. Under Queensland Law it is very difficult to be able to successfully sue a police officer for charging you with a criminal offense and then not producing any evidence that satisfies the court that a criminal offense has been committed, and the charges are thrown out by the court. Most lawyer will tell a person that you can not sue a police officer for laying charges that in the end had no basis.
So Detective Greg Storemont can corruptly use his power as a police officer and his corrupt contacts in the CMC to have anyone that could be see to be an enemy of his criminal business associates, dragged off the street and/or form their home into secret interrogation star chamber hearings, interrogated against their will and lose their normal right to remain silent, the charged with a criminal offense that simply has no basis whatsoever and force the person to spend a fortune on lawyers to have bail granted and defend these false charges for about two years. Then finally after spending all their money in high priced lawyers, had their creditability tarnished and had a nervous breakdown over all the victimization, Greg Storemont does not produce the evidence to the court to satisfy the court at a preliminary or committal hearing that the person has committed a criminal offense and the charges are thrown out by the court.
Detective Greg Storemont knows nothing will happen to him and his criminal syndicate members who in the mean time are living the high life from all the profits of all their criminal activities.
However, what Greg Storemont does not understand that the INL News Group have in the past helped Tony Webster from Western Australia sue a police officer form Kalgoorlie Supreme Court for damages, called Sergent Lampard. The Master in the Supreme Court first dismissed the action saying that one can not sue a police officer. The INL News Group then help Tony Webster take an appeal to the High Court which ruled in Tony Webster's favour.
Now everyone in Australia can use this High Court case called
Webster v Lampard as a legal basis to sue a police officer personally for damages if it is felt hat his has gone beyond his normal call of duty.
There is no doubt that before long Detective Greg Stroremont will be sued for multi millions in damages and his employers, the Queensland Government will be jointly and severally liable to pay this damage claim. This damage claim will be paid from hardworking Queensland tax payers money. This all could have been avoided if the Queensland parliamentarians like Judy Spence would take notice of all the evidence that there is serious and deep routed corruption in the Queensland Police Force and now also the CMC which is effectively been used by corrupt police like Greg Storemont and his and his other criminal members of his criminal synjdicate as their personal Star Chamber t frighten the life out of anyone that could be a danger to them and to destroy other business people who may be in competition to them.
It something is not done soon to rectify the situation the it will all end up inthe International Court of Justice and the world wide media will brand Queensland, their police force and their legal system and the politicians that run Queensland as the most corrupt place in the world.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Murder by Queensland's CMC and its officers of an unborn
Child] From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Wed, December 12, 2007 4:22 am To: nyitfest@gmail.com Cc: nyitfest@yahoo.com
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Murder by Queensland's CMC and its officers of an unborn Child From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Wed, December 12, 2007 4:20 am
To: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au Cc: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au, media_unit@cmc.qld.gov.au
You
all will be proud of yourselves having succeeded in you wish to murder
of an unborn child that one of the CMC's innocent victim's was
carring, before she was deliberately, callously, cowardly, wrongfully
dragged into secret interrgation hearings by yourselves for no useful
purpose, other than to help deliberately murder an innocent unborn
child that the CMC's innocent victim was carrying at the time.
The
CMC and its officers have stated that they were tapping the CMC's
innocent victim's phone and email for some time when they issued a
notice of demand that the CMC's innocent victim be cross examined by
the CMC at secret interrogation hearings about a subject that she
simply knew nothing about, and could not be of any real assistance to
what the CMC was investigating.
From
listening to the CMC's innocent victim's telephone conversations and
reading her emails, the CMC and its officers clearly knew that that the
CMC's innocent victim was pregnant, when they had their corrupt police
officer attend the CMC's innocent victim's home to wrongly and falsely
tell her that. in his and the CMC's oppinion, she was a criminal and
was in a lot of trouble, and to serve the demand notice that the CMC's
innocent victim attend on just two days notice to the CMC, to be
interrogated at secret hearings where only a high priced laywer at
$1,600 a day is allowed to attend with her
A lawyer that the
CMC's innocent victim could not afford. Not many ordinary Australian
can afford $1,600 a day for a lawyer to attend the CMC's secret
interrogation hearings. As no one other than a lawyer is allowed to
attend with an innocent victim of the CMC, the CMC's innocent voctim
has no choice but to borrow the money to pay a high proceed lawyer to
attend the CMC's secret interrogation hearings with them.
It is a fact that the CMC's innocent victim spoke on her mobile phone
(which the the CMC officers clearly admitt had been tapped by the CMC for a long time),
on the Monday and excitedly discussed her pregnacy.
Then
the next day, on Tuesday, with the CMC knowing full well the CMC's
innocent victim was pregnant, the CMC had a corrupt police officer
attend her home to serve the CMC's demand for the CMC's innocent
victim to be interrogated, about a subject the CMC's innocent victim
knew nothing about, and could clearly not be of any real assistance to
what the CMC was investiagting.
The CMC's innocent victim's unborn
child is now dead, as a direct result of the malicious, deliberate and
calculating actions of the CMC and its officers.
Without the
wrongful actions of the CMC and its officers, that unborn child would
still be alive today. The attached email warned the CMC and its
officers of what they were doing was very wrong and illegal, but they
continuted on this wrongful and illegal path to help murder an unborn
child.
The
INL News Group will now publish this email and information on the world
wide web on as many web sites as possible, and let the world know what
these individuals and Queensland's CMC have done.
They all should hang there head in shame for ever.
Their
families, friends and associates should be absolutely ashamed of these
people, and the world generally, that read this information on the
world wide web, will also be horrified of this horrendous crime.
This
horrendous crime has also been sanctioned by the Queensland and
Australian Governments, who has also been warned, as a copy of the
attached email was also sent to the Queensland Attorney General and
also the previous Liberal Attorney General of Australia, that has now
been removed by the Australian people at the recent 2007 Federal
Elections.
The
INL News Group will also fund an application in the Internatonal Court
of Justice, to have these criminals brought to justice, as there is no
doubt these criminals will be protected by their mates in the
Australian Courts which is run by judges who are all ex-lawyers.
The
CMC is run by Australian lawyers, who also one day could become judges
who would then themselves be in the powerful position to protect
corrupt laywers running the CMC..
I
have been brought up in Africa and have seen some horrendous wrongful
things happen, but nothing I have ever seen is as horrendous as what
the CMC and its officers and appointed representatives have
deleiberately done here, with their involvement of the murder of an
innocent unborn child.
yours truly
PATRICK OBI
Managing Editor of the INL News Group
The
INL News Group note that, had the CMC's innocent victim been the
daughter of Rupert Murdoch, the most powerful person in the world
today, controlling a majority of the world's mainstream media outlets,
worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the Queensland's CMC would never
had treated the the CMC's innocent victim in this manner and the CMC's
innocent victim's unborn child would have still been alive today.
This
is another example that there is one rule for the rich and powerful,
and another rule for an ordinary innocent victim, trying their best to
live a normal and innocent life with their partner and new child due to
be born, and find some basic happiness after trying to recover from a
serious nervous beakdown in the last five years, which the CMC had full
knowledge of, from tapping the the CMC's innocent victim's telephone
and emails for a long time
Crime and Misconduct Commission Yes,
the CMC protects corrupt police offices who live beyond their means and
that can not provide any lawful evidence as to where their funds comes
from, in particular large drug dealers that provide funds to support
the employees of the Crime and Misconduct Commission to support our
expensive life styles.. as the wages that the people of Queensland are
simply not enough to pay for all our expensive life styles...
Yes, the
CMC supports criminal behavour by police officers in Queensland, in
fact anywhere really, as long as they have some sort of police badge we
make sure they can continue their criminal behaviour without being
harassed in their activities...if anyone tries to expose these criminal
activities we have unlimited powers to drag them and/or their families
into secret hearings that cost about $2,000 a day to pay a lawyer to
attend these hearings with them, as we have made the rules such that
only a lawyer can attend with the person we get our corrupt police to
drag off the street on only two days notice into these secret
hearings.. at the same time we are all paid large salaries by the
people of Queensland and the cash we receive on the side from our
corrupt police mates and other other criminal mates...
Yes,
the CMC supports misconduct as long as it is misconduct by any of our
criminal mates employed in the Police Service and/or another
Government Departments or other private criminals that are friends, who
are prepared to offer funds to support our expensive life styles that
the salaries we obtain from the Queensland Taxpayers do not cover... we
specialise in supporting, protecting and encouraging the Queensland and
Federal Police and others to import and sell illegal drugs and break
and enter houses without a warrant to steal whole housefuls of
furniture (as they did in Tallai) and steal the original manuscripts of
books such as the Triumph of Truth (Who's Watching the Watchers) that
was in the process of being published world wide by International News
Limited in books and films and a TV series that would have brought a
lot of world wide attention to our criminal behaviour of our corrupt
police mates and expose our own criminal activities.. we simply had no
choice but to break into that house with the help of our drug taking
and selling mates and the Queensland Police, were we suspected this
book could be stored.. after all we had to protect our livelihood and
our business associates who provide our ability for ourselves to live
beyond our means... we at the CMC of course can not be investigated as
we are not going to investigate ourselves and we are the only ones with
such power... we are simply untouchable and have a very protected
monopoly in that regard
Thank You.
Your mail message "Murder by Queensland's CMC and its officers of an
unborn Child" dated Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:20:33 -0700 has been received
by the Crime and Misconduct Commission mail server.
If you have contacted us through our Contact Form, then your message
has been received and is being attended to. If your message was
addressed to a specific officer or a specific section it will be
delivered shortly. If it cannot be delivered, you will receive an error
message and be asked to check the address.
Please contact us on (07) 3360 6060 (or email Desktop_Services) if you require further assistance.
Just
a friendly reminder that the INL News Group are happy to help with the
CMC's investigations in Red Oak Drive Tallai property dealings as the
INL News Group has a large file of information the CMC would be interested
if they are wanting the truth. Also the CMC is put on notice that one of the witnesses who is currently being interrogated by the CMC regarding their knowledge of properties dealings in Red Oak Drive Tallai and other
matters, has just found out she is pregnant and as a result of the
pressure the CMC is currently putting on her by interrogation from 10
am to 6.30 pm in one day there is every chance she will have a
miscarriage and/or feel because the pressure become mentally unstable
and have another nervous breakdown and make some rash decision in an
unstable mind to terminate the pregnancy.
If any of the above happen
you and the rest of the people behind having her interrogated at this
present time will be responsible for murder of that child.
If this
happens then the CMC and the people that are behind the scenes in this
matter will all be charged with wilful murder in the International
Court of Justice and no stone and/or resources will be held back to
make sure each and every one of you are made fully accountable for that
deliberate murder, you all will be named in the international media and
be hounded for the rest of your lives until justice is seen to be done
and in fact is done.
Even if you get away without being prosecuted
because of your powerful connections protecting you will have this
murder on your conscience for the rest of your lives and have to
explain to your families and friends why you became involved with this
deliberate murder and calculated murder.
INL News suggests that you
immediately inform Mr Andrew Maloney the witness's lawyer of Ryan and
Bosscher on Tel: 00061 (0) 7 5532 0066 Mob: 0061 (0) 412 041 143
situated at 100 Scarborough Street Southport, who is being paid $1,600 a day,
that the witness is no longer required to attend court on the 9th of
October and/or any other time by the CMC until the witness has had a
healthy baby and is well enough to attend any further interrogation by
the CMC. You would be better off calling other witnesses who know a lot
more than this witness about what the CMC are inquiring about and if you can
provide a list of witnesses that the CMC want to call but can not find
at present, the vast resources of the INL News investigations section
will be able to assist the CMC free of charge to find these witnesses
and help the CMC bring to be interrogated. The CMC would be better off
calling in all the vendors of Red Oak Drive Tallai to see what they
know.
Please provide a list of questions that you want answered in
relation to any of these matters and the INL News Group will help as
far as possible to these answers for the CMC.
If the INL News Media Groupdid not provide the $Aust 1,600 to Mr Andrew Malony
and his legal firm to attend the interrogation of the witness, then the witness would have had to go into the interrogation all by herself, is a traumatic
experience to deal with.
The
CMC as a body and as individuals should be absolutely ashamed of
yourselves for what you have done. If not, you are definitely all absolutely guilty
of murder in the first degree.
I am a Nigerian and have not been trained in English that well,
so I apologise if there are spelling and grammar mistakes in this email
but I am doing my best with English and grammar and I am very
appreciated in the INL Group giving me the opportunity to have this job
yours kindly
Patrick Obi Managing Editor of INL News.com
cc:
Andrew Maloney Ryan and Bossher Attorneys 100 Scarbourgh Street
Southport, Gold Coast Queensland Tel: 0061 (0) 55320066 Mob: 0061 (0)
412 041 145
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [FWD: RE: lisa Quain Drug Dealer-user prepared to tell all about corrupt police in Queensland]
From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Thu, November 01, 2007 12:26 am To: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au Cc: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: lisa Quain Drug Dealer-user prepared to tell all about corrupt police in Queensland From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Thu, November 01, 2007 12:00 am
To: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Cc: jdweller@westnet.com.au
urgent Attention: John David Kallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet Crime and Misconduction Commission
Level 3 Terrica Place, 140 Creek Street (cnr Adelaide & Creek Streets), BrisbanSwitchboard: (07) 3360 6060 Toll free (outside Brisbane): 1800 061 611 Fax: (07) 3360 6333 Email: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au
Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3520 Fax: (07) 3221 2534 Email: mailbox@justice.qld.gov.au
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3478 Fax: (07) 3220 2475
Email: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
From
the large file our media group has on the activities of the Queensland
Police and their corrupt asssociates and others in relatoin to the
goings on and affairs of delaings in real estate in Red Oak Drive which
the Coimmisison is currently bringing in people for cross examination,
it seems clear that you are using the wide powers of the Commission for
a worngful purpose to help corrupt police and theit shady business
associates to obtain properties in Red Oak Drive cheap, so they can make
millions of dollars, you are using the Commissions powers to help these
corrupt police frighten the life out of people so they are too scared
to get about their normal business and thus are helping these corrupt
police who we have clear evidence have been involved with breaking and
entering illegally changing locks, stand over tactics, drug relatated
offences and clearly acting in a wrong, illegal and corrupt manner to
help their shady business associates make money.
These
police have crossed the line in their duties and you can read much of
the detail of all this in the court cases that are on file in the
Supreme and Appeal courts in Queensland concerning
the mortgagees over the court application to try and remove caveats
that were lodged over 109 and 6 Red Oak Drive Tallai
to try and stop the mortagees trying to sell these properties at one
quarter of the sworn valuations placed on the property by sworn valuer
Mr Phillp Petterson (a well known and respected valuer in Queensland). The INL News Group has ample evidence that can be presented to the CMC
that conclusively proves there has been a clear conspiracy by powerful
real estate agents such as Ray White and L J Hooker, the police,
powreful valuers, shady financiers, people working for news Limited (
our opposition meida group) and their powerful property developer
connections, to destroy the valuations and perceived pubic price image
of the properties in Red Oak Drive Tallai and the nearby streets that
are well known as the Holliwood Hills of the Gold Coast.
This has been done for a number of reasons which include:
1.
To destroy the real estate asset base of friendly investors that were
prepared to financially back our media group to launch alternative
newpapers in Australia called Aus News, the Australian Weekend News,
Yahoo Real Estate etc because they would be in serious competition to
other powerfulnewspapers and web sites run by our powerful opposition
media group,News Limited worth over $300 billion dollars and have the
most corrupt and powerful connections n every area and are quite happy
to use these connections for a wrrongful purpose to destroy any
opposition.
2. There are powerful property
developers and investors who wanted to purchase the properties in Red
Oak Drive cheap and wait when their powerful estate agents connections
in Ray White Real Estate are ready to help them publicly create the
next big boom in the Hills surrounding the Gold Coast, of which Tallai
is the premium piece of real etsate that has the exclusive name of
being the Holliwood Hills of the Gold Coast.
3.
It seems clear that there is a particular concerted effort by powerful
people that are enemies of the INL News Group and their efforts over many
years to bring to public light serious corruption in the political,
legal,public trustee and businees world through is newsaper and books
that have been publishied in Australia by the Weekend News and the
Australian Weekend News. One of these books is called The Triumph of
Truth (Who's Watching the Watchers?) and the original manuscripts of
seven volumes with over 10,000 pages has been has been stolen by the
Queensland Police in an effiort to try and bury all the material on
corruption. I
They were stolen by the Queensland Police from a luxury house in Tallai where the police and their shady associates were also involved
with stealing two housefuls of furniture, illegally changing locks etc
from the owner of the house. The Queensland Police wanted papers from the house that they could not get, and could not get a warrant to search
the house without first organising the robbery, taking the papers which
included the Book the Triumph of Truth, as well as other contracts and
papers concerning properties in Red Oak Drive Tallai. This was done on
the Tuesday, then on the Wednesday the Queensland Police were at one of the
vendor's places, interviewing him over these contracts to verify that he
had signed these contracts. With this information the Queensland Police were then
able to get an official warrant to search now an empty house on the
Thursday two days after the robbery.
It was on Thursday the police rang
of the house in Tallai, stating they were in the house, and they were meant to have found the
house open, they were just driving by and entered and that all the
furniture was taken and there was nothing left.
The owner of the house then rang
another rental estate agent to go to the house and make sure it was
locked up.
This agent arrived about 5pm on the Thursday and found that
the Queensland Police had left the house unattented and open for anyone to walk
in.
This is extremely unusual behaviour by the Queensland Police.
If there has
been a robbery and the police are notified to attend then normally the
police will make sure the place is secured before they leave the
premisies. The agent found some keys behind the front door on the floor,
and checked that they fitted the front door, then locked the house up
and went home.
On the next Tuesday the Queensland Police obtained another warrant to
go to the same house in Tallai.
While at the house on the Tuesday for the second
warrant they organised to change the locks back to the original keys
that fitted the house before the robbery.
This was confirmed by the agent with the keys that were found on the Thursday
before that fitted the front door, no longer fitted the front door
after the police attended on the next Tuesday for the second Warrant.
Then the owner organised the original agent that had the original
keys to attendthe house in Tallai with photgraphers to take photos of
the house inside and out. The original agent attendedthe house in Tallai with
the original keys which now fitted the lock.
That agent was not told
the other agent had found keys for the door that then fitted on the
Thursday after the polcie had attended ( now no longer fitted).
The
whole idea was that the polcie organised the lock to be changed, so
they could break into the house and do the robery with their criminal
associates, then change the locks back to the original locks as the police still had the orginal lock barrels, to make it look like the
original keys must have been used to enter the house, which the owner and three others were meant to be the only ones with these
keys. In that way the owner and her freinds could
be set up and be accused of the robbery, as they were the only ones with
the original keys and the alarm codes.besides the estate agent.
The
other person who had the alarm codes was Lisa Quain who had been
staying there until the owner told her to leave and changed the
locks, so she no longer had a key. Lisa had been bringing all sort of
strange people to the house and her ex-boyfriend opened up and said she
had a serious $1,000 a week speed habit and was working in with the
corrupt police and drug dealers on the Gold Coast selling drugs for
them and sleeping with them to obtain the drugs each day to feed her
drug habit.
When the owner of the property in Tallai found out about this, the owner
made sure the locks were changed andLias had no further access to the house. However, she still knew the security code.
The INL News Group's Legal and Investigations Team have
clear evidence that Lisa Quain was involved with the police and others
in breaking into the house in Tallai, and helping rob two house fulls of
furniture. She provided the security code for the alarm and the police
organised the lockes to be changed, so that it did not look like a break
and and the police were going to set up the owner fo the house and her friends on false charges of breaking into the house, when the owners
called on her insurance policy for the lost goods.
After the INL News Group put great pressure on the Queensland Police, they became
scared and suddenly produced the furniture and toldthe owner of the house that the furnitire was
at a secure storage unit inthe Gold Coast where the owner of the house could organise to have it pick up. There were still some things missing
including most of the furniture that was purchased off the original
owners of 194 Red Oak Drive Tallai, a fridge, bed linen and crockery,
the original manuscripts and reseacrh for future volumes of the books The Triumph of the Truth (Who Is Watching The Watchers?) etc,
There
is much more information available to the CMC by the INL News Group if the
CMC are not corrupt and trying to protect the guilty police instead of
exposing them,.
At this present time it appears that the CMC and its
officers are acting in a corrupt manner, and are using their powers to
protect corruption instead of exposing it, and help put wrongful
pressure on inocent people to scare the hell out of them by sending
corrupt police to their door who verbally wrongfully and illegally accuse these innocent
people of being a criminals and at the same time handing the supina to
them from the CMC for a wrongful purpose giving them only two days notice to attend a secret
hearings were not even family members can attend to support them.
Unless
you start to correspond back to the INL Newsa Group in response to these allegations
against you and the CMC, your names will be publiclly exposed and this
and other information will be posted on many of our world wide web
sites for the world to show the general public of how you are others are using the almost
unlimited powers of the CMC for a wrongfull and illegal purpose.
kind regards Patrick Obi Managing Editor of INL News
Urgent Attention Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3520 Fax: (07) 3221 2534 Email: mailbox@justice.qld.gov.au
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3478 Fax: (07) 3220 2475 Email: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas
Subject: Re:lisa Quain Drug Dealer-user prepared to tell all about corrupt police in Queensland From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Tue, October 30, 2007 10:04 pm
To: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au Cc: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
and
pass on to as many people and as many authorities as possible as this
sort of behaviour by the police has to stop as Australian Citizens are
in danger and besides it is giving Australia a very bad name in the
world as one of the most corrupt and dangerous societies to live,
especially Queensland which seems to be the most corrupt
The
CMC should supine Lisa Quain to get her to tell all about the police
involvement with selling and taking drugs and helping to protect major
drug dealers in Queensland and other states in Australia, Western
Australia where she originally comes form she says has the same
problems with corrupt police, they have been protecting her drug
operation for year, however she is only a very low level drug dealer
who is a young mum you ended up with a $1,000 a week speed habit as a
result of the police who work in with the local bikie gangs supplying
her with a large amount of speed and she then had to keep selling drugs
for and with the police and their associates to support her $1,000 a
week speed habit. Eventually they will provide her with a Hot Shot (a
lethal dose of drugs)and kill her that way so she can not speak out
anymore and tell the world what the police and their criminal drug
dealing partners have been up to. There will simply be an article in
the newspaper that a well know drug dealer and drug addict died of an
overdose of drugs last night and nobody will give a dam. Lisa Quain
needs protection by the CMC and to be looked after and she can help the
CMC clean up the billion dollar drug operation in Queensland and have
many of the corrupt police and drug dealers arrested. That is of course
if the CMC are not corrupt themselves and want to clean up the drug
problem and the corrupt police, in that case the CMC will do nothing,
not bother to bring Lisa Quain in to tell all she knows, and she knows
a lot, believe us. Lisa Quain can bring a lot of powerful people down
and maybe force another royal commission into the Queensland police and
the Federal Police to try and stop the corruption that helps make sure
the multi Billion Drug industry survives in Queensland and keeps
killing out young people and destroying their lives
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Kallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their associates-
INL
News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland
Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the
Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion
dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia
who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest
rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high
profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug profits-
INL
News has been given evidence by well known low level drug dealers and
users who have agreed to help expose the corruption in the Queensland
Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in drug taking
and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-
the witnesses who have provided sworn evidence to INL are now in hiding for fear of their lives.....
Watch
this space for more details soon to be published by INL News for the
world to see what really goes on in the sunny Gold Coast Queensland
Australia, which is fast becoming the crime capital of the world, with
such crimes being developed, supported, maintained and protected by
senior members of the Queensland Police Force-
INL has been told
by one senior ex-police officer that used to be in the major crime
squad, that he had to leave the Queensland Police Force because he
could not stand up against senior police protecting major drug dealers
and allowing them to operate openly with senior police protection in
the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to either join their
corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police force and keep his
integrity... but again he was too scared to speak up publiclly as to
what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his family living in
the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to protect their
illegal business interests and because they are the police, there is no
where to run and no where to hide from these people, who have no
hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure of their silence and
making threats of murder and physical body damage to anyone or their
families that
get in their way.....
INL News has such evidence
well secured in an international location ready to be presented to the
International Court of Justice if those involved with such crimial and
wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to innocent people who are
presently being wrongfully being harrashed by The Crime and Misconduct
Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan,
Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others being used by
powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates
which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose
to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts commited by them which
includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major
drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major
crimes committed by public company directors and their assistants...
"...I texed Lisa Quain today, to ask her how she was... this is the
reply.....having a bad day again, as per usual. trying to correlate the
whole saga of extremely traumatic events....we are trying to put it in
chronological order, with names and phone numbers of witnesses
and government authority contacts or departments that can verify facts
that prove a gross misconduct and negligence of official corruption .
...its just too much to cope with...... too much occured ....... its a HUGE amount
of criminal offences commited against us ! .police refused to act on
any of it, that includes hand guns pointed at us. unbelievable , but
all true......."
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [FWD: CMC used by corrupt Queensland police to cover up crimes police have committed] From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Mon, October 29, 2007 10:46 pmTo: Cc: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: CMC used by corrupt Queensland police to cover up crimes police have committed From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com Date: Mon, October 29, 2007 10:31 pm To:
Cc: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au media_unit@cmc.qld.gov.au. attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
Urgent Attention
Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3520 Fax: (07) 3221 2534 Email: mailbox@justice.qld.gov.au
Floor 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000 GPO Box 149 Brisbane Qld 4001 Phone: (07) 3239 3478 Fax: (07) 3220 2475 Email: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas
I am the editor of INLNews.com and I have authorised the world wide publication of the following article on our web site www.inlnews.com
If
you and/or any in your organisation and/or anyone mentioned in the
artilce are unhappy with the article and/or anything in it, please get
your lawyers to email me your objectyion and any legal threats in
relation to the objection you may have. If I do not hear form you the
artilce will stay with further artilces as follow up ones to be
continued on the same lines with more detailed information
I
look forward to hearing from you if you want to respond to this email
and/or the attached artilce that is now on public display on the world
wide internet.
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants-
INL
News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland
Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the
Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion
dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia
who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest
rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high
profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug
profits-INL News has been given evidence by a well known low level drug
dealers and user who agreed to help expose the corruption in the
Queensland Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in
drug taking and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-the
witnesses who has provided sworn evidence to INL is now in hiding for
fear of their lives.....
Watch this space for more details soon to
be published by INL News for the world to see what really goes on in
the sunny Gold Coast Queensland Australia which is fast becoming the
crime capital of the world, with such crimes being developed,
supported, maintained and protected by senior members of the Queensland
Police Force- INL has been told by one senior ex-police officer that
used to be in the major crime squad that he had to the leave the
Queensland Police Force because he could not stand up against senior
police protecting major drug dealers operating openly with senior
police protection in the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to
either join their corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police
force and keep his integrity... but again was too scared to speak up
publiclly as to what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his
family living in the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to
protect their illegal business interests and because they are the
police, there is no where to run and no where to hide from these
people, who have no hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure
of their silence and making threats of murder and physical body damage
to anyone or their families that
get in their way.....
INL
News has such evidence well secured in an international location ready
to be presented to the International Court of Justice if those involved
with such crimial and wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to
innocent people who are presently being wrongfully being harrashed by
The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed
by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady
business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for
a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts
commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and enter,
conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold
Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants
Thank You.
Your mail message "[FWD: RE: lisa Quain Drug Dealer-user prepared to
tell all about corrupt police in Queensland]" dated Thu, 01 Nov 2007
00:26:05 -0700 has been received by the Crime and Misconduct Commission
mail server. If you have contacted us through our Contact Form, then your message
has been received and is being attended to. If your message was
addressed to a specific officer or a specific section it will be
delivered shortly. If it cannot be delivered, you will receive an error
message and be asked to check the address. Please contact us on (07) 3360 6060 (or email Desktop_Services) if you require further assistance.
Program Transcript THEME
Peter Beattie: The Fitzgerald Report has been the most single important catalyst for improved behaviour in this State since we became a State in 1859.
Paul Barclay: Ten years ago, Tony Fitzgerald delivered a Report that was to have an extraordinary impact on the State of Queensland, a bold attempt to pull The Moonlight State out of a mire of vice, cronyism, and illegality.
The Fitzgerald Inquiry uncovered corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the police force and government, and led to the jailing of government ministers and the Commissioner of Police.
But it was far more than a prescription for catching crooked cops and politicians with their snouts in the trough. It was a blueprint for rebuilding confidence in the police, the parliament and the bureaucracy.
More than anything Tony Fitzgerald wanted to ensure Queensland would never again sink to the depths of such appalling official impropriety. And the only way this could be guarded against, he reasoned, was a complete overhaul of the State's discredited public institutions.
But he cautioned, the citizens and their elected representatives would need to be always on their guard. His report warned:
Reader: There are many ways in which the agenda for reform could be delayed or subverted by political or bureaucratic opponents. This has happened previously.
Paul Barclay: Ten years on, has Queensland been faithful to the Fitzgerald vision?
Hello, and welcome to Background Briefing. I'm Paul Barclay.
Wayne Goss: I think it's a courageous and a perceptive document; I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to Mr Fitzgerald, I think it's a blistering indictment on the National Party and on National/Liberal governments, but it's a blueprint for the future, it's a blueprint for a better Queensland and it deserves all of our support.
Paul Barclay: The then Queensland Opposition leader, Wayne Goss.
In early 1987 Courier Mail journalist Phil Dickie was just another pesky young reporter, posing it seemed nothing more than a minor irritation to the State's police force, and the 19-year-old National Party government of Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen.
His allegations that police were turning a blind eye to illegal brothels and gambling houses in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley were new, but no more shocking than other claims bandied about frequently in Queensland.
Then in May that year, along came Chris Masters, and The Moonlight State.
FOUR CORNERS THEME
Russ Hinze: I don't know of any illegal gambling. If there's any going on well then of course I don't know where it is. My commissioner informs me, advises me, that he doesn't know where it is.
Chris Masters: When police and politicians 'can't find' an illegal casino in a Brisbane main street, it's unlikely that in such a morally upright climate, they could discover anything more sinister.
ORGAN MUSIC
Paul Barclay: The allegations in this one television program aroused complacent Queenslanders and prompted an immediate response from a government many thought would simply dismiss Chris Masters' revelations.
But the day after that Four Corners program went to air, and with Sir Joh out of the country, acting Premier Bill Gunn announced a judicial inquiry.
Bill Gunn: A favourite saying of the late Russell Hinze was 'You never hold an inquiry unless you know what the outcome will be.' He hade informed me of that, but this was such a serious situation where we considered it was the hierarchy, and I say there was a possibility in for many, many years that there had been corruption in the police force.
Paul Barclay: Do you think Joh would have set up the Fitzgerald Inquiry himself if he'd been in charge?
Bill Gunn: No. No, I don't believe he would and I believe that if he could have stopped it, it would have.
Paul Barclay: The cynics said the Inquiry would last six weeks; it dragged on for two years. It's clear that many people in Queensland give Fitzgerald credit for not just cleaning up The Moonlight State, but also for being instrumental in the birth of the modern, outward-looking Queensland that exists today.
Phil Dickie won the highest accolade in Australian journalism, the Gold Walkley, for his efforts in revealing the tip of the corruption iceberg in Queensland. But when I met up with him, over a glass of his home brew, it's hard to elicit from him any enthusiasm for the progress of the past ten years.
Phil Dickie: Fitzgerald presented Queensland ultimately with a, you know, sort of once or twice a century chance to do a whole lot of spring cleaning, and I'd suggest that ten years out we've probably missed the boat now. We tried, and we tried valiantly in the early years, and then all the institutional constraints caught up with us. And Queensland is, unfortunately, sort of settling back a bit into the pattern, and we might eventually get better prostitution laws. We might eventually get a better police force out of it, and we might already have a better police force out of it, but the overall game of sort of a better, fairer, more just, more open, more accountable society I think we've lost it.
Paul Barclay: Phil Dickie is a rarity among reporters. Unlike, say, Chris Masters after breaking the biggest story of his career, Phil Dickie turned his back on journalism. After uncovering the problem he wanted to be part of the solution.
And the Criminal Justice Commission is a large part of that solution. The CJC is the permanent embodiment of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, with virtually the same wide-ranging powers. It acts as a corruption watchdog, but also promotes criminal justice reform.
Phil Dickie joined the CJC as a special adviser, believing radical change to the criminal justice system was possible.
He left in 1994, disillusioned. Now he enjoys a quieter life, bringing up his young son and their motley collection of chooks, just down the road from where all the action was happening a decade earlier in Fortitude Valley. Sitting with him in his tropical backyard, his disappointment is obvious.
Phil Dickie: I saw it as the Inquiry came down and said, 'Look, here is a chance to remake the institutions of a society so that they are more open, more accountable, more receptive to better ways of doing things, and that the CJC was to be the institution that would turn its attention to our criminal justice system, our interactions with crime and how we best deal with it, far, far more than just being another arm of another police force.'
Paul Barclay: So rather than being a crime fighting agency investigating official misconduct, corruption and until recently organised crime, it should have been a research-driven organisation that was developing new approaches to dealing with crime and actually overhauling the whole criminal justice system.
Phil Dickie: There's no 'should have been' about it, it's quite explicit when you read the recommendations of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, it's quite explicit in the legislation that the CJC was set up under. It's the CJC itself which has chosen to interpret its role basically in a cops and robbers sense, or a corruption watchdog sense.
Paul Barclay: Phil Dickie is not alone in his criticism of the CJC. Almost everyone I spoke with had their own assessment of its flaws. And what are those faults? Well that depends on who you talk to you.
Rob Borbidge: The Criminal Justice Commission took it upon itself to be totally unaccountable, and took it upon itself to assume the role of de facto government in Queensland.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob Borbidge.
Rob Borbidge: Now that was not what Fitzgerald proposed, and we saw, in my view, an undermining of the parliamentary process by the CJC particularly under its former chairman who I believe was extremely politically active. Part of the problem is that under previous chairmen, the CJC wanted everyone else to be accountable to them, but they did not want to be accountable to anyone.
Paul Barclay: How did that manifest itself, the CJC playing a role as the de facto government?
Rob Borbidge: Well I guess the most alarming example of their interference in the political process was what amounted to an effective coup d'etat against my minority government over the MOU that was signed with the police union.
Paul Barclay: The 1996 Memorandum of Understanding between the police union and the then coalition opposition triggered a brawl between the CJC and the coalition, soon after it won government. Coalition claims of political interference were to follow, prompting counter claims of attempted intimidation of the CJC.
Suddenly it was conceivable that Fitzgerald's legacy could be gutted, even abolished
The Memorandum of Understanding was a deal signed in secret during a by-election campaign, by the National Party leader Rob Borbidge, his police spokesman, and representatives of the police union. Among other things the memorandum appeared to give the police union a right to veto the appointment of a Police Commissioner, and to commit the coalition to watering down the powers of the CJC. In addition it named six assistant commissioners the union wanted made redundant.
In return for signing the deal, the police union threw its weight behind the Coalition's campaign to win the Mundingburra by-election, a by-election that would decide who would govern. The National Party candidate won in a tight contest. And the coalition was back in power.
Secretary of the Queensland police union, Merv Bainbridge, says the Memorandum of Understanding was not improper.
Merv Bainbridge: To this day I see nothing improper. Memorandums of Understanding have been around from time immemorial. I can remember in the early days of Bob Hawke when he was with the ACTU, he would go to the Labor opposition and put the proposition: 'If you are in government, what can you do for our members?' and basically this is all that the police union did; we went to the alternative government said, 'If you were in government, what are you prepared to do for us?'
Paul Barclay: It did appear though that there were some Assistant Commissioners that you apparently wanted to get rid of, and included that in the Memorandum of Understanding, for those officers to be made redundant.
Merv Bainbridge: It was suggested that their contracts not be renewed. No-one was to be sacked etc. but when they came up it was suggested perhaps that their contracts not be renewed over (I've got to be very careful what I say here), but going into their previous administration.
Paul Barclay: After the February by-election, the police union boasted it was responsible for helping return the conservatives to government. Soon after, the union's newsletter revealed the existence of the Memorandum of Understanding.
The media went berserk. There were uggestions the Electoral Act may have been breached. The government was forced to refer the matter to the CJC which appointed retired New South Wales judge, Kenneth Curruthers, to determine if there was any wrongdoing by Premier Rob Borbidge, his Police Minister, or union officials.
Terry O'Gorman, from the Council for Civil Liberties.
Terry O'Gorman: The historical record shows that the then Police Minister, Russell Cooper, referred the Memorandum of Understanding issue to the CJC in the early weeks of the then conservative government having won office, principally by virtue of the role of the Memorandum of Understanding in a relevant by-election. However, while it was quite proper for the CJC to look into the Memorandum of Understanding, it's after that period of looking into it where the waters start to get muddy, the relevant conservative politicians, the ex-Premier Mr Borbidge, the ex-Police Minister, Mr Cooper, have a point to an extent of saying, 'Why should we have had to go through months and months of anguish, months and months of interference with our parliamentary duty, running up huge amounts of money in legal bills, when there was an opinion locked away in a safe that in fact they had done nothing wrong?'
Paul Barclay: By now, Mr Borbidge viewed the CJC as a sort of Star Chamber, out of control and gunning for his government.
Rob Borbidge: We had a situation where legal advice from Cedric Hampson, who at that time was President of the Bar Association, that said that neither Russell Cooper nor I had a case to answer and we were told that there would be a brief inquiry into the police union's involvement that should go for about 12 days. It went for the best part of eight or nine months; it was a loaded dice and in my view it was nothing short of a deliberate attempt to bring about a properly elected and constituted democratic government, to bring that government down. I mean they went on for months and months and months, and if not for the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, no-one would ever have known that they had legal advice that the government of the day did not have a case to answer.
Paul Barclay: The Carruthers Inquiry into the deal between the police union and the coalition distracted the government for months. The coalition was so infuriated by the Inquiry that it launched a counter Inquiry into the CJC itself, the Connolly Ryan Inquiry.
Lawyer Terry O'Gorman again.
Terry O'Gorman: That complaint by Mr Borbidge and Mr Cooper as I see it, was at least a reasonably valid complaint, but the way that the government then chose to deal with investigating that complaint was a problem of the government's own making because they appointed an Inquiry which was clearly a 'get square, let's kick the CJC in the face' Inquiry. Inevitably that Inquiry was declared to be biased, by the Queensland Supreme Court, and shut down.
Paul Barclay: In broad terms, was the Connolly Ryan Inquiry an attempt to muzzle the CJC?
Terry O'Gorman: I saw it as that, and most informed observers did. When you saw the way in which the Inquiry was set up, when you saw the way in which the Inquiry confronted and successfully, stared down Carruthers when he wasn't finished, it clearly was an attempt to not only muzzle but possibly completely abolish the CJC. But when you look at the way the Connolly Ryan Inquiry was conducted, and when you look at the stinging criticisms that were made by Mr Justice Thomas, the judge that shut it down in the Supreme Court, and when you look at the fact that the Connolly Ryan Inquiry chose not to appeal to the Court of Appeal against its closure, then that I think, says it all.
Paul Barclay: From the outset of the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, the coalition undermined its own case that the CJC and the Carruthers Inquiry were out to get it. And it did this by appointing an ex-Liberal Party member, and former judge, Peter Connolly to inquire into the CJC. His professional abilities weren't in question, but the appointment raised concerns about the impartiality of the Inquiry.
Rob Borbidge: Well Peter Connolly had been a very distinguished and senior member of the Bench, and in all his years on the Bench I think 30 years or thereabouts, there had never been any suggestion or any allegation of bias on the part of Mr Connolly, and the same for Kevin Ryan when he served as a Supreme Court judge. Both of those men were highly regarded and at no time during their judicial careers, during their time on the Bench, had anyone suggested that they were politically motivated in respect of any of their judgements handed down probably over hundreds of cases in decades of service to the Supreme Court of Queensland.
Paul Barclay: But at the very least, wouldn't it have been easier to appoint someone who didn't have a Liberal background? You would have still been able to conduct the Inquiry, look into the problems that you saw with the CJC without the perception of a conflict of interests.
Rob Borbidge: Well we held the view that by having two commissioners, that we were ensuring impartiality and independence in regard to that particular review. I mean it wasn't as if Mr Connolly was the only person appointed, Mr Ryan, Kevin Ryan was appointed.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob Borbidge.
Professor Ross Homel, a recently retired CJC commissioner, presented me with an altogether different view of the Connolly Ryan period, a view he also shared with the Supreme Court.
Ross Homel: As a part-time commissioner I was called in on a couple of occasions to have a chat with the two people running the commission Inquiry, Kevin Ryan and Peter Connolly. On one of those occasions, Peter, I think we were just chatting in a room, or in a corridor, and he remarked that now that the conservative side of politics was in power, they were in a position to do a proper evaluation of the Fitzgerald experiment. In fact what he said was, it was more along the lines of, 'Now that our side of politics is back in power, we can do a proper evaluation of the Fitzgerald experiment.' And that was the phrase of course, that was I gather fairly important in the ultimately successful challenge to that Inquiry by the CJC in the Supreme Court. But I think that has to be seen in the context of an overall experience over many months of an Inquiry that seemed to be getting more and more out of control. From the inside of the CJC it was like being in a trench in World War One, with missiles coming over and exploding at regular intervals.
Paul Barclay: By October, in this suffocating climate of mutual mistrust, Kenneth Carruthers decided he was unable to complete his Inquiry into the Memorandum of Understanding. He quit, stating the Connolly Ryan Inquiry into the CJC interfered intolerably with his investigation. And later, as we've heard, the CJC successfully challenged the validity of the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, the Supreme Court agreeing it was indeed biased.
Despite these events it would be a mistake to conclude that hostility towards the CJC comes only from the conservative side of politics.
True, current Labor Premier Peter Beattie remains a strong ally. Not so former Labor Premier Wayne Goss, who's antipathy toward the CJC is still apparent. Wayne Goss quit the party leadership shortly after the Mundingburra by-election defeat consigned Labor to Opposition, and eventually left politics.
LIFT ARRIVES
Paul Barclay: I meet Mr Goss on the 26th floor of the Harry Seidler designed Riverside building, from where you get a great view of the physical changes, good and bad, wrought on Brisbane.
If Wayne Goss' election triumph in 1989 made him the big political winner from the Fitzgerald Inquiry, it didn't prevent him from clashing with the CJC. And today, he thinks it's time the CJC was thoroughly reviewed.
Wayne Goss: The Criminal Justice Commission needs an independent review, carried out by somebody that all sides of politics are happy with and that looks at its role. I think whatever happens, the CJC should be maintained in some form to detect and deter corruption, whether that be in the public sector or in particular bodies like the police, but whether it needs some of its other functions, that should be open to debate and one shouldn't be accused of undermining the reform process for simply asking the question.
Paul Barclay: While Mr Goss deserves credit for implementing crucial reforms, he too fell foul of the head of the Criminal Justice Commission, in this case inaugural Chairman, Sir Max Bingham, a former Liberal Deputy Premier of Tasmania, appointed in the dying days of coalition rule. To make matters worse, a CJC investigation into parliamentary travel expenses led to the embarrassing resignation of a number of Labor Ministers.
Speculation was that relations between the CJC and the Labor Government were so poisonous the Commission would have been abolished if Caucus had been asked to vote on the matter.
Wayne Goss: No, the CJC wouldn't have been abolished, because I was committed to the work that it had to do. It was far from perfect, particularly in the first three years, some of its research was very shoddy. I mean the SP bookmaking report, the poker machine report that was quashed subsequently by the High Court for fundamental mistakes of law; there was also a bit of a personality problem between the Chairman and myself. I never realised that he harboured some resentment over the fact that he wasn't confirmed in his position on election night, which would have been quite inappropriate. And that was unfortunate, but I was committed to the work of the Criminal Justice Commission even though some of the senior players I think were involved in other agendas.
Paul Barclay: Former Queensland Premier, Wayne Goss.
It should surprise nobody that the Criminal Justice Commission does not endear itself to governments. Scrutiny of government is a key reason for the CJC's existence, but it's not the only reason. The CJC is also supposed to combat official corruption. Most experts agree there is no concrete evidence of significant corruption or misconduct within the police service, or the bureaucracy.
Nonetheless this doesn't mean everyone's convinced the State's public sector is today corruption free.
Phil Dickie.
Phil Dickie: Corruption by its very nature is a crime committed between consenting adults in private. Very often there's no reason for either of them to complain; there's often no-one else who knows about it. However the whole Fitzgerald Inquiry was, particularly the media investigations at the beginning, was not so much an exercise in uncovering actual instances of corruption, because we didn't have the resources or the legal power to do that. What it was, was an exercise in uncovering the unmistakable symptoms of corruption, it was a research exercise if you like. And we found and were able to demonstrate with very few resources really, that there was no reasonable explanation for what was happening in Queensland but that the place was corrupt.
Now that sort of methodology, applied with all the resources of an institution like the CJC, would if it was properly employed, find the largest amount of corruption is involved with local governments and land decisions, State governments and contract decisions and that police and criminals come a long way behind that.
Paul Barclay: No-one can dismiss the possibility of hidden corruption. The CJC does catch misbehaving public servants and police, but it's largely dependent on whistleblowers and complainants. The CJC website proudly affirms its complaints section is the 'hub' of the organisation.
Michael Barnes is the head of this section. What does he say to the criticism that the CJC is too reactive to complaints?
Michael Barnes: That would be a flawed approach if that's all we did, but there's two limbs to our approach to detection and eradication of corruption. Firstly, officers who are involved in corruption do tend to attract complaints, they're not out there pursuing their professional responsibilities with a full vigour and application of more appropriately focused officers. So we tend to get complaints about their conduct for other things that causes us to have concerns about them.
But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the complaints process is only one small part of detection of corruption. We have active, ongoing covert operations, target development committees that look at a whole range of indicators to determine whether or not corruption may be occurring in any particular area, not just the police service, but the public sector generally.
Paul Barclay: Terry O'Gorman agrees with Phil Dickie. The CJC can't afford to sit back and wait to be handed information on alleged corruption. He thinks it should go out and find corruption, as it's occurring, by testing the integrity of police officers, a tactic the CJC employs, but that this civil libertarian would like to see enhanced.
Terry O'Gorman: There can be no real objection to the CJC using the same undercover covert listening device and other tactics that police use day in, day out against citizens. I think it is a legitimate criticism, and unless the CJC starts to become proactive in integrity testing in a serious way, there is an unacceptable risk that corruption will return, particularly in view of the fact that there are a reasonable number of police now at Senior Sergeant rank and at Inspector rank who were pretty suspect during the period that Fitzgerald was looking into, but who escaped his examination because there was simply a limit to what he could do.
Paul Barclay: Integrity testing appals the police union. They've even co-opted the language of civil libertarians, branding it 'entrapment'. I put it to the union's Merv Bainbridge that there was a fear of police corruption reappearing without covert testing.
Merv Bainbridge: That fear only comes I think from probably certain solicitors and members of the legal profession, the civil libertarians etc. You know, I just point out to people if they'd like to check and find the number of police officers that are currently in prison for matters of corruption and the number of solicitors that are in, they'll find that there are many, many times more solicitors either being investigated in our prisons for matters of corruption, than police officers. And for calls to come from the legal fraternity for this is I think, totally hypocritical. To set out to entrap police officers I think is totally distasteful and should be avoided at all costs.
Paul Barclay: But if the police have done nothing wrong, then they have nothing to fear.
Merv Bainbridge: Well I'll give you an example of what I call entrapment, and it happened in New South Wales, where they have a totally different system to us, and what happened in New South Wales is a gentleman came to the front counter of a police station, with a carton of beer and he intended to leave it there for a couple of officers that he claimed had assisted his wife at a road accident, and were very helpful. The officer on duty at the counter said, 'No, I don't want it thank you, take it away', and this fellow was very insistent. And at the end of the day did take it away. But they looked around the corner, and here were a couple of police officers and quite obviously they were being set up to take this carton of beer. Now I don't see that as any kind of test, I just find the whole episode of that particular example as it was recounted to me from friends in New South Wales, as disgraceful and disgusting.
Paul Barclay: Merv Bainbridge doesn't defend the behaviour of the rotten police under corrupt Commissioner Terry Lewis, but he reckons there was only a handful of bad guys. There's also no doubt he's a touch nostalgic, and yearns for a time when no-one is breathing down the neck of the officer on the beat.
Merv Bainbridge: What has happened is the CJC has made some police officers, what I call gun shy. In other words, it's just do your eight hours, do no more, don't look left or right, otherwise you'll be complained about. And I can give you a quick example of that if you like. Where two officers are on patrol in the Mount Gravatt area a number of years ago, in the early hours of the morning, and they see two youths walking down the street with a Gladstone bag. So they stop and speak to them, ask can they check inside the bag, which they do, and nothing untoward is found, and bid them Good Morning and off they go. One of the youths' father's complains, doesn't complain about the police being rude, he says that the police weren't rude; he just wishes to know by what authority those police officers searched his son's Gladstone bag. So as a result, those two young police officers were disciplined. So as one of them said to me, 'In future, if I'm driving down Logan Road, Mount Gravatt at three o'clock in the morning and I see someone carrying, if a youth carrying a video on his shoulder, as far as I'm concerned I look straight ahead, I see nothing, I know nothing, I just keep driving.'But the CJC's Michael Barnes says such fears are baseless.
Michael Barnes: I'm very surprised to hear that a union would say its members are not doing their job properly. I know that the vast majority of police would be greatly affronted by the police union suggesting they were scared of doing their job, and think the people of Queensland simply wouldn't believe it. We know that police officers continue to make arrests in quite discretionary areas where they could quite easily avoid preferring charges if they were dissuaded from doing their job. We know that arrests for simple possession of drugs and the like, where police officers could simply look the other way if they were frightened about becoming involved in some incident which could lead to a CJC investigation would diminish. In fact our research shows that those discretionary types of arrests continue to increase at a rate that exceeds the general arrest rate, so I think the evidence shows that police officers aren't discouraged from their job.
Rob Borbidge: I don't think there's much doubt that particularly young police officers are very cautious in terms of perhaps street offences, dealing with certain groups within the community where there is a problem, because they're scared that they may well be reported to the CJC. And I mean common knowledge, there are legal groups that hand out little bits of paper to their clients, that if the police stop you, this is what you can do, this is what you can't do, and you contact the CJC and all the rest of it. So I don't think there's much doubt that in certain cases it has inhibited the ability of the police to do their job. It's great having one of the best police services in the world, but if the constable on street duty isn't game to take on the thugs because he's scared of being reported, then I think the community then has a legitimate question to ask in respect of the process.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob Borbidge.
There's no denying the audacious misbehaviour and illegality that riddled the force ten years ago is no longer evident.
But that's not to say the Police Service has radically changed its approach to policing. For clearly, it has not. Preventative community policing, for instance, is not by any stretch of the imagination the 'primary policing strategy' Tony Fitzgerald argued it should be. This is in spite of evidence from CJC research that putting more police on the beat actually does reduce crime.
Just as the Police Service has been dragged, sometimes reluctantly, into the 1990s, so too have the institutions of democracy in Queensland.
Man: What do you understand by the doctrine of the separation of powers under the Westminster system?
Bjelke-Petersen: Of the?
Man: Of the Westminster system.
Bjelke-Petersen: Well the doctrine you refer to in relation to the, where the government stands, and where the rest of the community stands, and where the rest of the instruments of government stand. Is that what - ?
Man: No.
Bjelke-Petersen: Well you tell me, and I'll tell you whether you're right or not. Don't you know?
Paul Barclay: An ABC dramatisation of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen giving evidence before the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
PROTEST
Paul Barclay: Throughout the '70s and '80s what passed for democracy in Queensland was a national laughing stock.
Protesters daring to dissent by marching in the street were routinely jailed; historic buildings were demolished in the dead of night; and the gerrymander meant a vote for the Nationals in the bush had greater value than a vote for Labor in the city. So impotent did this render the Opposition, and so inconceivable was it they'd ever win office, a virtual one-party State prevailed.
Ethics Professor Noel Preston spent much of this era at odds with Joh Bjelke Petersen and his government, which back then, he says, made decisions by executive fiat.
Noel Preston: Fitzgerald very properly identified that their abuse of executive power was the central issue that brought the problems that emerged in his Inquiry and that at the heart of this was the way the parliamentary process was not working; that executive government controlled in this unicameral one house parliamentary system we had in Queensland. You've got the numbers in the Lower House, there's no Upper House and you do what you like. So the system of parliamentary committees needed to be beefed up. It was very minimal in 1989, and that has happened, with the passage of the 1995 Parliamentary Committees Act, was sort of the zenith of that flowing out of EARC-style reforms.
Paul Barclay: EARC was the Electoral and Administrative Review Committee. It was a less glamorous Fitzgerald progeny than the Criminal Justice Commission, but no less important. In its short three years it helped breathe life back into Queensland's decrepit public institutions. It killed off the gerrymander and proposed the State's first Freedom of Information laws. And instigated a process to give aggrieved citizens the opportunity to object to Public Service rulings. EARC was also instrumental in bolstering the Parliamentary Committee system.
David Solomon was EARC's final Chairman before it was disbanded in 1994. He thinks it can at least take credit for the fact that governments today are more accountable. Nonetheless, Cabinet still rules the roost, despite Parliamentary Committees.
David Solomon: They've certainly made governments more accountable, and that's probably about as much as you can get. They have not weakened the executive government, strangely enough that hasn't even occurred despite the fact that we've had a minority government situation for a little while. But governments are certainly more accountable than they were pre-Fitzgerald, as well as the Parliamentary Committee system, we've also had a judicial review system, which has made decisions by governments reviewable in the courts. And we've also had Freedom of Information legislation introduced. That has worked pretty well, though it suited both Labor and conservative governments to water down the provisions of the FOI legislation and to allow them to, in effect, hide anything they wanted to hide simply by classifying it as a Cabinet document.
Paul Barclay: One would not need to be a cynic to suggest that if you only need to reclassify a document as a Cabinet document, when all that probably means is that you take it in a manilla folder into a Cabinet room, but it doesn't actually get discussed, that that would almost completely destroy the intent of FOI.
David Solomon: Yes, in fact you didn't even have to take it into the Cabinet room. I mean the final version of it just had a Minister or a senior official, declaring that it was of interest to the Cabinet, even if Cabinet didn't see it.
Paul Barclay: So that's an ad hoc process. They just arbitrarily nominate a document to be a Cabinet document and hence the media or other interested parties cannot access it.
David Solomon: Well essentially that's what could happen, yes. And that was in a change made to the FOI law.Minister: 'This file contains the complete set of available papers except for a small number of secret documents, a few others which are part of selective files, some correspondence lost in the floods of 1967.' Was 1967 a particularly bad winter?
Sir Humphrey: No, it was a marvellous winter; we lost no end of embarrassing files.
Minister: '??? which went astray in the move to London, and others when the War Office was incorporated in the Ministry of Defence; and the normal withdrawal of papers whose publication could give grounds for an action for libel or breach of confidence or cause embarrassment to friendly governments.' Well that's pretty comprehensive. How many papers does that normally leave for them to look at? About 100 or so? Fifty? Ten?
Paul Barclay: Wayne Goss was derided by the media for running a closed government. As Premier, he amended the FOI law to expand the Cabinet loophole.
When David Fagan was Queensland Bureau Chief for The Australian newspaper, he regularly sought information under FOI. But after the Goss Government changed the law, he became increasingly frustrated by the ease with which his requests were thwarted.
David Fagan: In 1994 I applied under FOI for some documents that were prepared by the Public Service for Ministers. Now those documents were to brief Ministers appearing before Budget Estimates Committees. Clearly they weren't a Cabinet document, they weren't designed to go to Cabinet, never were going to. But they did probably set out the problems that Government was experiencing at that time, the sorts of issues that Ministers might be asked about when they appeared before a Parliamentary Committee.
So I applied for those under FOI and looked like I might get them. And a few weeks later the Cabinet office got all the Ministers to hand in their briefing papers and they put them in a box, stuffed them in the hold of the Government jet and took them up to a Cabinet meeting in Mount Isa where they were taken to the meeting. I don't know what happened to them there, presumably they just sat in the corner, but on that basis, they were exempted from release. So we were never able to see what was in those documents.Terry O'Gorman: That was a cynical move brought in by the Goss Government, which the then conservative Opposition criticised. When the conservatives came into government, surprise! surprise! they did nothing about it. Now Labor is back in, what have they done? A typical thing of 'Refer it to a Parliamentary Committee'. It just shows that the current Labor government right throughout all its ministerial ranks, right throughout all of its back bench, are spineless. All they simply have to do is to bring in a one-line amendment to repeal that Cabinet blanket knackering of FOI. There's no need to refer it to a Parliamentary Committee.
Paul Barclay: Terry O'Gorman of the Council for Civil Liberties.
Peter Beattie: I believe in Parliamentary Committees. And one of the things you'll recall that the Fitzgerald Report talked about was the need for a greater role for Parliamentary Committees.
Paul Barclay: Premier Peter Beattie.
Peter Beattie: As Chairman of the first Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee, I'm committed to that. FOI has been a political football, and therefore we need to ensure that it's handled properly by both sides of politics. You see the strength of what Fitzgerald did in establishing bipartisan or multi party Parliamentary Committees in this Parliament, was to ensure that politicians had to work together to come up with an outcome. Now there will always be, and it has always been envisaged, that there will be some exemption for Cabinet documents, and so there should be.
Paul Barclay: But the current situation is ludicrous, it simply requires almost an arbitrary reclassification of a document that doesn't even need to make it into the Cabinet room, to stop journalists and members of the public getting access to it.
Peter Beattie: Well I've made it clear that our position is, and this will always be our position, if the documents pertain to Cabinet decision-making process, then that's the appropriate place for them to be exempt. If they're not part of that process, then in fact they aren't exempt. Now that's the practice that we follow. I've issued an instruction to that effect, that's the practice we are following.
Paul Barclay: It seems to me though that what you're saying is that the only documents that you're not allowing access to now are legitimate Cabinet documents. Does that mean then that you're loath to actually amend the legislation, because you're currently acting in the spirit of what you regard FOI is?
Peter Beattie: No, I'm simply acting in the spirit of what I think FOI is and how it was to apply to Cabinet. But the Parliamentary Committee should have a look at the FOI laws, and as I stress, this is what I promised prior to the election, and that's why they're looking at it.
Paul Barclay: But will you change them?
Peter Beattie: Well I want to see, I mean you already get an indication from our practices as to what I believe, or the Government believes. But clearly, what I want to see is what the Committee says.
Paul Barclay: At least the FOI laws were introduced. A number of reforms proposed by the Electoral and Administrative Review Committee have never seen the light of day. Reforms such as a State Bill of Rights, a new constitution, an Administrative Appeals Tribunal and an Office of Public Sector Ethics.
There is much unfinished business in Queensland. Too much to warrant the mood of self-satisfaction I commonly encountered. Perhaps this is a hint of the complacency Tony Fitzgerald warned of all those years ago.
No government, for instance, has yet had the courage to meaningfully reform laws relating to prostitution and drugs.
But the Queensland of today is a long way from the Moonlight State. Even the National Party has been forgiven by the voters, returning briefly to the Government benches before losing the last election. But their leader Rob Borbidge rejects the popularly held view that Tony Fitzgerald helped create contemporary Queensland.
Rob Borbidge: Joh Bjelke Petersen was the builder of modern Queensland, and no-one will ever take that away from him, especially Mr Fitzgerald. And you know, like all governments, good things happen and things happen that aren't so good. But I think that the recent political experience shows that the person in the street, whilst acknowledging the lessons of Fitzgerald, doesn't hold anything from that era against the modern National Party.
Paul Barclay: For two decades, Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen personified Queensland. It's instructive to hear him talk about what has become of the State today.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: We were told at the time the report was given that Queensland would be 'squeally clean', whatever the expression they used that day on TV, you'll find it in the records if you look it up, but Queensland was going to be 'squeally clean'; there would be no more corruption forever and a day. And instead of that of course, those of us who have a bit of background, a bit of experience, knew jolly well that violence and robbery and murder, it's unbelievable. We were right ahead of our time, the police force were in stopping drugs. Nowadays after the Fitzgerald era, goodness me, you're not game to go out along the streets anywhere today, any part of Queensland, simply because they neglected the opportunity and the position that had been created by the police force in their control of drugs and all these other vices that have escalated.
Paul Barclay: I meet Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen in the boardroom of Brisbane's Mineralogy House, where he still maintains an office. The man I met is frail, he's now 88, and no longer the imposing political warrior who once inspired such loathing and admiration. But Sir Joh remains convinced Fitzgerald did Queensland more harm than good.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: The CJC again is a fairly political operation, the whole exercise. And I said many times after my experience in the court, I said I would have dismantled it long ago and got it back to the system that we operated under.
Paul Barclay: Is the CJC an effective watchdog against corruption and misconduct?
Joh Bjelke Petersen: It's always after the event. We stopped it before it happened, and the police force in my day stopped it before it happened. Street marches, law and order was obeyed, unions were controlled, I was called a dictator but Queensland prospered, and people voted for me increasing numbers, in spite of the fact that some of those street marchers we put a thousand people or more in the lock-up. All I will say this, and I want this recorded and I want it broadcast: the four years that I was being investigated for nothing cost me an awful lot of money and a lot of property, but there's nothing, absolutely nothing, there is nothing and I repeat that will ever restore my confidence in the justice system. After I saw that exercise and what happened to me, as I saw and experienced, sat in that dock and sat and was questioned and investigated, nothing, there's absolutely nothing, and in that you ask many a policeman that was tossed out on the rubbish heap, same as I was, after a long period of being investigated and all the rest of it.
Paul Barclay: Tony Fitzgerald no longer lives in Queensland. He moved to New South Wales shortly after being overlooked by the Queensland Coalition as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Now a Justice on the New South Wales Court of Appeal, he is perfectly happy to let history be the judge of his achievements, or failures. He has no desire to publicly set the record straight, on any matter.
The Queensland Police Service also declined to participate in this program. Their media spokesman, Brian Swift, would say only that the Fitzgerald era was in the past.
But preventing Queensland from revisiting its past will depend on constant vigilance.
Terry O'Gorman.
Terry O'Gorman: In all similar jurisdictions to Queensland, other places in Australia, UK, US, Canada, history shows ten years or so after a major Police Royal Commission where the police are cleaned up, unless there is an active body in there, preventing a re-elapse into corruption, it happens.
you're currently acting in the spirit of what you regard FOI is?
Peter Beattie: No, I'm simply acting in the spirit of what I think FOI is and how it was to apply to Cabinet. But the Parliamentary Committee should have a look at the FOI laws, and as I stress, this is what I promised prior to the election, and that's why they're looking at it.
Paul Barclay: But will you change them?
Peter Beattie: Well I want to see, I mean you already get an indication from our practices as to what I believe, or the Government believes. But clearly, what I want to see is what the Committee says.
Paul Barclay: At least the FOI laws were introduced. A number of reforms proposed by the Electoral and Administrative Review Committee have never seen the light of day. Reforms such as a State Bill of Rights, a new constitution, an Administrative Appeals Tribunal and an Office of Public Sector Ethics.
There is much unfinished business in Queensland. Too much to warrant the mood of self-satisfaction I commonly encountered. Perhaps this is a hint of the complacency Tony Fitzgerald warned of all those years ago.
No government, for instance, has yet had the courage to meaningfully reform laws relating to prostitution and drugs.
But the Queensland of today is a long way from the Moonlight State. Even the National Party has been forgiven by the voters, returning briefly to the Government benches before losing the last election. But their leader Rob Borbidge rejects the popularly held view that Tony Fitzgerald helped create contemporary Queensland.
Rob Borbidge: Joh Bjelke Petersen was the builder of modern Queensland, and no-one will ever take that away from him, especially Mr Fitzgerald. And you know, like all governments, good things happen and things happen that aren't so good. But I think that the recent political experience shows that the person in the street, whilst acknowledging the lessons of Fitzgerald, doesn't hold anything from that era against the modern National Party.
Paul Barclay: For two decades, Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen personified Queensland. It's instructive to hear him talk about what has become of the State today.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: We were told at the time the report was given that Queensland would be 'squeally clean', whatever the expression they used that day on TV, you'll find it in the records if you look it up, but Queensland was going to be 'squeally clean'; there would be no more corruption forever and a day. And instead of that of course, those of us who have a bit of background, a bit of experience, knew jolly well that violence and robbery and murder, it's unbelievable. We were right ahead of our time, the police force were in stopping drugs. Nowadays after the Fitzgerald era, goodness me, you're not game to go out along the streets anywhere today, any part of Queensland, simply because they neglected the opportunity and the position that had been created by the police force in their control of drugs and all these other vices that have escalated.
Paul Barclay: I meet Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen in the boardroom of Brisbane's Mineralogy House, where he still maintains an office. The man I met is frail, he's now 88, and no longer the imposing political warrior who once inspired such loathing and admiration. But Sir Joh remains convinced Fitzgerald did Queensland more harm than good.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: The CJC again is a fairly political operation, the whole exercise. And I said many times after my experience in the court, I said I would have dismantled it long ago and got it back to the system that we operated under.
Paul Barclay: Is the CJC an effective watchdog against corruption and misconduct?
Joh Bjelke Petersen: It's always after the event. We stopped it before it happened, and the police force in my day stopped it before it happened. Street marches, law and order was obeyed, unions were controlled, I was called a dictator but Queensland prospered, and people voted for me increasing numbers, in spite of the fact that some of those street marchers we put a thousand people or more in the lock-up. All I will say this, and I want this recorded and I want it broadcast: the four years that I was being investigated for nothing cost me an awful lot of money and a lot of property, but there's nothing, absolutely nothing, there is nothing and I repeat that will ever restore my confidence in the justice system. After I saw that exercise and what happened to me, as I saw and experienced, sat in that dock and sat and was questioned and investigated, nothing, there's absolutely nothing, and in that you ask many a policeman that was tossed out on the rubbish heap, same as I was, after a long period of being investigated and all the rest of it.
Paul Barclay: Tony Fitzgerald no longer lives in Queensland. He moved to New South Wales shortly after being overlooked by the Queensland Coalition as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Now a Justice on the New South Wales Court of Appeal, he is perfectly happy to let history be the judge of his achievements, or failures. He has no desire to publicly set the record straight, on any matter.
The Queensland Police Service also declined to participate in this program. Their media spokesman, Brian Swift, would say only that the Fitzgerald era was in the past.
But preventing Queensland from revisiting its past will depend on constant vigilance.
Terry O'Gorman.
Terry O'Gorman: In all similar jurisdictions to Queensland, other places in Australia, UK, US, Canada, history shows ten years or so after a major Police Royal Commission where the police are cleaned up, unless there is an active body in there, preventing a re-elapse into corruption, it happens.
THEME
Paul Barclay: You've been listening to Background Briefing. Co-ordinating Producer is Linda McGinness; Research by Jim Mellor; Technical Production by Colin Preston and Mark Don; Executive Producer is Stephen Alward.
I'm Paul Barclay
Further information
Queensland Criminal Justice Commission http://www.cjc.qld.gov.au Queensland Police Union http://www.qpu.asn.au
University of Queensland Library Reading list: The Government of Queensland http://www.library.uq.edu.au/ssah/gt206.html
Program Transcript THEME
Peter Beattie: The Fitzgerald Report has been the most single important catalyst for improved behaviour in this State since we became a State in 1859.
Paul Barclay: Ten years ago, Tony Fitzgerald delivered a Report that was to have an extraordinary impact on the State of Queensland, a bold attempt to pull The Moonlight State out of a mire of vice, cronyism, and illegality.
The Fitzgerald Inquiry uncovered corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the police force and government, and led to the jailing of government ministers and the Commissioner of Police.
But it was far more than a prescription for catching crooked cops and politicians with their snouts in the trough. It was a blueprint for rebuilding confidence in the police, the parliament and the bureaucracy.
More than anything Tony Fitzgerald wanted to ensure Queensland would never again sink to the depths of such appalling official impropriety. And the only way this could be guarded against, he reasoned, was a complete overhaul of the State's discredited public institutions.
But he cautioned, the citizens and their elected representatives would need to be always on their guard. His report warned:
Reader: There are many ways in which the agenda for reform could be delayed or subverted by political or bureaucratic opponents. This has happened previously.
Paul Barclay: Ten years on, has Queensland been faithful to the Fitzgerald vision?
Hello, and welcome to Background Briefing. I'm Paul Barclay.
Wayne Goss: I think it's a courageous and a perceptive document; I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to Mr Fitzgerald, I think it's a blistering indictment on the National Party and on National/Liberal governments, but it's a blueprint for the future, it's a blueprint for a better Queensland and it deserves all of our support.
Paul Barclay: The then Queensland Opposition leader, Wayne Goss.
In early 1987 Courier Mail journalist Phil Dickie was just another pesky young reporter, posing it seemed nothing more than a minor irritation to the State's police force, and the 19-year-old National Party government of Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen.
His allegations that police were turning a blind eye to illegal brothels and gambling houses in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley were new, but no more shocking than other claims bandied about frequently in Queensland.
Then in May that year, along came Chris Masters, and The Moonlight State.
FOUR CORNERS THEME
Russ Hinze: I don't know of any illegal gambling. If there's any going on well then of course I don't know where it is. My commissioner informs me, advises me, that he doesn't know where it is.
Chris Masters: When police and politicians 'can't find' an illegal casino in a Brisbane main street, it's unlikely that in such a morally upright climate, they could discover anything more sinister.
ORGAN MUSIC
Paul Barclay: The allegations in this one television program aroused complacent Queenslanders and prompted an immediate response from a government many thought would simply dismiss Chris Masters' revelations.
But the day after that Four Corners program went to air, and with Sir Joh out of the country, acting Premier Bill Gunn announced a judicial inquiry.
Bill Gunn: A favourite saying of the late Russell Hinze was 'You never hold an inquiry unless you know what the outcome will be.' He hade informed me of that, but this was such a serious situation where we considered it was the hierarchy, and I say there was a possibility in for many, many years that there had been corruption in the police force.
Paul Barclay: Do you think Joh would have set up the Fitzgerald Inquiry himself if he'd been in charge?
Bill Gunn: No. No, I don't believe he would and I believe that if he could have stopped it, it would have.
Paul Barclay: The cynics said the Inquiry would last six weeks; it dragged on for two years. It's clear that many people in Queensland give Fitzgerald credit for not just cleaning up The Moonlight State, but also for being instrumental in the birth of the modern, outward-looking Queensland that exists today.
Phil Dickie won the highest accolade in Australian journalism, the Gold Walkley, for his efforts in revealing the tip of the corruption iceberg in Queensland. But when I met up with him, over a glass of his home brew, it's hard to elicit from him any enthusiasm for the progress of the past ten years.
Phil Dickie: Fitzgerald presented Queensland ultimately with a, you know, sort of once or twice a century chance to do a whole lot of spring cleaning, and I'd suggest that ten years out we've probably missed the boat now. We tried, and we tried valiantly in the early years, and then all the institutional constraints caught up with us. And Queensland is, unfortunately, sort of settling back a bit into the pattern, and we might eventually get better prostitution laws. We might eventually get a better police force out of it, and we might already have a better police force out of it, but the overall game of sort of a better, fairer, more just, more open, more accountable society I think we've lost it.
Paul Barclay: Phil Dickie is a rarity among reporters. Unlike, say, Chris Masters after breaking the biggest story of his career, Phil Dickie turned his back on journalism. After uncovering the problem he wanted to be part of the solution.
And the Criminal Justice Commission is a large part of that solution. The CJC is the permanent embodiment of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, with virtually the same wide-ranging powers. It acts as a corruption watchdog, but also promotes criminal justice reform.
Phil Dickie joined the CJC as a special adviser, believing radical change to the criminal justice system was possible.
He left in 1994, disillusioned. Now he enjoys a quieter life, bringing up his young son and their motley collection of chooks, just down the road from where all the action was happening a decade earlier in Fortitude Valley. Sitting with him in his tropical backyard, his disappointment is obvious.
Phil Dickie: I saw it as the Inquiry came down and said, 'Look, here is a chance to remake the institutions of a society so that they are more open, more accountable, more receptive to better ways of doing things, and that the CJC was to be the institution that would turn its attention to our criminal justice system, our interactions with crime and how we best deal with it, far, far more than just being another arm of another police force.'
Paul Barclay: So rather than being a crime fighting agency investigating official misconduct, corruption and until recently organised crime, it should have been a research-driven organisation that was developing new approaches to dealing with crime and actually overhauling the whole criminal justice system.
Phil Dickie: There's no 'should have been' about it, it's quite explicit when you read the recommendations of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, it's quite explicit in the legislation that the CJC was set up under. It's the CJC itself which has chosen to interpret its role basically in a cops and robbers sense, or a corruption watchdog sense.Paul Barclay: Phil Dickie is not alone in his criticism of the CJC. Almost everyone I spoke with had their own assessment of its flaws. And what are those faults? Well that depends on who you talk to you.
Rob Borbidge: The Criminal Justice Commission took it upon itself to be totally unaccountable, and took it upon itself to assume the role of de facto government in Queensland.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob Borbidge.
Rob Borbidge: Now that was not what Fitzgerald proposed, and we saw, in my view, an undermining of the parliamentary process by the CJC particularly under its former chairman who I believe was extremely politically active. Part of the problem is that under previous chairmen, the CJC wanted everyone else to be accountable to them, but they did not want to be accountable to anyone.
Paul Barclay: How did that manifest itself, the CJC playing a role as the de facto government?
Rob Borbidge: Well I guess the most alarming example of their interference in the political process was what amounted to an effective coup d'etat against my minority government over the MOU that was signed with the police union.
Paul Barclay: The 1996 Memorandum of Understanding between the police union and the then coalition opposition triggered a brawl between the CJC and the coalition, soon after it won government. Coalition claims of political interference were to follow, prompting counter claims of attempted intimidation of the CJC.
Suddenly it was conceivable that Fitzgerald's legacy could be gutted, even abolished.
The Memorandum of Understanding was a deal signed in secret during a by-election campaign, by the National Party leader Rob Borbidge, his police spokesman, and representatives of the police union. Among other things the memorandum appeared to give the police union a right to veto the appointment of a Police Commissioner, and to commit the coalition to watering down the powers of the CJC. In addition it named six assistant commissioners the union wanted made redundant.
In return for signing the deal, the police union threw its weight behind the Coalition's campaign to win the Mundingburra by-election, a by-election that would decide who would govern. The National Party candidate won in a tight contest. And the coalition was back in power.
Secretary of the Queensland police union, Merv Bainbridge, says the Memorandum of Understanding was not improper.
Merv Bainbridge: To this day I see nothing improper. Memorandums of Understanding have been around from time immemorial. I can remember in the early days of Bob Hawke when he was with the ACTU, he would go to the Labor opposition and put the proposition: 'If you are in government, what can you do for our members?' and basically this is all that the police union did; we went to the alternative government said, 'If you were in government, what are you prepared to do for us?'
Paul Barclay: It did appear though that there were some Assistant Commissioners that you apparently wanted to get rid of, and included that in the Memorandum of Understanding, for those officers to be made redundant.
Merv Bainbridge: It was suggested that their contracts not be renewed. No-one was to be sacked etc. but when they came up it was suggested perhaps that their contracts not be renewed over (I've got to be very careful what I say here), but going into their previous administration.
Paul Barclay: After the February by-election, the police union boasted it was responsible for helping return the conservatives to government. Soon after, the union's newsletter revealed the existence of the Memorandum of Understanding.
The media went berserk. There were suggestions the Electoral Act may have been breached. The government was forced to refer the matter to the CJC which appointed retired New South Wales judge, Kenneth Curruthers, to determine if there was any wrongdoing by Premier Rob Borbidge, his Police Minister, or union officials.
Terry O'Gorman, from the Council for Civil Liberties.
Terry O'Gorman: The historical record shows that the then Police Minister, Russell Cooper, referred the Memorandum of Understanding issue to the CJC in the early weeks of the then conservative government having won office, principally by virtue of the role of the Memorandum of Understanding in a relevant by-election. However, while it was quite proper for the CJC to look into the Memorandum of Understanding, it's after that period of looking into it where the waters start to get muddy, the relevant conservative politicians, the ex-Premier Mr Borbidge, the ex-Police Minister, Mr Cooper, have a point to an extent of saying, 'Why should we have had to go through months and months of anguish, months and months of interference with our parliamentary duty, running up huge amounts of money in legal bills, when there was an opinion locked away in a safe that in fact they had done nothing wrong?'
Paul Barclay: By now, Mr Borbidge viewed the CJC as a sort of Star Chamber, out of control and gunning for his government.
Rob Borbidge: We had a situation where legal advice from Cedric Hampson, who at that time was President of the Bar Association, that said that neither Russell Cooper nor I had a case to answer and we were told that there would be a brief inquiry into the police union's involvement that should go for about 12 days. It went for the best part of eight or nine months; it was a loaded dice and in my view it was nothing short of a deliberate attempt to bring about a properly elected and constituted democratic government, to bring that government down. I mean they went on for months and months and months, and if not for the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, no-one would ever have known that they had legal advice that the government of the day did not have a case to answer.
Paul Barclay: The Carruthers Inquiry into the deal between the police union and the coalition distracted the government for months. The coalition was so infuriated by the Inquiry that it launched a counter Inquiry into the CJC itself, the Connolly Ryan Inquiry.
Lawyer Terry O'Gorman again.
Terry O'Gorman: That complaint by Mr Borbidge and Mr Cooper as I see it, was at least a reasonably valid complaint, but the way that the government then chose to deal with investigating that complaint was a problem of the government's own making because they appointed an Inquiry which was clearly a 'get square, let's kick the CJC in the face' Inquiry. Inevitably that Inquiry was declared to be biased, by the Queensland Supreme Court, and shut down.
Paul Barclay: In broad terms, was the Connolly Ryan Inquiry an attempt to muzzle the CJC?
Terry O'Gorman: I saw it as that, and most informed observers did. When you saw the way in which the Inquiry was set up, when you saw the way in which the Inquiry confronted and successfully, stared down Carruthers when he wasn't finished, it clearly was an attempt to not only muzzle but possibly completely abolish the CJC. But when you look at the way the Connolly Ryan Inquiry was conducted, and when you look at the stinging criticisms that were made by Mr Justice Thomas, the judge that shut it down in the Supreme Court, and when you look at the fact that the Connolly Ryan Inquiry chose not to appeal to the Court of Appeal against its closure, then that I think, says it all.
Paul Barclay: From the outset of the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, the coalition undermined its own case that the CJC and the Carruthers Inquiry were out to get it. And it did this by appointing an ex-Liberal Party member, and former judge, Peter Connolly to inquire into the CJC. His professional abilities weren't in question, but the appointment raised concerns about the impartiality of the Inquiry.
Rob Borbidge: Well Peter Connolly had been a very distinguished and senior member of the Bench, and in all his years on the Bench I think 30 years or thereabouts, there had never been any suggestion or any allegation of bias on the part of Mr Connolly, and the same for Kevin Ryan when he served as a Supreme Court judge. Both of those men were highly regarded and at no time during their judicial careers, during their time on the Bench, had anyone suggested that they were politically motivated in respect of any of their judgements handed down probably over hundreds of cases in decades of service to the Supreme Court of Queensland.
Paul Barclay: But at the very least, wouldn't it have been easier to appoint someone who didn't have a Liberal background? You would have still been able to conduct the Inquiry, look into the problems that you saw with the CJC without the perception of a conflict of interests.
Rob Borbidge: Well we held the view that by having two commissioners, that we were ensuring impartiality and independence in regard to that particular review. I mean it wasn't as if Mr Connolly was the only person appointed, Mr Ryan, Kevin Ryan was appointed.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob Borbidge.Professor Ross Homel, a recently retired CJC commissioner, presented me with an altogether different view of the Connolly Ryan period, a view he also shared with the Supreme Court.
Ross Homel: As a part-time commissioner I was called in on a couple of occasions to have a chat with the two people running the commission Inquiry, Kevin Ryan and Peter Connolly. On one of those occasions, Peter, I think we were just chatting in a room, or in a corridor, and he remarked that now that the conservative side of politics was in power, they were in a position to do a proper evaluation of the Fitzgerald experiment. In fact what he said was, it was more along the lines of, 'Now that our side of politics is back in power, we can do a proper evaluation of the Fitzgerald experiment.' And that was the phrase of course, that was I gather fairly important in the ultimately successful challenge to that Inquiry by the CJC in the Supreme Court. But I think that has to be seen in the context of an overall experience over many months of an Inquiry that seemed to be getting more and more out of control. From the inside of the CJC it was like being in a trench in World War One, with missiles coming over and exploding at regular intervals.
Paul Barclay: By October, in this suffocating climate of mutual mistrust, Kenneth Carruthers decided he was unable to complete his Inquiry into the Memorandum of Understanding. He quit, stating the Connolly Ryan Inquiry into the CJC interfered intolerably with his investigation. And later, as we've heard, the CJC successfully challenged the validity of the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, the Supreme Court agreeing it was indeed biased.
Despite these events it would be a mistake to conclude that hostility towards the CJC comes only from the conservative side of politics.
True, current Labor Premier Peter Beattie remains a strong ally. Not so former Labor Premier Wayne Goss, who's antipathy toward the CJC is still apparent. Wayne Goss quit the party leadership shortly after the Mundingburra by-election defeat consigned Labor to Opposition, and eventually left politics.
LIFT ARRIVES
Paul Barclay: I meet Mr Goss on the 26th floor of the Harry Seidler designed Riverside building, from where you get a great view of the physical changes, good and bad, wrought on Brisbane.
If Wayne Goss' election triumph in 1989 made him the big political winner from the Fitzgerald Inquiry, it didn't prevent him from clashing with the CJC. And today, he thinks it's time the CJC was thoroughly reviewed.
Wayne Goss: The Criminal Justice Commission needs an independent review, carried out by somebody that all sides of politics are happy with and that looks at its role. I think whatever happens, the CJC should be maintained in some form to detect and deter corruption, whether that be in the public sector or in particular bodies like the police, but whether it needs some of its other functions, that should be open to debate and one shouldn't be accused of undermining the reform process for simply asking the question.
Paul Barclay: While Mr Goss deserves credit for implementing crucial reforms, he too fell foul of the head of the Criminal Justice Commission, in this case inaugural Chairman, Sir Max Bingham, a former Liberal Deputy Premier of Tasmania, appointed in the dying days of coalition rule. To make matters worse, a CJC investigation into parliamentary travel expenses led to the embarrassing resignation of a number of Labor Ministers.
Speculation was that relations between the CJC and the Labor Government were so poisonous the Commission would have been abolished if Caucus had been asked to vote on the matter.
Wayne Goss: No, the CJC wouldn't have been abolished, because I was committed to the work that it had to do. It was far from perfect, particularly in the first three years, some of its research was very shoddy. I mean the SP bookmaking report, the poker machine report that was quashed subsequently by the High Court for fundamental mistakes of law; there was also a bit of a personality problem between the Chairman and myself. I never realised that he harboured some resentment over the fact that he wasn't confirmed in his position on election night, which would have been quite inappropriate. And that was unfortunate, but I was committed to the work of the Criminal Justice Commission even though some of the senior players I think were involved in other agendas.
Paul Barclay: Former Queensland Premier, Wayne Goss.
It should surprise nobody that the Criminal Justice Commission does not endear itself to governments. Scrutiny of government is a key reason for the CJC's existence, but it's not the only reason. The CJC is also supposed to combat official corruption. Most experts agree there is no concrete evidence of significant corruption or misconduct within the police service, or the bureaucracy.
Nonetheless this doesn't mean everyone's convinced the State's public sector is today corruption free.
Phil Dickie.
Phil Dickie: Corruption by its very nature is a crime committed between consenting adults in private. Very often there's no reason for either of them to complain; there's often no-one else who knows about it. However the whole Fitzgerald Inquiry was, particularly the media investigations at the beginning, was not so much an exercise in uncovering actual instances of corruption, because we didn't have the resources or the legal power to do that. What it was, was an exercise in uncovering the unmistakable symptoms of corruption, it was a research exercise if you like. And we found and were able to demonstrate with very few resources really, that there was no reasonable explanation for what was happening in Queensland but that the place was corrupt.
Now that sort of methodology, applied with all the resources of an institution like the CJC, would if it was properly employed, find the largest amount of corruption is involved with local governments and land decisions, State governments and contract decisions and that police and criminals come a long way behind that.
Paul Barclay: No-one can dismiss the possibility of hidden corruption. The CJC does catch misbehaving public servants and police, but it's largely dependent on whistleblowers and complainants. The CJC website proudly affirms its complaints section is the 'hub' of the organisation.
Michael Barnes is the head of this section. What does he say to the criticism that the CJC is too reactive to complaints?
Michael Barnes: That would be a flawed approach if that's all we did, but there's two limbs to our approach to detection and eradication of corruption. Firstly, officers who are involved in corruption do tend to attract complaints, they're not out there pursuing their professional responsibilities with a full vigour and application of more appropriately focused officers. So we tend to get complaints about their conduct for other things that causes us to have concerns about them.
But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the complaints process is only one small part of detection of corruption. We have active, ongoing covert operations, target development committees that look at a whole range of indicators to determine whether or not corruption may be occurring in any particular area, not just the police service, but the public sector generally.
Paul Barclay: Terry O'Gorman agrees with Phil Dickie. The CJC can't afford to sit back and wait to be handed information on alleged corruption. He thinks it should go out and find corruption, as it's occurring, by testing the integrity of police officers, a tactic the CJC employs, but that this civil libertarian would like to see enhanced.
Terry O'Gorman: There can be no real objection to the CJC using the same undercover covert listening device and other tactics that police use day in, day out against citizens. I think it is a legitimate criticism, and unless the CJC starts to become proactive in integrity testing in a serious way, there is an unacceptable risk that corruption will return, particularly in view of the fact that there are a reasonable number of police now at Senior Sergeant rank and at Inspector rank who were pretty suspect during the period that Fitzgerald was looking into, but who escaped his examination because there was simply a limit to what he could do.
Paul Barclay: Integrity testing appals the police union. They've even co-opted the language of civil libertarians, branding it 'entrapment'. I put it to the union's Merv Bainbridge that there was a fear of police corruption reappearing without covert testing.
Merv Bainbridge: That fear only comes I think from probably certain solicitors and members of the legal profession, the civil libertarians etc. You know, I just point out to people if they'd like to check and find the number of police officers that are currently in prison for matters of corruption and the number of solicitors that are in, they'll find that there are many, many times more solicitors either being investigated in our prisons for matters of corruption, than police officers. And for calls to come from the legal fraternity for this is I think, totally hypocritical. To set out to entrap police officers I think is totally distasteful and should be avoided at all costs.
Paul Barclay: But if the police have done nothing wrong, then they have nothing to fear.
Merv Bainbridge: Well I'll give you an example of what I call entrapment, and it happened in New South Wales, where they have a totally different system to us, and what happened in New South Wales is a gentleman came to the front counter of a police station, with a carton of beer and he intended to leave it there for a couple of officers that he claimed had assisted his wife at a road accident, and were very helpful. The officer on duty at the counter said, 'No, I don't want it thank you, take it away', and this fellow was very insistent. And at the end of the day did take it away. But they looked around the corner, and here were a couple of police officers and quite obviously they were being set up to take this carton of beer. Now I don't see that as any kind of test, I just find the whole episode of that particular example as it was recounted to me from friends in New South Wales, as disgraceful and disgusting.
Paul Barclay: Merv Bainbridge doesn't defend the behaviour of the rotten police under corrupt Commissioner Terry Lewis, but he reckons there was only a handful of bad guys. There's also no doubt he's a touch nostalgic, and yearns for a time when no-one is breathing down the neck of the officer on the beat.
Merv Bainbridge: What has happened is the CJC has made some police officers, what I call gun shy. In other words, it's just do your eight hours, do no more, don't look left or right, otherwise you'll be complained about. And I can give you a quick example of that if you like. Where two officers are on patrol in the Mount Gravatt area a number of years ago, in the early hours of the morning, and they see two youths walking down the street with a Gladstone bag. So they stop and speak to them, ask can they check inside the bag, which they do, and nothing untoward is found, and bid them Good Morning and off they go. One of the youths' father's complains, doesn't complain about the police being rude, he says that the police weren't rude; he just wishes to know by what authority those police officers searched his son's Gladstone bag. So as a result, those two young police officers were disciplined. So as one of them said to me, 'In future, if I'm driving down Logan Road, Mount Gravatt at three o'clock in the morning and I see someone carrying, if a youth carrying a video on his shoulder, as far as I'm concerned I look straight ahead, I see nothing, I know nothing, I just keep driving.'
But the CJC's Michael Barnes says such fears are baseless.
Michael Barnes: I'm very surprised to hear that a union would say its members are not doing their job properly. I know that the vast majority of police would be greatly affronted by the police union suggesting they were scared of doing their job, and think the people of Queensland simply wouldn't believe it. We know that police officers continue to make arrests in quite discretionary areas where they could quite easily avoid preferring charges if they were dissuaded from doing their job. We know that arrests for simple possession of drugs and the like, where police officers could simply look the other way if they were frightened about becoming involved in some incident which could lead to a CJC investigation would diminish. In fact our research shows that those discretionary types of arrests continue to increase at a rate that exceeds the general arrest rate, so I think the evidence shows that police officers aren't discouraged from their job.
Rob Borbidge: I don't think there's much doubt that particularly young police officers are very cautious in terms of perhaps street offences, dealing with certain groups within the community where there is a problem, because they're scared that they may well be reported to the CJC. And I mean common knowledge, there are legal groups that hand out little bits of paper to their clients, that if the police stop you, this is what you can do, this is what you can't do, and you contact the CJC and all the rest of it. So I don't think there's much doubt that in certain cases it has inhibited the ability of the police to do their job. It's great having one of the best police services in the world, but if the constable on street duty isn't game to take on the thugs because he's scared of being reported, then I think the community then has a legitimate question to ask in respect of the process.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob Borbidge.
There's no denying the audacious misbehaviour and illegality that riddled the force ten years ago is no longer evident.
But that's not to say the Police Service has radically changed its approach to policing. For clearly, it has not. Preventative community policing, for instance, is not by any stretch of the imagination the 'primary policing strategy' Tony Fitzgerald argued it should be. This is in spite of evidence from CJC research that putting more police on the beat actually does reduce crime.
Just as the Police Service has been dragged, sometimes reluctantly, into the 1990s, so too have the institutions of democracy in Queensland.
Man: What do you understand by the doctrine of the separation of powers under the Westminster system?
Bjelke-Petersen: Of the?
Man: Of the Westminster system.
Bjelke-Petersen: Well the doctrine you refer to in relation to the, where the government stands, and where the rest of the community stands, and where the rest of the instruments of government stand. Is that what - ?
Man: No.
Bjelke-Petersen: Well you tell me, and I'll tell you whether you're right or not. Don't you know?
Paul Barclay: An ABC dramatisation of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen giving evidence before the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
PROTEST
Paul Barclay: Throughout the '70s and '80s what passed for democracy in Queensland was a national laughing stock.
Protesters daring to dissent by marching in the street were routinely jailed; historic buildings were demolished in the dead of night; and the gerrymander meant a vote for the Nationals in the bush had greater value than a vote for Labor in the city. So impotent did this render the Opposition, and so inconceivable was it they'd ever win office, a virtual one-party State prevailed.
Ethics Professor Noel Preston spent much of this era at odds with Joh Bjelke Petersen and his government, which back then, he says, made decisions by executive fiat.
Noel Preston: Fitzgerald very properly identified that their abuse of executive power was the central issue that brought the problems that emerged in his Inquiry and that at the heart of this was the way the parliamentary process was not working; that executive government controlled in this unicameral one house parliamentary system we had in Queensland. You've got the numbers in the Lower House, there's no Upper House and you do what you like. So the system of parliamentary committees needed to be beefed up. It was very minimal in 1989, and that has happened, with the passage of the 1995 Parliamentary Committees Act, was sort of the zenith of that flowing out of EARC-style reforms.
Paul Barclay: EARC was the Electoral and Administrative Review Committee. It was a less glamorous Fitzgerald progeny than the Criminal Justice Commission, but no less important. In its short three years it helped breathe life back into Queensland's decrepit public institutions. It killed off the gerrymander and proposed the State's first Freedom of Information laws. And instigated a process to give aggrieved citizens the opportunity to object to Public Service rulings. EARC was also instrumental in bolstering the Parliamentary Committee system.
David Solomon was EARC's final Chairman before it was disbanded in 1994. He thinks it can at least take credit for the fact that governments today are more accountable. Nonetheless, Cabinet still rules the roost, despite Parliamentary Committees.
David Solomon: They've certainly made governments more accountable, and that's probably about as much as you can get. They have not weakened the executive government, strangely enough that hasn't even occurred despite the fact that we've had a minority government situation for a little while. But governments are certainly more accountable than they were pre-Fitzgerald, as well as the Parliamentary Committee system, we've also had a judicial review system, which has made decisions by governments reviewable in the courts. And we've also had Freedom of Information legislation introduced. That has worked pretty well, though it suited both Labor and conservative governments to water down the provisions of the FOI legislation and to allow them to, in effect, hide anything they wanted to hide simply by classifying it as a Cabinet document.
Paul Barclay: One would not need to be a cynic to suggest that if you only need to reclassify a document as a Cabinet document, when all that probably means is that you take it in a manilla folder into a Cabinet room, but it doesn't actually get discussed, that that would almost completely destroy the intent of FOI.
David Solomon: Yes, in fact you didn't even have to take it into the Cabinet room. I mean the final version of it just had a Minister or a senior official, declaring that it was of interest to the Cabinet, even if Cabinet didn't see it.
Paul Barclay: So that's an ad hoc process. They just arbitrarily nominate a document to be a Cabinet document and hence the media or other interested parties cannot access it.
David Solomon: Well essentially that's what could happen, yes. And that was in a change made to the FOI law.
Minister: 'This file contains the complete set of available papers except for a small number of secret documents, a few others which are part of selective files, some correspondence lost in the floods of 1967.' Was 1967 a particularly bad winter?
Sir Humphrey: No, it was a marvellous winter; we lost no end of embarrassing files.
Minister: '??? which went astray in the move to London, and others when the War Office was incorporated in the Ministry of Defence; and the normal withdrawal of papers whose publication could give grounds for an action for libel or breach of confidence or cause embarrassment to friendly governments.' Well that's pretty comprehensive. How many papers does that normally leave for them to look at? About 100 or so? Fifty? Ten?
Paul Barclay: Wayne Goss was derided by the media for running a closed government. As Premier, he amended the FOI law to expand the Cabinet loophole.
When David Fagan was Queensland Bureau Chief for The Australian newspaper, he regularly sought information under FOI. But after the Goss Government changed the law, he became increasingly frustrated by the ease with which his requests were thwarted.
David Fagan: In 1994 I applied under FOI for some documents that were prepared by the Public Service for Ministers. Now those documents were to brief Ministers appearing before Budget Estimates Committees. Clearly they weren't a Cabinet document, they weren't designed to go to Cabinet, never were going to. But they did probably set out the problems that Government was experiencing at that time, the sorts of issues that Ministers might be asked about when they appeared before a Parliamentary Committee.
So I applied for those under FOI and looked like I might get them. And a few weeks later the Cabinet office got all the Ministers to hand in their briefing papers and they put them in a box, stuffed them in the hold of the Government jet and took them up to a Cabinet meeting in Mount Isa where they were taken to the meeting. I don't know what happened to them there, presumably they just sat in the corner, but on that basis, they were exempted from release. So we were never able to see what was in those documents.
Terry O'Gorman: That was a cynical move brought in by the Goss Government, which the then conservative Opposition criticised. When the conservatives came into government, surprise! surprise! they did nothing about it. Now Labor is back in, what have they done? A typical thing of 'Refer it to a Parliamentary Committee'. It just shows that the current Labor government right throughout all its ministerial ranks, right throughout all of its back bench, are spineless. All they simply have to do is to bring in a one-line amendment to repeal that Cabinet blanket knackering of FOI. There's no need to refer it to a Parliamentary Committee.
Paul Barclay: Terry O'Gorman of the Council for Civil Liberties.
Peter Beattie: I believe in Parliamentary Committees. And one of the things you'll recall that the Fitzgerald Report talked about was the need for a greater role for Parliamentary Committees.
Paul Barclay: Premier Peter Beattie.
Peter Beattie: As Chairman of the first Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee, I'm committed to that. FOI has been a political football, and therefore we need to ensure that it's handled properly by both sides of politics. You see the strength of what Fitzgerald did in establishing bipartisan or multi party Parliamentary Committees in this Parliament, was to ensure that politicians had to work together to come up with an outcome. Now there will always be, and it has always been envisaged, that there will be some exemption for Cabinet documents, and so there should be.
Paul Barclay: But the current situation is ludicrous, it simply requires almost an arbitrary reclassification of a document that doesn't even need to make it into the Cabinet room, to stop journalists and members of the public getting access to it.
Peter Beattie: Well I've made it clear that our position is, and this will always be our position, if the documents pertain to Cabinet decision-making process, then that's the appropriate place for them to be exempt. If they're not part of that process, then in fact they aren't exempt. Now that's the practice that we follow. I've issued an instruction to that effect, that's the practice we are following.
Paul Barclay: It seems to me though that what you're saying is that the only documents that you're not allowing access to now are legitimate Cabinet documents. Does that mean then that you're loath to actually amend the legislation, because you're currently acting in the spirit of what you regard FOI is?
Peter Beattie: No, I'm simply acting in the spirit of what I think FOI is and how it was to apply to Cabinet. But the Parliamentary Committee should have a look at the FOI laws, and as I stress, this is what I promised prior to the election, and that's why they're looking at it.
Paul Barclay: But will you change them?
Peter Beattie: Well I want to see, I mean you already get an indication from our practices as to what I believe, or the Government believes. But clearly, what I want to see is what the Committee says.
Paul Barclay: At least the FOI laws were introduced. A number of reforms proposed by the Electoral and Administrative Review Committee have never seen the light of day. Reforms such as a State Bill of Rights, a new constitution, an Administrative Appeals Tribunal and an Office of Public Sector Ethics.
There is much unfinished business in Queensland. Too much to warrant the mood of self-satisfaction I commonly encountered. Perhaps this is a hint of the complacency Tony Fitzgerald warned of all those years ago.
No government, for instance, has yet had the courage to meaningfully reform laws relating to prostitution and drugs.
But the Queensland of today is a long way from the Moonlight State. Even the National Party has been forgiven by the voters, returning briefly to the Government benches before losing the last election. But their leader Rob Borbidge rejects the popularly held view that Tony Fitzgerald helped create contemporary Queensland.
Rob Borbidge: Joh Bjelke Petersen was the builder of modern Queensland, and no-one will ever take that away from him, especially Mr Fitzgerald. And you know, like all governments, good things happen and things happen that aren't so good. But I think that the recent political experience shows that the person in the street, whilst acknowledging the lessons of Fitzgerald, doesn't hold anything from that era against the modern National Party.
Paul Barclay: For two decades, Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen personified Queensland. It's instructive to hear him talk about what has become of the State today.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: We were told at the time the report was given that Queensland would be 'squeally clean', whatever the expression they used that day on TV, you'll find it in the records if you look it up, but Queensland was going to be 'squeally clean'; there would be no more corruption forever and a day. And instead of that of course, those of us who have a bit of background, a bit of experience, knew jolly well that violence and robbery and murder, it's unbelievable. We were right ahead of our time, the police force were in stopping drugs. Nowadays after the Fitzgerald era, goodness me, you're not game to go out along the streets anywhere today, any part of Queensland, simply because they neglected the opportunity and the position that had been created by the police force in their control of drugs and all these other vices that have escalated.
Paul Barclay: I meet Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen in the boardroom of Brisbane's Mineralogy House, where he still maintains an office. The man I met is frail, he's now 88, and no longer the imposing political warrior who once inspired such loathing and admiration. But Sir Joh remains convinced Fitzgerald did Queensland more harm than good.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: The CJC again is a fairly political operation, the whole exercise. And I said many times after my experience in the court, I said I would have dismantled it long ago and got it back to the system that we operated under.
Paul Barclay: Is the CJC an effective watchdog against corruption and misconduct?
Joh Bjelke Petersen: It's always after the event. We stopped it before it happened, and the police force in my day stopped it before it happened. Street marches, law and order was obeyed, unions were controlled, I was called a dictator but Queensland prospered, and people voted for me increasing numbers, in spite of the fact that some of those street marchers we put a thousand people or more in the lock-up. All I will say this, and I want this recorded and I want it broadcast: the four years that I was being investigated for nothing cost me an awful lot of money and a lot of property, but there's nothing, absolutely nothing, there is nothing and I repeat that will ever restore my confidence in the justice system. After I saw that exercise and what happened to me, as I saw and experienced, sat in that dock and sat and was questioned and investigated, nothing, there's absolutely nothing, and in that you ask many a policeman that was tossed out on the rubbish heap, same as I was, after a long period of being investigated and all the rest of it.
Paul Barclay: Tony Fitzgerald no longer lives in Queensland. He moved to New South Wales shortly after being overlooked by the Queensland Coalition as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Now a Justice on the New South Wales Court of Appeal, he is perfectly happy to let history be the judge of his achievements, or failures. He has no desire to publicly set the record straight, on any matter.
The Queensland Police Service also declined to participate in this program. Their media spokesman, Brian Swift, would say only that the Fitzgerald era was in the past.
But preventing Queensland from revisiting its past will depend on constant vigilance.
Terry O'Gorman.
Terry O'Gorman: In all similar jurisdictions to Queensland, other place
Police corruption rife in Qld, says former officer
Transcript This is a transcript from PM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local Radio. You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA and MP3 formats.
Mark Colvin presents PM Monday to Friday from 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local Radio. Join Mark for the latest current affairs, wrapping the major stories of each day.
PETER CAVE: A key whistleblower at the Fitzgerald Royal Commission into Police Corruption in Queensland says it's time to repeat the process.
Retired police officer Col Dillon served more than three decades in the Queensland police force, and is one of Australia's most highly decorated Indigenous police officers.
He's told the ABC's Message Stick program, corruption in the force is still very much alive.
He's also called for an inquiry to help mend relations between the police and the Indigenous communities.
Lindy Kerin reports
LINDY KERIN: When he retired six years ago, Col Dillon was the country's highest-ranking Indigenous police officer.
He rose to national prominence during the 1980s, when he blew the whistle on police corruption at the Fitzgerald Royal Commission.
Now Col Dillon has told the ABC's Message Stick program, things haven't improved and that police corruption in Queensland is rife.
COL DILLON: The culture that was pre-Fitzgerald is there today and every bit as strong as what it was pre-Fitzgerald. It may have softened a little bit after some of the reform processes come into place and so forth, but there's been backsliding of a great magnitude in terms of the police doing the services in this State.
LINDY KERIN: Col Dillon is now documenting his policing career.
He says his tell-all book will name corrupt figures who weren't identified in the Fitzgerald inquiry.
COL DILLON: There will be people out there that will be concerned and have some apprehension about what may be put to paper by me because there's no doubt in my mind, and I know for a fact that there are people when the net was cast to haul in the corrupt, there were quite a few that got away.
LINDY KERIN: Last December Col Dillon quit his job as a State Government adviser in Queensland. He resigned in protest over the handling of the death in custody of an Aboriginal man on Palm Island.
Col Dillon says he's deeply concerned about the relationship between Queensland police and the Indigenous community.
He says it's time for an inquiry into how the Queensland Police Service operates.
COL DILLON: To my mind I would say this without any fear of contradiction that it is high time again for another far reaching inquiry into our police service and the way that it operates.
LINDY KERIN: The Queensland Police Service has declined to respond to Col Dillon's comments. So too has the State's Police Union.
A spokesman Ross Musgrove says the union doesn't want to help promote Col Dillon's book.
He says if the former police officer has a legitimate complaint, he should take it to the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.
But the President of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry O'Gorman, says Col Dillon's comments should be taken seriously.
TERRY O'GORMAN: Col Dillon's got an enormous store of credibility. He was an inspector of police and an Aboriginal inspector of police in the Licensing Squad when he blew the whistle on corruption.
He stayed in the police for a period of time after that. When he left the police he worked in Indigenous Affairs for the Queensland Government, while still keeping in close contact with the Queensland Police Service.
He's got enormous credibility and the Police Minister and the Police Commissioner cannot simply brush his well-founded criticisms aside.
And if he says that the Crime and Misconduct Commission is so compromised because it's over time fallen into a pretty ineffective oversight body against the Queensland police then perhaps an external inquiry needs to be set up.
PETER CAVE: Terry O'Gorman from the Australian Council for Civil Liberties ending that report from Lindy Kerin.
In a statement this afternoon, the Queensland Police Minister said she hadn't yet seen the program in which he makes these claims and would watch it when it goes to air tonight.
Judy Spence says if Mr Dillon is has any information on corruption in the Queensland Police Service he should report it to the appropriate bodies.
Political corruption
In broad terms, political corruption is when government officials use their governmental powers for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, like repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government is not considered political corruption either All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to these organized crime activities. In some nations corruption is so common that it is expected when ordinary businesses or citizens interact with government officials. The end-point of political corruption is a kleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves".What constitutes illegal corruption differs depending on the country or jurisdiction. Certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some countries, government officials have broad or not well defined powers, and the line between what is legal and illegal can be difficult to draw. Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion (£494bn) and the burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty.[1]
World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, which measures "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". High numbers (green) indicate relatively less corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate relatively more corruption.
Effects Effects on politics, administration, and institutions
Corruption poses a serious development challenge. In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the unfair provision of services. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance. See also: Good governance
Economic effects
Corruption also undermines economic development by generating considerable distortions and inefficiency. In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting red tape, the availability of bribes can also induce officials to contrive new rules and delays. Openly removing costly and lengthy regulations are better than covertly allowing them to be bypassed by using bribes. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it also distorts the playing field, shielding firms with connections from competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms.
Corruption also generates economic distortions in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave way for such dealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on government.
Economists argue that one of the factors behind the differing economic development in Africa and Asia is that in the former, corruption has primarily taken the form of rent extraction with the resulting financial capital moved overseas rather invested at home (hence the stereotypical, but sadly often accurate, image of African dictators having Swiss bank accounts).[2]University of Massachusetts researchers estimated that from 1970 to 1996, capital flight from 30 sub-Saharan countries totaled $187bn, exceeding those nations' external debts. [3] (The results, expressed in retarded or suppressed development, have been modeled in theory by economist Mancur Olson.) In the case of Africa, one of the factors for this behavior was political instability, and the fact that new governments often confiscated previous government's corruptly-obtained assets. This encouraged officials to stash their wealth abroad, out of reach of any future expropriation. In contrast, corrupt administrations in Asia like Suharto's have often taken a cut on everything (requiring bribes), but otherwise provided more of the conditions for development, through infrastructure investment, law and order, etc.
Environmental and social effects
Corruption facilitates environmental destruction. Although even the corrupt countries may formally have legistlation to protect the environment, it cannot be enforced if the officials can be easily bribed. The same applies to social rights such as worker protection, prevention of child labor and unionization. Violation of these laws and rights enables corrupt countries to gain an illegitimate economic advantage in the international market.
Types of abuse Briber
Bribery requires two participants: one to give the bribe, and one to take it. In some countries the culture of corruption extends to every aspect of public life, making it extremely difficult for individuals to stay in business without resorting to bribes. Bribes may be demanded in order for an official to do something he is already paid to do. They may also be demanded in order to bypass laws and regulations. In some developing nations up to half of the population have paid bribes during the past 12 months. [3]
While bribery includes an intent to influence or be influenced by another for personal gain, which is often difficult to prove, graft only requires that the official gains something of value, not part of his official pay, when doing his work. Large "gifts" qualify as graft, and most countries have laws against it. (For example, any gift over $200 value made to the President of the United States is considered to be a gift to the Office of the Presidency and not to the President himself. The outgoing President must buy it if he wants to take it with him.) Another example of graft is a politician using his knowledge of zoning to purchase land which he knows is planned for development, before this is publicly known, and then selling it at a significant profit. This is comparable to insider trading in business.
While bribes may be demanded in order to do something, payment may also be demanded by corrupt officials who otherwise threaten to make illegitimate use of state force in order to inflict harm. This is similar to extortion by organized crime groups. Illegitimate use of state force can also be used for outright armed robbery. This mostly occurs in unstable states which lack proper control of the military and the police. Less open forms of corruption are preferred in more stable states.
Government officials, especially if involved in illegal activities, are also liable to extortion, both by senior corrupt officials or other criminals. These develop over time into complicated networks of corruption, where law enforcement merely serves as a way to discredit and destroy.
Patronage refers to favoring supporters, for example with government employment. This may be legitimate, as when a newly elected government changes the top officials in the administration in order to effectively implement its policy. It can be seen as corruption if this means that incompetent persons, as a payment for supporting the regime, are selected before more able ones. In nondemocracies many government officials are often selected for loyalty rather than ability. They may be almost exclusively selected from a particular group (for example, Sunni Arabs in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the nomenklatura in the Soviet Union, or the Junkers in Imperial Germany) that support the regime in return for such favors.
Favoring relatives (nepotism) or personal friends (cronyism). This may be combined with bribery, for example demanding that a business should employ a relative of an official controlling regulations affecting the business. The most extreme example is when the entire state is inherited, as in North Korea or Syria.
Embezzlement is outright theft of entrusted funds. It is a misappropriation of property.
Kickbacks
A kickback is an official's share of misappropriated funds allocated from his or her organization to an organization involved in corrupt bidding. For example, suppose that a politician is in charge of choosing how to spend some public funds. He can give a contract to a company that isn't the best bidder, or allocate more than they deserve. In this case, the company benefits, and in exchange for betraying the public, the official receives a kickback payment, which is a portion of the sum the company received. This sum itself may be all or a portion of the difference between the actual (inflated) payment to the company and the (lower) market-based price that would have been paid had the bidding been competitive. Kickbacks are not limited to government officials; any situation in which people are entrusted to spend funds that do not belong to them are susceptible to this kind of corruption. Related: Bid rigging, Bidding, Anti-competitive practices
Conditions favorable for corruption
Some[attribution needed] argue that the following conditions are favorable for corruption:
Weak accounting practices, including lack of timely financial management.
Lack of measurement of corruption. For example, using regular surveys of households and businesses in order to quantify the degree of perception of corruption in different parts of a nation or in different government institutions may increase awareness of corruption and create pressure to combat it. This will also enable an evaluation of the officials who are fighting corruption and the methods used.
Tax havens which tax their own citizens and companies but not those from other nations and refuse to disclose information necessary for foreign taxation. This enables large scale political corruption in the foreign nations.[4]
Lacking control over and accountability of the government.
Lack of benchmarking, that is continual detailed evaluation of procedures and comparison to others who do similar things, in the same government or others, in particular comparison to those who do the best work. The Peruvian organization Ciudadanos al Dia has started to measure and compare transparency, costs, and efficiency in different government departments in Peru. It annually awards the best practices which has received widespread media attention. This has created competition among government agencies in order to improve. [5]
Opportunities and incentives
Individual officials routinely handle cash, instead of handling payments by giro or on a separate cash desk — illegitimate withdrawals from supervised bank accounts are much more difficult to conceal.
Public funds are centralized rather than distributed. E.g. if $1,000 is embezzled from local agency that has $2,000 funds, it easier to notice than from national agency with $2,000,000 funds. See the principle of subsidiarity.
Large, unsupervised public investments.
Sale of state-owned property and privatization.
Poorly-paid government officials.
Government licenses needed to conduct business, e.g. import licenses, encourage bribing and kickbacks.
Long-time work in the same position may create relationships inside and outside the government which encourage and help conceal corruption and favoritism. Rotating government officials to different positions and geographic areas may help prevent this.
Costly political campaigns, with expenses exceeding normal sources of political funding.
Less interaction with officials reduces the opportunities for corruption. For example, using the Internet for sending in required information, like applications and tax forms, and then processing this with automated computer systems. This may also speed up the processing and reduce unintentional human errors. See e-Government.
A windfall from exporting abundant natural resources may encourage corruption. See the resource curse. [6]
In societies where personal integrity is rated as less important than other characteristics (by contrast, in societies such as 18th and 19th Century England, 20th Century Japan and post-war western Germany, where society showed almost obsessive regard for "honor" and personal integrity, corruption was less frequently seen)[citation needed]
It is a controversial issue whether the size of the public sector per se results in corruption. Extensive and diverse public spending is, in itself, inherently at risk of cronyism, kickbacks and embezzlement. Complicated regulations and arbitrary, unsupervised official conduct exacerbate the problem. This is one argument for privatization and deregulation. Opponents of privatization see the argument as ideological. The argument that corruption necessarily follows from the opportunity is weakened by the existence of countries with low to non-existent corruption but large public sectors, like the Nordic countries. However, these countries score high on the Ease of Doing Business Index, due to good and often simple regulations, and have rule of law firmly established. Therefore, due to their lack of corruption in the first place, they can run large public sectors without inducing political corruption.Privatization, as in the sale of government-owned property, is particularly at the risk of cronyism. Privatizations in Russia and Latin America were accompanied by large scale corruption during the sale of the state owned companies. Those with political connections unfairly gained large wealth, which has discredited privatization in these regions. While media have reported widely the grand corruption that accompanied the sales, studies have argued that in addition to increased operating efficiency, daily petty corruption is, or would be, larger without privatization, and that corruption is more prevalent in non-privatized sectors. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that extralegal and unofficial activities are more prevalent in countries that privatized less.[5] In the European Union, the principle of subsidiarity is applied: a government service should be provided by the lowest, most local authority that can competently provide it. An effect is that distribution of funds into multiple instances discourages embezzlement, because even small sums missing will be noticed. In contrast, in a centralized authority, even minute proportions of public funds can be large sums of money.
Governmental corruption
If the highest echelons of the governments also take advantage from corruption or embezzlement from the state's treasury, it is sometimes referred with the neologism "Kleptocracy". Members of the government can take advantage of the natural resources (e.g. diamonds and oil in a few prominent cases) or state-owned productive industries. A number of corrupt governments have enriched themselves via foreign aid, which is often spent on showy buildings and armaments. A corrupt dictatorship typically results in many years of general hardship and suffering for the vast majority of citizens as civil society and the rule of law disintegrate. In addition, corrupt dictators routinely ignore economic and social problems in their quest to amass ever more wealth and power. The classic case of a corrupt, exploitive dictator often given is the regime of Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which he renamed Zaire) from 1965 to 1997. It is said that usage of the term kleptocracy gained popularity largely in response to a need to accurately describe Mobutu's regime. Another classic case is Nigeria, espeicially under the rule of General Sani Abacha who was de facto president of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. he is reputed to have stolen some US$3-4 billion. He and his relatives are often mentioned in Nigerian 419 letter scams claiming to offer vast fortunes for 'help' in laundering his stolen 'fortunes', which in reality turn out not to exist.[6] More than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999.[7] More recently, articles in various financial periodicals, most notably Forbes magazine, have pointed to Fidel Castro, ruler of the Republic of Cuba since 1959, of amassing a personal fortune worth US$900 million. [7] Opponents of his regime claim that he has used money amassed through weapons sales, narcotics, international loans and confiscation of private property to enrich himself and his political cronies who hold his dictatorship together, and that the $900 million published by Forbes is merely a portion of his assets, although that needs to be proven. [8] In 2005, the Qatari Prince Hamid bin Abdal Sani, a step-cousin of the king of Qatar, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for sex with 16 underage and juvenile girls in the Czech Republic. At the beginning of the case, Czech Justice Minister Pavel Nemec decided to pass the case to Qatar. Given the exceptional wealth of the Qatari royal family he has virtually invited accusations of corruption. 3 years after Hamid bin Abdal Sani was extradited to Qatar for having sex with underage Czech girls, he has still not been brought to justice.[8]
Campaign contributions
In the political arena, it is difficult to prove corruption. For this reason, there are often unproved rumors about many politicians, sometimes part of a smear campaign. Politicians are placed in apparently compromising positions because of their need to solicit financial contributions for their campaign finance. If they then appear to be acting in the interests of those parties that funded them, this gives rise to talk of political corruption. Supporters may argue that this is coincidental. Cynics wonder why these organizations fund politicians at all, if they get nothing for their money. Laws regulating campaign finance in the United States require that all contributions and their use should be publicly disclosed. Many companies, especially larger ones, fund both the Democratic and Republican parties. Certain countries, such as France, ban altogether the corporate funding of political parties. Because of the possible circumvention of this ban with respect to the funding of political campaigns, France also imposes maximum spending caps on campaigning; candidates that have exceeded those limits, or that have handed misleading accounting reports, risk having their candidacy ruled invalid, or even be prevented from running in future elections. In addition, the government funds political parties according to their successes in elections. In some countries, political parties are run solely off subscriptions (membership fees).Even legal measures such as these have been argued to be legalized corruption, in that they often favor the political status quo. Minor parties and independents often argue that efforts to rein in the influence of contributions do little more than protect the major parties with guaranteed public funding while constraining the possibility of private funding by outsiders. In these instances, officials are legally taking money from the public coffers for their election campaigns to guarantee that they will continue to hold their influential and often well-paid positions
^How common is bribe-paying?. “...a relatively high proportion of families in a group of Central Eastern European, African, and Latin American countries paid a bribe in the previous twelve months.”
^ Privatization in Competitive Sectors: The Record to Date. Sunita Kikeri and John Nellis. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2860, June 2002. [1] Privatization and Corruption. David Martimort and Stéphane Straub. [2]
^ Who wants to be a millionaire? - An online collection of Nigerian scam mails
Kimberly Ann Elliott, ed, Corruption and the Global Economy (1997)
Edward L. Glaeser and Claudia Goldin, eds, Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History U. of Chicago Press, 2006. 386 pp. ISBN 0-226-29957-0.
Arnold J. Heidenheimer, Michael Johnston and Victor T. LeVine (eds), Political Corruption: A Handbook (1989) 1017 pages.
Michael Johnston. Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy (2005)
Measuring corruption - in the statistical sense - is naturally not a straight-forward matter, since the participants are generally not forthcoming about it. Transparency International, a leading anti-corruption NGO, provides three measures, updated annually: a Corruption Perceptions Index (based on experts' opinions of how corrupt different countries are); a Global Corruption Barometer (based on a survey of general public attitudes toward and experience of corruption); and a Bribe Payers Survey, looking at the willingness of foreign firms to pay bribes. The World Bank collects a range of data on corruption, including a set of Governance Indicators.
In the US, based on public corruption convictions, Mississippi, North Dakota and Louisiana were the three most corrupt states. Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Iowa had the least amount of corruption. The most populous states, California and Texas, are ranked in the middle, California ranking 25th and Texas in 29th.
In the US, based on public corruption convictions, Mississippi, North Dakota and Louisiana were the three most corrupt states. Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Iowa had the least amount of corruption. The most populous states, California and Texas, are ranked in the middle, California ranking 25th and Texas in 29th.
Measuring corruption - in the statistical sense - is naturally not a straight-forward matter, since the participants are generally not forthcoming about it. Transparency International, a leading anti-corruption NGO, provides three measures, updated annually: a Corruption Perceptions Index (based on experts' opinions of how corrupt different countries are); a Global Corruption Barometer (based on a survey of general public attitudes toward and experience of corruption); and a Bribe Payers Survey, looking at the willingness of foreign firms to pay bribes. The World Bank collects a range of data on corruption, including a set of Governance Indicators.
In the US, based on public corruption convictions, Mississippi, North Dakota and Louisiana were the three most corrupt states. Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Iowa had the least amount of corruption. The most populous states, California and Texas, are ranked in the middle, California ranking 25th and Texas in 29th.
Rank insignia is worn only by uniformed officers. Officers at the rank of Inspector and above (commissioned officers) have the words 'Queensland Police' embroidered on their epaulettes, which are significantly larger than the epaulettes of lower ranks. Different paypoints apply within the same rank relative to years of service.
Specialist areas
Officers must serve a mininum of three to five years in general duties before being permitted to serve in specialist areas such as:
The Prevention of Police Corruption and Misconduct: A Criminological Analysis of
Complaints Against Police Ede, Andrew Griffith University
Date
2000
The reform measures recommended by the Commission of Inquiry into Possible
Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (referred to as the
"Fitzgerald Inquiry") radically transformed the face of policing in Queensland.
The most significant of these recommendations was the establishment of an
external oversight body, the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC), which has
independence from executive government and holds the power to investigate not
only police but any public servant or politician. Other recommendations included
"Whistleblower" legislation, increasing sanctions for serious misconduct,
lateral recruitment and promotion by merit rather than seniority. The first main
research question tested in this thesis is whether these reform measures have
produced improvements in the following areas: the efficiency and effectiveness
of the processes for dealing with complaints against police; public confidence
in those processes and the public standing of the Queensland Police Service
(QPS) generally; standards of police behaviour; the incidence of corrupt
conduct; and police attitudes towards reporting misconduct by their fellow
officers. These Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms were strategies primarily derived from two
schools of thought describing the nature and cause of police corruption:
deterrence based theory (including "individual" or "rotten apple" theory) and
cultural (also labeled "cultural" or "socialisation") based theory. To date most
strategies used to combat police corruption have been underpinned by these
theories. A third theory - situational based theory (sometimes titled
"environmental" or "opportunity" theory) - which has had success in crime
prevention, has been scarcely used in the area of police corruption. However, an
extensive body of research has affirmed the effects of situational factors on
police behaviour, suggesting the potential for the application of situational
crime prevention initiatives in combatting police corruption. The second
research question proposed in this thesis is whether situational based theory
could also be beneficial in the prevention of police corruption. Data drawn upon to test the first research question were interviews and
surveys with police officers, public attitude surveys and statistics from the
processing of complaints against police. Although each source has limitations,
collectively the data are sufficiently comprehensive - and robust - to defend
conclusions about the general direction of the changes which have occurred.
These data indicate that the Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms have, at least to some
degree, had their intended impact on the QPS. These reforms have contributed to
an apparent improvement in public confidence in the complaints system and the
QPS generally. Moreover, the available evidence suggests that the Fitzgerald
Inquiry reforms have resulted in a weakening of the police code of silence. As
far as the specific issue of corruption in the QPS is concerned, it is difficult
to draw firm conclusions from existing data sources. However, the weight of the
available evidence is that such conduct is less pervasive and occurs at lower
levels than was the case in the pre-Fitzgerald Inquiry QPS. It is very difficult
to ascertain which reform components were the most effective and which were not
helpful at all, as these reform measures were initiated simultaneously. For
example, the negative elements of the police culture may have been eliminated or
reduced but whether it was the cultural strategies or one of the deterrence
based strategies influencing officer behaviour remains unknown. The second main research question the thesis poses is that the use of
situational crime prevention techniques has potential for contributing to the
prevention of police corruption. A situational analysis of complaints against
police data, including the development of a typology for classifying types of
police corruption and misconduct, was used as an example of how this may be
accomplished in Queensland. The study provides some, albeit limited, support for
the hypothesis that situational crime prevention methods are applicable to
police corruption. Based upon three years of complaints data, enough homogenous
cases were gathered to enable the analysis of four categories of police
corruption - Opportunistic Thefts, Driving under the Influence, Assault (while
off-duty), and Theft from Employer. Given that this study only used three years
of complaints data held by the CJC and more than nine years of data exist,
productive situational analyses of many other categories of corruption is
probable. This study also illustrated that complaints against police data are
being under utilised by the QPS and the CJC. For future research in the
situational analysis of complaints data, I recommend improving the gathering of
data from complaints files for storage in electronic form to enable situational
prevention analysis to be conducted more readily. A geographical example was used to illustrate further how complaints against
police data could be more extensively utilised as a prevention tool. This
analysis was conducted at an organisation unit level determined primarily by
geographical factors. The complaint patterns of units of similar "task
environments", as measured by unit size and type of duties performed, were
compared in an attempt to identify those units experiencing the presence or
absence of "bad apples" or a "negative culture". This study led to the
conclusion that a divisional analysis of complaints data can provide information
valuable in combatting police corruption. When task environment was held
constant, it was possible to identify units experiencing the effects of possible
"bad apples" and/or "negative cultures". Once these particular units were
identified, intervention strategies to address the units' particular problem
could be constructed. Future research in this area would involve ongoing
divisional data analysis followed-up by individual assessment of officers
identified as "bad apples", or a "compare-and-contrast" procedure to distinguish
features requiring correction in units identified as having a "negative
culture". The research findings presented in this thesis are that progress has occurred
in a number of areas in addressing the problems identified by the Fitzgerald
Inquiry, but that there is undoubtedly scope for more to be achieved. Despite
the very significant increase in the resources and powers available to
investigators post-Fitzgerald, it is still difficult to prove that a police
officer engaged in misconduct, or that other officers were aware of this fact
and had failed to take action, because of the constraints imposed by evidentiary
and legal requirements. Thus, while it is vital to maintain an effective and
credible independent complaints investigation system and ensure that there is a
proper internal discipline process in place, the scope for increasing the
"deterrent power" of the present system is limited. Putting more resources into
complaints investigations might make a difference at the margins, but is
unlikely to lead to a significant increase in the probability of a complaint
being substantiated and a sanction imposed. Investing more resources in
investigations has an additional cost in that such resources are then lost to
other efforts to combat corruption that may provide more fruitful results in the
long term. The value of an occasional substantiation is placed above the ability
to engage in a large amount of prevention work. Inevitably then, three clear messages are apparent. First, continued effort
must be made to modify the organisational climate of the QPS in terms of
commitment to integrity. Recommended strategies to accomplish this end are to
continue the recruitment of more educated, female and older officers to reduce
police-citizen conflict and the negative elements of the police culture, and
also to develop a comprehensive, integrated approach to ethics education for QPS
officers at all ranks and positions. Second, other forms of deterrence against
misconduct are needed such as the use of covert strategies like integrity
testing which could be conducted in conjunction with the CJC. Third, a greater
emphasis needs to be placed on developing and implementing preventive
strategies. This thesis has shown that valuable prevention strategies can be
gained from situational and divisional analysis of complaints data, and a range
of proactive management options based upon situational crime prevention theory
are recommended. These strategies have application in any police service.
Regulating the World's Oldest Profession: Queensland's experience with a regulated sex industry
Submitted by: Charrlotte Woodward, RN MN & Jane Fischer
BA MSPD, School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane, Australia
Input for: Expert Group Meeting: "Violence Against Women: A
statistical overview, challenges and gaps in data collection and
methodology and approaches for overcoming them," 11-14 April 2005,
Geneva, Switzerland
Topic: Violence against women in the sex industry
The public visibility and moral context of sex work in Queensland,
Australia as in other locales has changed over time. Fitzgerald (1989)
has suggested that the Queensland sex industry occurred in a well
controlled albeit covert manner before regulation. The Fitzgerald Royal Commission into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct in the 1980s concluded: "the
law had reached too far into prostitution and highlighted that, when
areas related to morality and human behaviour are over-regulated,
corruption can find an opening" (in Carver and Mottier, 1998:185). The 'law' in this instance were the police themselves. During the 1990s, legislation attempted to eradicate links between organised crime, police corruption and sex work. The Prostitution Amendment Act 1992 was enacted, allowing sex workers to work alone from private premises. The Prostitution Act 1999
saw the introduction of license boutique brothels throughout
Queensland. One interpretation of the prevalent legislation is that it
addresses community concerns about the public visibility of
prostitution rather than the occupational health and safety of workers. In 2002, our research was funded to inform a government evaluation
of prostitution laws to determine if they had reduced illegal sex work,
improved the health of sex workers and were acceptable to the general
community. We hoped to systematically evaluate the extent to which the
changes in legislative structure had been effective in improving health
and well-being of sex workers, and to determine contemporary
occupational health and safety concerns of female sex workers in
Queensland. Community participation and support was sought at all
stages of the research process. Initial development included extensive
discussion with sex workers, sex worker advocacy groups, government and
non-government organisations, brothel owners, and other key individuals
about questionnaire content and methods for distribution. The draft
questionnaire was developed, piloted and modified in response to
comments provided by sex workers. Three female interviewers with varied and extensive knowledge of,
and experience with, the Queensland sex industry recruited and
interviewed all women who participated in the research. Recruitment was
done through both direct and indirect strategies, with word of mouth
being very effective method of recruitment. The final sample consisted
of 247 female sex workers from various work settings including
street-based sex workers, escorts, private sex workers, women working
in legal and illegal brothels and massage parlours. Within the sample,
43 women worked illegally, of those 33 were street-based sex workers.
204 women interviewed worked in the legal sex industry, approximately
half of whom worked in legal brothels.
Workplace violence and perceived safety
Women working in the illegal sector of the sex industry were much
more likely to report being raped or bashed by a client, 21 per cent of
illegal sex workers reported having ever been raped and 49 per cent
reported having ever been bashed by a client. Unsurprisingly, almost
half of illegal sex workers also reported feeling 'not safe' or only 'a
little safe' on the average work day.
Police harassment
A significant proportion of sex workers indicated some form of
unwanted police attention in the past five years. Illegal sex workers
were more likely to report being harassed (42 per cent compared with 13
per cent of legal sex workers). Among the women who had been harassed
by a police officer, verbal abuse was common. An African sex worker
indicated that a police officer taunted her with racial insults. Other
forms of harassment included stalking, arriving at one's private
residence, repeated phone calls and requests for sexual favours. Three
per cent of women working legally reported having been sexually or
physically assaulted by a Queensland police officer in the past five
years compared with 21 per cent of those working illegally. One third
of illegal sex worker reported being propositioned by a Queensland
police officer compared with nine per cent of legal sex workers.
Reporting to the police
Most women interviewed indicated they would 'most likely' or 'maybe'
report workplace violence by clients or by the police. Three quarters
of women indicated they would possibly report being raped or assaulted
by a client. However, women working in the illegal sector of the sex
industry were much less likely to consider reporting police harassment,
assault or rape. Of the women who indicated they would not report
harassment or assault by Queensland police officers, many suggested the
police protect one another and implied continued corruption within the
service.
Conclusions
There are a number of serious public health issues confronting sex
workers including workplace harassment and violence from clients,
police and others. Women working illegally were more likely to report
being raped or assaulted by a client. Clearly this is an important
health issue for sex workers that needs to be acknowledged and
addressed, regardless of the legal status of the occupation. The main issues facing sex workers continue to be legitimisation and
recognition of sex work as an occupation. Making sex work subject to
criminal sanctions stems from the belief that law enforcement can
eradicate prostitution, a framework commonly employed in the United
States of America. However, the American experience has demonstrated
the ineffectiveness of such legislation (Milman, 1980). Laws
prohibiting sex work do not eliminate it; they simply change the
structure of the sex industry, forcing it to operate covertly and in a
clandestine manner. We found the changes in legislative framework in Queensland have not
stopped the illegal sectors of the sex industry and have created an
underground economy. This legislation may provide benefit for some, but
overall it further isolates and marginalises sex workers. This
marginalisation may strengthen links between sex work and criminal
activity. Repeatedly arresting street-based sex workers for soliciting
creates a 'revolving door' effect as it only temporarily removes sex
workers from the streets. Additionally, it encourages faster commercial
sex transactions which may increase the risk of harm as sex workers
give up their safety precautions. It must be questioned whether this is
good public policy and is financially viable. Sanctions against street-based sex work also create an adversary
relationship between police and sex workers. Despite this, many sex
workers in this study said that they would report workplace assault or
rape to the police. However, the reality of this situation may be
somewhat different. Woodward (2002) found that only two per cent of
women who had been sexually assaulted by a client reported the incident
to the police. The most common reasons for not reporting violence were
that women feared not being taken seriously by the police or did not
want to bring attention upon themselves. Anecdotal evidence suggests
that women are often concerned their experiences will be trivialised by
the police and assailants are unlikely to be convicted.The enactment of two successive pieces of legislation regulating the
Queensland sex industry aimed to break links between police corruption,
criminality and sex work. However, questions remain about the success
of these laws in terms of continued reports of harassment and assault
by police and continued occupational health and safety concerns.
References
Carver, T. & Mottier, V. (eds) (1998). Politics of Sexuality: Identity, gender, citizenship. Routledge, London.
Fitzgerald, G. (1989). Report of a Commission Inquiry
Pursuant to Orders in Council — Inquiry into Possible Illegal
Activities and Associated Police Misconduct. Government Publisher, Brisbane.
Milman, J. (1980). "New Rules For The Oldest Profession: Should we change the laws?" Harvard Women's Law Journal, 16: 1-35.
Woodward, C. (2002). "Prevalence and correlates of sexual
assault among female sex workers." Unpublished Masters thesis, School
of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology.
Submitted by: Charrlotte Woodward, RN MN & Jane Fischer BA MSPD School of Public Health Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia
Program Transcript THEME
Peter Beattie: The Fitzgerald Report has
been the most single important catalyst for improved behaviour in this State
since we became a State in 1859.
Paul Barclay: Ten years ago, Tony
Fitzgerald delivered a Report that was to have an extraordinary impact on the
State of Queensland, a bold attempt to pull The Moonlight State out of a mire of
vice, cronyism, and illegality.
The Fitzgerald Inquiry uncovered
corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the police force and
government, and led to the jailing of government ministers and the Commissioner
of Police.
But it was far more than a prescription for catching crooked
cops and politicians with their snouts in the trough. It was a blueprint for
rebuilding confidence in the police, the parliament and the
bureaucracy.
More than anything Tony Fitzgerald wanted to ensure
Queensland would never again sink to the depths of such appalling official
impropriety. And the only way this could be guarded against, he reasoned, was a
complete overhaul of the State's discredited public institutions.
But he
cautioned, the citizens and their elected representatives would need to be
always on their guard. His report warned:
Reader: There are many ways in
which the agenda for reform could be delayed or subverted by political or
bureaucratic opponents. This has happened previously.
Paul Barclay: Ten
years on, has Queensland been faithful to the Fitzgerald vision?
Hello,
and welcome to Background Briefing. I'm Paul Barclay.
Wayne Goss: I think
it's a courageous and a perceptive document; I think we owe a great debt of
gratitude to Mr Fitzgerald, I think it's a blistering indictment on the National
Party and on National/Liberal governments, but it's a blueprint for the future,
it's a blueprint for a better Queensland and it deserves all of our
support.
Paul Barclay: The then Queensland Opposition leader, Wayne
Goss.
In early 1987 Courier Mail journalist Phil Dickie was just another
pesky young reporter, posing it seemed nothing more than a minor irritation to
the State's police force, and the 19-year-old National Party government of Sir
Joh Bjelke Petersen.
His allegations that police were turning a blind eye
to illegal brothels and gambling houses in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley were new,
but no more shocking than other claims bandied about frequently in Queensland.
Then in May that year, along came Chris Masters, and The Moonlight
State.
FOUR CORNERS THEME
Russ Hinze: I don't know of any illegal
gambling. If there's any going on well then of course I don't know where it is.
My commissioner informs me, advises me, that he doesn't know where it
is.
Chris Masters: When police and politicians 'can't find' an illegal
casino in a Brisbane main street, it's unlikely that in such a morally upright
climate, they could discover anything more sinister.
ORGAN
MUSIC
Paul Barclay: The allegations in this one television program
aroused complacent Queenslanders and prompted an immediate response from a
government many thought would simply dismiss Chris Masters'
revelations.
But the day after that Four Corners program went to air, and
with Sir Joh out of the country, acting Premier Bill Gunn announced a judicial
inquiry.
Bill Gunn: A favourite saying of the late Russell Hinze was 'You
never hold an inquiry unless you know what the outcome will be.' He hade
informed me of that, but this was such a serious situation where we considered
it was the hierarchy, and I say there was a possibility in for many, many years
that there had been corruption in the police force.
Paul Barclay: Do you
think Joh would have set up the Fitzgerald Inquiry himself if he'd been in
charge?
Bill Gunn: No. No, I don't believe he would and I believe that if
he could have stopped it, it would have.
Paul Barclay: The cynics said
the Inquiry would last six weeks; it dragged on for two years. It's clear that
many people in Queensland give Fitzgerald credit for not just cleaning up The
Moonlight State, but also for being instrumental in the birth of the modern,
outward-looking Queensland that exists today.
Phil Dickie won the highest
accolade in Australian journalism, the Gold Walkley, for his efforts in
revealing the tip of the corruption iceberg in Queensland. But when I met up
with him, over a glass of his home brew, it's hard to elicit from him any
enthusiasm for the progress of the past ten years.
Phil Dickie:
Fitzgerald presented Queensland ultimately with a, you know, sort of once or
twice a century chance to do a whole lot of spring cleaning, and I'd suggest
that ten years out we've probably missed the boat now. We tried, and we tried
valiantly in the early years, and then all the institutional constraints caught
up with us. And Queensland is, unfortunately, sort of settling back a bit into
the pattern, and we might eventually get better prostitution laws. We might
eventually get a better police force out of it, and we might already have a
better police force out of it, but the overall game of sort of a better, fairer,
more just, more open, more accountable society I think we've lost
it.
Paul Barclay: Phil Dickie is a rarity among reporters. Unlike, say,
Chris Masters after breaking the biggest story of his career, Phil Dickie turned
his back on journalism. After uncovering the problem he wanted to be part of the
solution.
And the Criminal Justice Commission is a large part of that
solution. The CJC is the permanent embodiment of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, with
virtually the same wide-ranging powers. It acts as a corruption watchdog, but
also promotes criminal justice reform.
Phil Dickie joined the CJC as a
special adviser, believing radical change to the criminal justice system was
possible.
He left in 1994, disillusioned. Now he enjoys a quieter life,
bringing up his young son and their motley collection of chooks, just down the
road from where all the action was happening a decade earlier in Fortitude
Valley. Sitting with him in his tropical backyard, his disappointment is
obvious.
Phil Dickie: I saw it as the Inquiry came down and said, 'Look,
here is a chance to remake the institutions of a society so that they are more
open, more accountable, more receptive to better ways of doing things, and that
the CJC was to be the institution that would turn its attention to our criminal
justice system, our interactions with crime and how we best deal with it, far,
far more than just being another arm of another police force.'
Paul
Barclay: So rather than being a crime fighting agency investigating official
misconduct, corruption and until recently organised crime, it should have been a
research-driven organisation that was developing new approaches to dealing with
crime and actually overhauling the whole criminal justice system.
Phil
Dickie: There's no 'should have been' about it, it's quite explicit when you
read the recommendations of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, it's quite explicit in the
legislation that the CJC was set up under. It's the CJC itself which has chosen
to interpret its role basically in a cops and robbers sense, or a corruption
watchdog sense.
Paul Barclay: Phil Dickie is not alone in his criticism
of the CJC. Almost everyone I spoke with had their own assessment of its flaws.
And what are those faults? Well that depends on who you talk to you.
Rob
Borbidge: The Criminal Justice Commission took it upon itself to be totally
unaccountable, and took it upon itself to assume the role of de facto government
in Queensland.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob
Borbidge.
Rob Borbidge: Now that was not what Fitzgerald proposed, and we
saw, in my view, an undermining of the parliamentary process by the CJC
particularly under its former chairman who I believe was extremely politically
active. Part of the problem is that under previous chairmen, the CJC wanted
everyone else to be accountable to them, but they did not want to be accountable
to anyone.
Paul Barclay: How did that manifest itself, the CJC playing a
role as the de facto government?
Rob Borbidge: Well I guess the most
alarming example of their interference in the political process was what
amounted to an effective coup d'etat against my minority government over the MOU
that was signed with the police union.
Paul Barclay: The 1996 Memorandum
of Understanding between the police union and the then coalition opposition
triggered a brawl between the CJC and the coalition, soon after it won
government. Coalition claims of political interference were to follow, prompting
counter claims of attempted intimidation of the CJC.
Suddenly it was
conceivable that Fitzgerald's legacy could be gutted, even abolished.
The
Memorandum of Understanding was a deal signed in secret during a by-election
campaign, by the National Party leader Rob Borbidge, his police spokesman, and
representatives of the police union. Among other things the memorandum appeared
to give the police union a right to veto the appointment of a Police
Commissioner, and to commit the coalition to watering down the powers of the
CJC. In addition it named six assistant commissioners the union wanted made
redundant.
In return for signing the deal, the police union threw its
weight behind the Coalition's campaign to win the Mundingburra by-election, a
by-election that would decide who would govern. The National Party candidate won
in a tight contest. And the coalition was back in power.
Secretary of the
Queensland police union, Merv Bainbridge, says the Memorandum of Understanding
was not improper.
Merv Bainbridge: To this day I see nothing improper.
Memorandums of Understanding have been around from time immemorial. I can
remember in the early days of Bob Hawke when he was with the ACTU, he would go
to the Labor opposition and put the proposition: 'If you are in government, what
can you do for our members?' and basically this is all that the police union
did; we went to the alternative government said, 'If you were in government,
what are you prepared to do for us?'
Paul Barclay: It did appear though
that there were some Assistant Commissioners that you apparently wanted to get
rid of, and included that in the Memorandum of Understanding, for those officers
to be made redundant.
Merv Bainbridge: It was suggested that their
contracts not be renewed. No-one was to be sacked etc. but when they came up it
was suggested perhaps that their contracts not be renewed over (I've got to be
very careful what I say here), but going into their previous
administration.
Paul Barclay: After the February by-election, the police
union boasted it was responsible for helping return the conservatives to
government. Soon after, the union's newsletter revealed the existence of the
Memorandum of Understanding.
The media went berserk. There were
suggestions the Electoral Act may have been breached. The government was forced
to refer the matter to the CJC which appointed retired New South Wales judge,
Kenneth Curruthers, to determine if there was any wrongdoing by Premier Rob
Borbidge, his Police Minister, or union officials.
Terry O'Gorman, from
the Council for Civil Liberties.
Terry O'Gorman: The historical record
shows that the then Police Minister, Russell Cooper, referred the Memorandum of
Understanding issue to the CJC in the early weeks of the then conservative
government having won office, principally by virtue of the role of the
Memorandum of Understanding in a relevant by-election. However, while it was
quite proper for the CJC to look into the Memorandum of Understanding, it's
after that period of looking into it where the waters start to get muddy, the
relevant conservative politicians, the ex-Premier Mr Borbidge, the ex-Police
Minister, Mr Cooper, have a point to an extent of saying, 'Why should we have
had to go through months and months of anguish, months and months of
interference with our parliamentary duty, running up huge amounts of money in
legal bills, when there was an opinion locked away in a safe that in fact they
had done nothing wrong?'
Paul Barclay: By now, Mr Borbidge viewed the CJC
as a sort of Star Chamber, out of control and gunning for his
government.
Rob Borbidge: We had a situation where legal advice from
Cedric Hampson, who at that time was President of the Bar Association, that said
that neither Russell Cooper nor I had a case to answer and we were told that
there would be a brief inquiry into the police union's involvement that should
go for about 12 days. It went for the best part of eight or nine months; it was
a loaded dice and in my view it was nothing short of a deliberate attempt to
bring about a properly elected and constituted democratic government, to bring
that government down. I mean they went on for months and months and months, and
if not for the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, no-one would ever have known that they had
legal advice that the government of the day did not have a case to
answer.
Paul Barclay: The Carruthers Inquiry into the deal between the
police union and the coalition distracted the government for months. The
coalition was so infuriated by the Inquiry that it launched a counter Inquiry
into the CJC itself, the Connolly Ryan Inquiry.
Lawyer Terry O'Gorman
again.
Terry O'Gorman: That complaint by Mr Borbidge and Mr Cooper as I
see it, was at least a reasonably valid complaint, but the way that the
government then chose to deal with investigating that complaint was a problem of
the government's own making because they appointed an Inquiry which was clearly
a 'get square, let's kick the CJC in the face' Inquiry. Inevitably that Inquiry
was declared to be biased, by the Queensland Supreme Court, and shut
down.
Paul Barclay: In broad terms, was the Connolly Ryan Inquiry an
attempt to muzzle the CJC?
Terry O'Gorman: I saw it as that, and most
informed observers did. When you saw the way in which the Inquiry was set up,
when you saw the way in which the Inquiry confronted and successfully, stared
down Carruthers when he wasn't finished, it clearly was an attempt to not only
muzzle but possibly completely abolish the CJC. But when you look at the way the
Connolly Ryan Inquiry was conducted, and when you look at the stinging
criticisms that were made by Mr Justice Thomas, the judge that shut it down in
the Supreme Court, and when you look at the fact that the Connolly Ryan Inquiry
chose not to appeal to the Court of Appeal against its closure, then that I
think, says it all.
Paul Barclay: From the outset of the Connolly Ryan
Inquiry, the coalition undermined its own case that the CJC and the Carruthers
Inquiry were out to get it. And it did this by appointing an ex-Liberal Party
member, and former judge, Peter Connolly to inquire into the CJC. His
professional abilities weren't in question, but the appointment raised concerns
about the impartiality of the Inquiry.
Rob Borbidge: Well Peter Connolly
had been a very distinguished and senior member of the Bench, and in all his
years on the Bench I think 30 years or thereabouts, there had never been any
suggestion or any allegation of bias on the part of Mr Connolly, and the same
for Kevin Ryan when he served as a Supreme Court judge. Both of those men were
highly regarded and at no time during their judicial careers, during their time
on the Bench, had anyone suggested that they were politically motivated in
respect of any of their judgements handed down probably over hundreds of cases
in decades of service to the Supreme Court of Queensland.
Paul Barclay:
But at the very least, wouldn't it have been easier to appoint someone who
didn't have a Liberal background? You would have still been able to conduct the
Inquiry, look into the problems that you saw with the CJC without the perception
of a conflict of interests.
Rob Borbidge: Well we held the view that by
having two commissioners, that we were ensuring impartiality and independence in
regard to that particular review. I mean it wasn't as if Mr Connolly was the
only person appointed, Mr Ryan, Kevin Ryan was appointed.
Paul Barclay:
Ex-Premier, now Opposition leader, Rob Borbidge.
Professor Ross Homel, a
recently retired CJC commissioner, presented me with an altogether different
view of the Connolly Ryan period, a view he also shared with the Supreme
Court.
Ross Homel: As a part-time commissioner I was called in on a
couple of occasions to have a chat with the two people running the commission
Inquiry, Kevin Ryan and Peter Connolly. On one of those occasions, Peter, I
think we were just chatting in a room, or in a corridor, and he remarked that
now that the conservative side of politics was in power, they were in a position
to do a proper evaluation of the Fitzgerald experiment. In fact what he said
was, it was more along the lines of, 'Now that our side of politics is back in
power, we can do a proper evaluation of the Fitzgerald experiment.' And that was
the phrase of course, that was I gather fairly important in the ultimately
successful challenge to that Inquiry by the CJC in the Supreme Court. But I
think that has to be seen in the context of an overall experience over many
months of an Inquiry that seemed to be getting more and more out of control.
From the inside of the CJC it was like being in a trench in World War One, with
missiles coming over and exploding at regular intervals.
Paul Barclay: By
October, in this suffocating climate of mutual mistrust, Kenneth Carruthers
decided he was unable to complete his Inquiry into the Memorandum of
Understanding. He quit, stating the Connolly Ryan Inquiry into the CJC
interfered intolerably with his investigation. And later, as we've heard, the
CJC successfully challenged the validity of the Connolly Ryan Inquiry, the
Supreme Court agreeing it was indeed biased.
Despite these events it
would be a mistake to conclude that hostility towards the CJC comes only from
the conservative side of politics.
True, current Labor Premier Peter
Beattie remains a strong ally. Not so former Labor Premier Wayne Goss, who's
antipathy toward the CJC is still apparent. Wayne Goss quit the party leadership
shortly after the Mundingburra by-election defeat consigned Labor to Opposition,
and eventually left politics.
LIFT ARRIVES
Paul Barclay: I meet Mr
Goss on the 26th floor of the Harry Seidler designed Riverside building, from
where you get a great view of the physical changes, good and bad, wrought on
Brisbane.
If Wayne Goss' election triumph in 1989 made him the big
political winner from the Fitzgerald Inquiry, it didn't prevent him from
clashing with the CJC. And today, he thinks it's time the CJC was thoroughly
reviewed.
Wayne Goss: The Criminal Justice Commission needs an
independent review, carried out by somebody that all sides of politics are happy
with and that looks at its role. I think whatever happens, the CJC should be
maintained in some form to detect and deter corruption, whether that be in the
public sector or in particular bodies like the police, but whether it needs some
of its other functions, that should be open to debate and one shouldn't be
accused of undermining the reform process for simply asking the
question.
Paul Barclay: While Mr Goss deserves credit for implementing
crucial reforms, he too fell foul of the head of the Criminal Justice
Commission, in this case inaugural Chairman, Sir Max Bingham, a former Liberal
Deputy Premier of Tasmania, appointed in the dying days of coalition rule. To
make matters worse, a CJC investigation into parliamentary travel expenses led
to the embarrassing resignation of a number of Labor
Ministers.
Speculation was that relations between the CJC and the Labor
Government were so poisonous the Commission would have been abolished if Caucus
had been asked to vote on the matter.
Wayne Goss: No, the CJC wouldn't
have been abolished, because I was committed to the work that it had to do. It
was far from perfect, particularly in the first three years, some of its
research was very shoddy. I mean the SP bookmaking report, the poker machine
report that was quashed subsequently by the High Court for fundamental mistakes
of law; there was also a bit of a personality problem between the Chairman and
myself. I never realised that he harboured some resentment over the fact that he
wasn't confirmed in his position on election night, which would have been quite
inappropriate. And that was unfortunate, but I was committed to the work of the
Criminal Justice Commission even though some of the senior players I think were
involved in other agendas.
Paul Barclay: Former Queensland Premier, Wayne
Goss.
It should surprise nobody that the Criminal Justice Commission does
not endear itself to governments. Scrutiny of government is a key reason for the
CJC's existence, but it's not the only reason. The CJC is also supposed to
combat official corruption. Most experts agree there is no concrete evidence of
significant corruption or misconduct within the police service, or the
bureaucracy.
Nonetheless this doesn't mean everyone's convinced the
State's public sector is today corruption free.
Phil Dickie.
Phil
Dickie: Corruption by its very nature is a crime committed between consenting
adults in private. Very often there's no reason for either of them to complain;
there's often no-one else who knows about it. However the whole Fitzgerald
Inquiry was, particularly the media investigations at the beginning, was not so
much an exercise in uncovering actual instances of corruption, because we didn't
have the resources or the legal power to do that. What it was, was an exercise
in uncovering the unmistakable symptoms of corruption, it was a research
exercise if you like. And we found and were able to demonstrate with very few
resources really, that there was no reasonable explanation for what was
happening in Queensland but that the place was corrupt.
Now that sort of
methodology, applied with all the resources of an institution like the CJC,
would if it was properly employed, find the largest amount of corruption is
involved with local governments and land decisions, State governments and
contract decisions and that police and criminals come a long way behind
that.
Paul Barclay: No-one can dismiss the possibility of hidden
corruption. The CJC does catch misbehaving public servants and police, but it's
largely dependent on whistleblowers and complainants. The CJC website proudly
affirms its complaints section is the 'hub' of the organisation.
Michael
Barnes is the head of this section. What does he say to the criticism that the
CJC is too reactive to complaints?
Michael Barnes: That would be a flawed
approach if that's all we did, but there's two limbs to our approach to
detection and eradication of corruption. Firstly, officers who are involved in
corruption do tend to attract complaints, they're not out there pursuing their
professional responsibilities with a full vigour and application of more
appropriately focused officers. So we tend to get complaints about their conduct
for other things that causes us to have concerns about them.
But
secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the complaints process is only one small
part of detection of corruption. We have active, ongoing covert operations,
target development committees that look at a whole range of indicators to
determine whether or not corruption may be occurring in any particular area, not
just the police service, but the public sector generally.
Paul Barclay:
Terry O'Gorman agrees with Phil Dickie. The CJC can't afford to sit back and
wait to be handed information on alleged corruption. He thinks it should go out
and find corruption, as it's occurring, by testing the integrity of police
officers, a tactic the CJC employs, but that this civil libertarian would like
to see enhanced.
Terry O'Gorman: There can be no real objection to the
CJC using the same undercover covert listening device and other tactics that
police use day in, day out against citizens. I think it is a legitimate
criticism, and unless the CJC starts to become proactive in integrity testing in
a serious way, there is an unacceptable risk that corruption will return,
particularly in view of the fact that there are a reasonable number of police
now at Senior Sergeant rank and at Inspector rank who were pretty suspect during
the period that Fitzgerald was looking into, but who escaped his examination
because there was simply a limit to what he could do.
Paul Barclay:
Integrity testing appals the police union. They've even co-opted the language of
civil libertarians, branding it 'entrapment'. I put it to the union's Merv
Bainbridge that there was a fear of police corruption reappearing without covert
testing.
Merv Bainbridge: That fear only comes I think from probably
certain solicitors and members of the legal profession, the civil libertarians
etc. You know, I just point out to people if they'd like to check and find the
number of police officers that are currently in prison for matters of corruption
and the number of solicitors that are in, they'll find that there are many, many
times more solicitors either being investigated in our prisons for matters of
corruption, than police officers. And for calls to come from the legal
fraternity for this is I think, totally hypocritical. To set out to entrap
police officers I think is totally distasteful and should be avoided at all
costs.
Paul Barclay: But if the police have done nothing wrong, then they
have nothing to fear.
Merv Bainbridge: Well I'll give you an example of
what I call entrapment, and it happened in New South Wales, where they have a
totally different system to us, and what happened in New South Wales is a
gentleman came to the front counter of a police station, with a carton of beer
and he intended to leave it there for a couple of officers that he claimed had
assisted his wife at a road accident, and were very helpful. The officer on duty
at the counter said, 'No, I don't want it thank you, take it away', and this
fellow was very insistent. And at the end of the day did take it away. But they
looked around the corner, and here were a couple of police officers and quite
obviously they were being set up to take this carton of beer. Now I don't see
that as any kind of test, I just find the whole episode of that particular
example as it was recounted to me from friends in New South Wales, as
disgraceful and disgusting.
Paul Barclay: Merv Bainbridge doesn't defend
the behaviour of the rotten police under corrupt Commissioner Terry Lewis, but
he reckons there was only a handful of bad guys. There's also no doubt he's a
touch nostalgic, and yearns for a time when no-one is breathing down the neck of
the officer on the beat.
Merv Bainbridge: What has happened is the CJC
has made some police officers, what I call gun shy. In other words, it's just do
your eight hours, do no more, don't look left or right, otherwise you'll be
complained about. And I can give you a quick example of that if you like. Where
two officers are on patrol in the Mount Gravatt area a number of years ago, in
the early hours of the morning, and they see two youths walking down the street
with a Gladstone bag. So they stop and speak to them, ask can they check inside
the bag, which they do, and nothing untoward is found, and bid them Good Morning
and off they go. One of the youths' father's complains, doesn't complain about
the police being rude, he says that the police weren't rude; he just wishes to
know by what authority those police officers searched his son's Gladstone bag.
So as a result, those two young police officers were disciplined. So as one of
them said to me, 'In future, if I'm driving down Logan Road, Mount Gravatt at
three o'clock in the morning and I see someone carrying, if a youth carrying a
video on his shoulder, as far as I'm concerned I look straight ahead, I see
nothing, I know nothing, I just keep driving.'
But the CJC's Michael
Barnes says such fears are baseless.
Michael Barnes: I'm very surprised
to hear that a union would say its members are not doing their job properly. I
know that the vast majority of police would be greatly affronted by the police
union suggesting they were scared of doing their job, and think the people of
Queensland simply wouldn't believe it. We know that police officers continue to
make arrests in quite discretionary areas where they could quite easily avoid
preferring charges if they were dissuaded from doing their job. We know that
arrests for simple possession of drugs and the like, where police officers could
simply look the other way if they were frightened about becoming involved in
some incident which could lead to a CJC investigation would diminish. In fact
our research shows that those discretionary types of arrests continue to
increase at a rate that exceeds the general arrest rate, so I think the evidence
shows that police officers aren't discouraged from their job.
Rob
Borbidge: I don't think there's much doubt that particularly young police
officers are very cautious in terms of perhaps street offences, dealing with
certain groups within the community where there is a problem, because they're
scared that they may well be reported to the CJC. And I mean common knowledge,
there are legal groups that hand out little bits of paper to their clients, that
if the police stop you, this is what you can do, this is what you can't do, and
you contact the CJC and all the rest of it. So I don't think there's much doubt
that in certain cases it has inhibited the ability of the police to do their
job. It's great having one of the best police services in the world, but if the
constable on street duty isn't game to take on the thugs because he's scared of
being reported, then I think the community then has a legitimate question to ask
in respect of the process.
Paul Barclay: Ex-Premier, now Opposition
leader, Rob Borbidge.
There's no denying the audacious misbehaviour and
illegality that riddled the force ten years ago is no longer evident.
But
that's not to say the Police Service has radically changed its approach to
policing. For clearly, it has not. Preventative community policing, for
instance, is not by any stretch of the imagination the 'primary policing
strategy' Tony Fitzgerald argued it should be. This is in spite of evidence from
CJC research that putting more police on the beat actually does reduce
crime.
Just as the Police Service has been dragged, sometimes
reluctantly, into the 1990s, so too have the institutions of democracy in
Queensland.
Man: What do you understand by the doctrine of the separation
of powers under the Westminster system?
Bjelke-Petersen: Of
the?
Man: Of the Westminster system.
Bjelke-Petersen: Well the
doctrine you refer to in relation to the, where the government stands, and where
the rest of the community stands, and where the rest of the instruments of
government stand. Is that what - ?
Man: No.
Bjelke-Petersen: Well
you tell me, and I'll tell you whether you're right or not. Don't you
know?
Paul Barclay: An ABC dramatisation of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
giving evidence before the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
PROTEST
Paul
Barclay: Throughout the '70s and '80s what passed for democracy in Queensland
was a national laughing stock.
Protesters daring to dissent by marching
in the street were routinely jailed; historic buildings were demolished in the
dead of night; and the gerrymander meant a vote for the Nationals in the bush
had greater value than a vote for Labor in the city. So impotent did this render
the Opposition, and so inconceivable was it they'd ever win office, a virtual
one-party State prevailed.
Ethics Professor Noel Preston spent much of
this era at odds with Joh Bjelke Petersen and his government, which back then,
he says, made decisions by executive fiat.
Noel Preston: Fitzgerald very
properly identified that their abuse of executive power was the central issue
that brought the problems that emerged in his Inquiry and that at the heart of
this was the way the parliamentary process was not working; that executive
government controlled in this unicameral one house parliamentary system we had
in Queensland. You've got the numbers in the Lower House, there's no Upper House
and you do what you like. So the system of parliamentary committees needed to be
beefed up. It was very minimal in 1989, and that has happened, with the passage
of the 1995 Parliamentary Committees Act, was sort of the zenith of that flowing
out of EARC-style reforms.
Paul Barclay: EARC was the Electoral and
Administrative Review Committee. It was a less glamorous Fitzgerald progeny than
the Criminal Justice Commission, but no less important. In its short three years
it helped breathe life back into Queensland's decrepit public institutions. It
killed off the gerrymander and proposed the State's first Freedom of Information
laws. And instigated a process to give aggrieved citizens the opportunity to
object to Public Service rulings. EARC was also instrumental in bolstering the
Parliamentary Committee system.
David Solomon was EARC's final Chairman
before it was disbanded in 1994. He thinks it can at least take credit for the
fact that governments today are more accountable. Nonetheless, Cabinet still
rules the roost, despite Parliamentary Committees.
David Solomon: They've
certainly made governments more accountable, and that's probably about as much
as you can get. They have not weakened the executive government, strangely
enough that hasn't even occurred despite the fact that we've had a minority
government situation for a little while. But governments are certainly more
accountable than they were pre-Fitzgerald, as well as the Parliamentary
Committee system, we've also had a judicial review system, which has made
decisions by governments reviewable in the courts. And we've also had Freedom of
Information legislation introduced. That has worked pretty well, though it
suited both Labor and conservative governments to water down the provisions of
the FOI legislation and to allow them to, in effect, hide anything they wanted
to hide simply by classifying it as a Cabinet document.
Paul Barclay: One
would not need to be a cynic to suggest that if you only need to reclassify a
document as a Cabinet document, when all that probably means is that you take it
in a manilla folder into a Cabinet room, but it doesn't actually get discussed,
that that would almost completely destroy the intent of FOI.
David
Solomon: Yes, in fact you didn't even have to take it into the Cabinet room. I
mean the final version of it just had a Minister or a senior official, declaring
that it was of interest to the Cabinet, even if Cabinet didn't see
it.
Paul Barclay: So that's an ad hoc process. They just arbitrarily
nominate a document to be a Cabinet document and hence the media or other
interested parties cannot access it.
David Solomon: Well essentially
that's what could happen, yes. And that was in a change made to the FOI
law.
Minister: 'This file contains the complete set of available papers
except for a small number of secret documents, a few others which are part of
selective files, some correspondence lost in the floods of 1967.' Was 1967 a
particularly bad winter?
Sir Humphrey: No, it was a marvellous winter; we
lost no end of embarrassing files.
Minister: '??? which went astray in
the move to London, and others when the War Office was incorporated in the
Ministry of Defence; and the normal withdrawal of papers whose publication could
give grounds for an action for libel or breach of confidence or cause
embarrassment to friendly governments.' Well that's pretty comprehensive. How
many papers does that normally leave for them to look at? About 100 or so?
Fifty? Ten?
Paul Barclay: Wayne Goss was derided by the media for running
a closed government. As Premier, he amended the FOI law to expand the Cabinet
loophole.
When David Fagan was Queensland Bureau Chief for The Australian
newspaper, he regularly sought information under FOI. But after the Goss
Government changed the law, he became increasingly frustrated by the ease with
which his requests were thwarted.
David Fagan: In 1994 I applied under
FOI for some documents that were prepared by the Public Service for Ministers.
Now those documents were to brief Ministers appearing before Budget Estimates
Committees. Clearly they weren't a Cabinet document, they weren't designed to go
to Cabinet, never were going to. But they did probably set out the problems that
Government was experiencing at that time, the sorts of issues that Ministers
might be asked about when they appeared before a Parliamentary
Committee.
So I applied for those under FOI and looked like I might get
them. And a few weeks later the Cabinet office got all the Ministers to hand in
their briefing papers and they put them in a box, stuffed them in the hold of
the Government jet and took them up to a Cabinet meeting in Mount Isa where they
were taken to the meeting. I don't know what happened to them there, presumably
they just sat in the corner, but on that basis, they were exempted from release.
So we were never able to see what was in those documents.
Terry O'Gorman:
That was a cynical move brought in by the Goss Government, which the then
conservative Opposition criticised. When the conservatives came into government,
surprise! surprise! they did nothing about it. Now Labor is back in, what have
they done? A typical thing of 'Refer it to a Parliamentary Committee'. It just
shows that the current Labor government right throughout all its ministerial
ranks, right throughout all of its back bench, are spineless. All they simply
have to do is to bring in a one-line amendment to repeal that Cabinet blanket
knackering of FOI. There's no need to refer it to a Parliamentary
Committee.
Paul Barclay: Terry O'Gorman of the Council for Civil
Liberties.
Peter Beattie: I believe in Parliamentary Committees. And one
of the things you'll recall that the Fitzgerald Report talked about was the need
for a greater role for Parliamentary Committees.
Paul Barclay: Premier
Peter Beattie.
Peter Beattie: As Chairman of the first Parliamentary
Criminal Justice Committee, I'm committed to that. FOI has been a political
football, and therefore we need to ensure that it's handled properly by both
sides of politics. You see the strength of what Fitzgerald did in establishing
bipartisan or multi party Parliamentary Committees in this Parliament, was to
ensure that politicians had to work together to come up with an outcome. Now
there will always be, and it has always been envisaged, that there will be some
exemption for Cabinet documents, and so there should be.
Paul Barclay:
But the current situation is ludicrous, it simply requires almost an arbitrary
reclassification of a document that doesn't even need to make it into the
Cabinet room, to stop journalists and members of the public getting access to
it.
Peter Beattie: Well I've made it clear that our position is, and this
will always be our position, if the documents pertain to Cabinet decision-making
process, then that's the appropriate place for them to be exempt. If they're not
part of that process, then in fact they aren't exempt. Now that's the practice
that we follow. I've issued an instruction to that effect, that's the practice
we are following.
Paul Barclay: It seems to me though that what you're
saying is that the only documents that you're not allowing access to now are
legitimate Cabinet documents. Does that mean then that you're loath to actually
amend the legislation, because you're currently acting in the spirit of what you
regard FOI is?
Peter Beattie: No, I'm simply acting in the spirit of what
I think FOI is and how it was to apply to Cabinet. But the Parliamentary
Committee should have a look at the FOI laws, and as I stress, this is what I
promised prior to the election, and that's why they're looking at
it.
Paul Barclay: But will you change them?
Peter Beattie: Well I
want to see, I mean you already get an indication from our practices as to what
I believe, or the Government believes. But clearly, what I want to see is what
the Committee says.
Paul Barclay: At least the FOI laws were introduced.
A number of reforms proposed by the Electoral and Administrative Review
Committee have never seen the light of day. Reforms such as a State Bill of
Rights, a new constitution, an Administrative Appeals Tribunal and an Office of
Public Sector Ethics.
There is much unfinished business in Queensland.
Too much to warrant the mood of self-satisfaction I commonly encountered.
Perhaps this is a hint of the complacency Tony Fitzgerald warned of all those
years ago.
No government, for instance, has yet had the courage to
meaningfully reform laws relating to prostitution and drugs.
But the
Queensland of today is a long way from the Moonlight State. Even the National
Party has been forgiven by the voters, returning briefly to the Government
benches before losing the last election. But their leader Rob Borbidge rejects
the popularly held view that Tony Fitzgerald helped create contemporary
Queensland.
Rob Borbidge: Joh Bjelke Petersen was the builder of modern
Queensland, and no-one will ever take that away from him, especially Mr
Fitzgerald. And you know, like all governments, good things happen and things
happen that aren't so good. But I think that the recent political experience
shows that the person in the street, whilst acknowledging the lessons of
Fitzgerald, doesn't hold anything from that era against the modern National
Party.
Paul Barclay: For two decades, Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen personified
Queensland. It's instructive to hear him talk about what has become of the State
today.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: We were told at the time the report was given
that Queensland would be 'squeally clean', whatever the expression they used
that day on TV, you'll find it in the records if you look it up, but Queensland
was going to be 'squeally clean'; there would be no more corruption forever and
a day. And instead of that of course, those of us who have a bit of background,
a bit of experience, knew jolly well that violence and robbery and murder, it's
unbelievable. We were right ahead of our time, the police force were in stopping
drugs. Nowadays after the Fitzgerald era, goodness me, you're not game to go out
along the streets anywhere today, any part of Queensland, simply because they
neglected the opportunity and the position that had been created by the police
force in their control of drugs and all these other vices that have
escalated.
Paul Barclay: I meet Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen in the boardroom
of Brisbane's Mineralogy House, where he still maintains an office. The man I
met is frail, he's now 88, and no longer the imposing political warrior who once
inspired such loathing and admiration. But Sir Joh remains convinced Fitzgerald
did Queensland more harm than good.
Joh Bjelke Petersen: The CJC again is
a fairly political operation, the whole exercise. And I said many times after my
experience in the court, I said I would have dismantled it long ago and got it
back to the system that we operated under.
Paul Barclay: Is the CJC an
effective watchdog against corruption and misconduct?
Joh Bjelke
Petersen: It's always after the event. We stopped it before it happened, and the
police force in my day stopped it before it happened. Street marches, law and
order was obeyed, unions were controlled, I was called a dictator but Queensland
prospered, and people voted for me increasing numbers, in spite of the fact that
some of those street marchers we put a thousand people or more in the lock-up.
All I will say this, and I want this recorded and I want it broadcast: the four
years that I was being investigated for nothing cost me an awful lot of money
and a lot of property, but there's nothing, absolutely nothing, there is nothing
and I repeat that will ever restore my confidence in the justice system. After I
saw that exercise and what happened to me, as I saw and experienced, sat in that
dock and sat and was questioned and investigated, nothing, there's absolutely
nothing, and in that you ask many a policeman that was tossed out on the rubbish
heap, same as I was, after a long period of being investigated and all the rest
of it.
Paul Barclay: Tony Fitzgerald no longer lives in Queensland. He
moved to New South Wales shortly after being overlooked by the Queensland
Coalition as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Now a Justice on the New
South Wales Court of Appeal, he is perfectly happy to let history be the judge
of his achievements, or failures. He has no desire to publicly set the record
straight, on any matter.
The Queensland Police Service also declined to
participate in this program. Their media spokesman, Brian Swift, would say only
that the Fitzgerald era was in the past.
But preventing Queensland from
revisiting its past will depend on constant vigilance.
Terry
O'Gorman.
Terry O'Gorman: In all similar jurisdictions to Queensland,
other places in Australia, UK, US, Canada, history shows ten years or so after a
major Police Royal Commission where the police are cleaned up, unless there is
an active body in there, preventing a re-elapse into corruption, it
happens.
THEME
Paul Barclay: You've been listening to Background
Briefing. Co-ordinating Producer is Linda McGinness; Research by Jim Mellor;
Technical Production by Colin Preston and Mark Don; Executive Producer is
Stephen Alward.
I'm Paul Barclay
A FORMER top Victorian officer recruited to help clean up
police corruption in Queensland after the Fitzgerald inquiry yesterday slammed
as entirely inappropriate the secret election deal the Bracks Government struck
with the police union.
And Bob Falconer, another former deputy
commissioner in Victoria who went on to run the West Australian police force,
joined Noel Newnham in condemning the pact that has seen the previously hostile
police union strongly urge its members to back Labor at tomorrow's election.Mr Newnham, a former Victorian deputy commissioner now retired from a senior
role at the Australian Graduate School of Police Management, said it was
"unbelievable" that Victorian police chief Christine Nixon was not involved in
the talks."Policing ought to be above politics," he said.
"It should always be overt and open. Policing is about enforcing the law, the
preservation of police and the safety of the public.
"The public have a right to know about the decisions that affect policing.
There has to be accountability so that corruption is not even seen to be an
issue."
Mr Bracks yesterday denied any wrongdoing but admitted he "argued and urged"
the police union to support Labor's policies at a secret meeting revealed by The
Australian yesterday.
The Premier also confirmed he gave Police Association secretary Paul Mullett
a series of written commitments but yesterday refused to release the signed
letter sealing the pact.
Mr Bracks said Ms Nixon - who refused to comment yesterday - was not involved
in the talks in which he personally lobbied the union to support Labor. He
confirmed he discussed police numbers with Senior Sergeant Mullett before
Labor's policy was announced. "We hoped that they would (support us) because
it's a good policy," he said. "We argued and urged them to support our
policies."
Despite declaring "war" on the Bracks Government leading up to the election,
Sergeant Mullett has, since the pact, campaigned strongly for Labor.
While Liberal leader Ted Baillieu - who also met Sergeant Mullett during the
election campaign, but did not agree to his demands - has offered more police
recruits, the union chief has publicly written off the Opposition in favour of
the Government.
One of the key findings of the Fitzgerald corruption inquiry in Queensland in
the late 1980s was that the state premier should only meet the police union in
the presence of the police commissioner.
Mr Newnham, who took over as Queensland police commissioner immediately after
the Fitzgerald report was handed down, called for a corruption watchdog in
Victoria, saying it was "unbelievable" the police union and the minister were
able to meet without Ms Nixon being present.
"In Victoria, you have a corruption body and a chief commissioner who both
refuse to take complaints seriously," Mr Newnham said. "There has to be another
solution."
Victoria is one of the few states without an independent corruption
commission. It has been rocked in recent years by a deadly gangland war and
evidence of police involvement in drug trafficking.
Mr Falconer said police unions across the country had become adept at
manipulating political parties for their own ends and said if deals had been
struck behind Ms Nixon's back her position would be "very difficult".
"You need a certain amount of independence. If a chief commissioner is not
even at the table, then the position becomes very difficult," Mr Falconer said.
The deal was also criticised by a former head of the Victorian special
operations group, John Noonan, who said it gave the perception that the
association was favouring one party over theother.
"We (police) should be seen to be independent in regard to any political
party and be there just to do our job," he told Southern Cross Radio.
The Australian understands the union received a series of commitments from
the Premier, including that Labor would use its best endeavours to have police
command sign off on a new pay deal by the middle of next year.
Government sources said the agreement - a signed letter to Sergeant Mullett
from Mr Bracks and Police Minister Tim Holding - did not specifically promise
pay rises but committed Labor to having an "open mind" about the union's demands
for better pay and conditions.
The union log of claims includes pay rises of between 28 and 35 per cent, an
overhauled classification structure allowing quicker pay progression and the
ability to salary-sacrifice superannuation payments.
Asked if he had agreed to support the union claim, Mr Bracks said: 'No,
absolutely not. That would be the sole discretion in the enterprise negotiating
between the employer and the employee. Our job is to resource and to support.
All we've said is we'll make sure it's a proper process, as it should be."
Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells yesterday confirmed he and Mr Baillieu
met with Sergeant Mullett on November 8, two days after the union chief's
meeting with Mr Bracks.
Mr Wells said Sergeant Mullett presented the Liberal pair with a list of
demands during the 30-minute meeting but said no agreement was reached.
He appealed to rank-and-file police officers to bypass the union and consider
that the Liberals had offered double the number of officers proposed by
Labor.
Padraic Murphy and Ewin Hannan | November 24, 2006
Police corruption rife in Qld, says former officer
Transcript
This is a transcript from PM. The program is
broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on
ABC Local Radio.
Mark Colvin
presents PM Monday to Friday from 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm
on ABC Local Radio. Join Mark for the latest current affairs, wrapping
the major stories of each day.
PM - Monday, 16 April , 2007 18:35:40
Reporter: Lindy Kerin
PETER CAVE: A key whistleblower at the
Fitzgerald Royal Commission into Police Corruption in Queensland says
it's time to repeat the process.
Retired police officer Col
Dillon served more than three decades in the Queensland police force,
and is one of Australia's most highly decorated Indigenous police
officers.
He's told the ABC's Message Stick program, corruption in the force is still very much alive.
He's also called for an inquiry to help mend relations between the police and the Indigenous communities.
Lindy Kerin reports
LINDY KERIN: When he retired six years ago, Col Dillon was the country's highest-ranking Indigenous police officer.
He
rose to national prominence during the 1980s, when he blew the whistle
on police corruption at the Fitzgerald Royal Commission.
Now Col Dillon has told the ABC's Message Stick program, things haven't improved and that police corruption in Queensland is rife.
COL
DILLON: The culture that was pre-Fitzgerald is there today and every
bit as strong as what it was pre-Fitzgerald. It may have softened a
little bit after some of the reform processes come into place and so
forth, but there's been backsliding of a great magnitude in terms of
the police doing the services in this State.
LINDY KERIN: Col Dillon is now documenting his policing career.
He says his tell-all book will name corrupt figures who weren't identified in the Fitzgerald inquiry.
COL
DILLON: There will be people out there that will be concerned and have
some apprehension about what may be put to paper by me because there's
no doubt in my mind, and I know for a fact that there are people when
the net was cast to haul in the corrupt, there were quite a few that
got away.
LINDY KERIN: Last December Col Dillon quit his job as
a State Government adviser in Queensland. He resigned in protest over
the handling of the death in custody of an Aboriginal man on Palm
Island.
Col Dillon says he's deeply concerned about the relationship between Queensland police and the Indigenous community.
He says it's time for an inquiry into how the Queensland Police Service operates.
COL
DILLON: To my mind I would say this without any fear of contradiction
that it is high time again for another far reaching inquiry into our
police service and the way that it operates.
LINDY KERIN: The
Queensland Police Service has declined to respond to Col Dillon's
comments. So too has the State's Police Union.
A spokesman Ross Musgrove says the union doesn't want to help promote Col Dillon's book.
He
says if the former police officer has a legitimate complaint, he should
take it to the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.
But
the President of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry
O'Gorman, says Col Dillon's comments should be taken seriously.
TERRY O'GORMAN: Col Dillon's got an enormous store of credibility.
He
was an inspector of police and an Aboriginal inspector of police in the
Licensing Squad when he blew the whistle on corruption.
He stayed in the police for a period of time after that.
When
he left the police he worked in Indigenous Affairs for the Queensland
Government, while still keeping in close contact with the Queensland
Police Service.
He's got enormous credibility and the Police
Minister and the Police Commissioner cannot simply brush his
well-founded criticisms aside.
And if he says that the Crime and
Misconduct Commission is so compromised because it's over time fallen
into a pretty ineffective oversight body against the Queensland police
then perhaps an external inquiry needs to be set up.
PETER CAVE: Terry O'Gorman from the Australian Council for Civil Liberties ending that report from Lindy Kerin.
In
a statement this afternoon, the Queensland Police Minister said she
hadn't yet seen the program in which he makes these claims and would
watch it when it goes to air tonight.
Judy Spence says if Mr
Dillon is has any information on corruption in the Queensland Police
Service he should report it to the appropriate bodies.
and
pass on to as many people and as many authorities as possible as this
sort of behaviour by the police has to stop as Australian Citizens are
in danger and besides it is giving Australia a very bad name in the
world as one of the most corrupt and dangerous societies to live,
especially Queensland which seems to be the most corrupt
The
CMC should supine Lisa Quain to get her to tell all about the police
involvement with selling and taking drugs and helping to protect major
drug dealers in Queensland and other states in Australia, Western
Australia where she originally comes form she says has the same
problems with corrupt police, they have been protecting her drug
operation for year, however she is only a very low level drug dealer
who is a young mum you ended up with a $1,000 a week speed habit as a
result of the police who work in with the local bikie gangs supplying
her with a large amount of speed and she then had to keep selling drugs
for and with the police and their associates to support her $1,000 a
week speed habit. Eventually they will provide her with a Hot Shot (a
lethal dose of drugs)and kill her that way so she can not speak out
anymore and tell the world what the police and their criminal drug
dealing partners have been up to. There will simply be an article in
the newspaper that a well know drug dealer and drug addict died of an
overdose of drugs last night and nobody will give a dam. Lisa Quain
needs protection by the CMC and to be looked after and she can help the
CMC clean up the billion dollar drug operation in Queensland and have
many of the corrupt police and drug dealers arrested. That is of course
if the CMC are not corrupt themselves and want to clean up the drug
problem and the corrupt police, in that case the CMC will do nothing,
not bother to bring Lisa Quain in to tell all she knows, and she knows
a lot, believe us. Lisa Quain can bring a lot of powerful people down
and maybe force another royal commission into the Queensland police and
the Federal Police to try and stop the corruption that helps make sure
the multi Billion Drug industry survives in Queensland and keeps
killing out young people and destroying their lives
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Kallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their associates-
INL
News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland
Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the
Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion
dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia
who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest
rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high
profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug profits-
INL
News has been given evidence by well known low level drug dealers and
users who have agreed to help expose the corruption in the Queensland
Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in drug taking
and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-
the witnesses who have provided sworn evidence to INL are now in hiding for fear of their lives.....
Watch
this space for more details soon to be published by INL News for the
world to see what really goes on in the sunny Gold Coast Queensland
Australia, which is fast becoming the crime capital of the world, with
such crimes being developed, supported, maintained and protected by
senior members of the Queensland Police Force-
INL has been told
by one senior ex-police officer that used to be in the major crime
squad, that he had to leave the Queensland Police Force because he
could not stand up against senior police protecting major drug dealers
and allowing them to operate openly with senior police protection in
the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to either join their
corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police force and keep his
integrity... but again he was too scared to speak up publiclly as to
what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his family living in
the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to protect their
illegal business interests and because they are the police, there is no
where to run and no where to hide from these people, who have no
hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure of their silence and
making threats of murder and physical body damage to anyone or their
families that
get in their way.....
INL News has such evidence
well secured in an international location ready to be presented to the
International Court of Justice if those involved with such crimial and
wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to innocent people who are
presently being wrongfully being harrashed by The Crime and Misconduct
Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan,
Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others being used by
powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates
which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose
to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts commited by them which
includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major
drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major
crimes committed by public company directors and their assistants...
"...I texed
lisa Quain today, to ask her how she was... this is the
reply.....having a bad day again, as per usual. trying to correlate the
whole saga of extremely traumatic events.we are trying to put it in
chronological order, with names and phone numbers of witnesses
and government authority contacts or departments that can verify facts
that prove a gross misconduct and negligence or official corruption .
its just too much to cope with. too much occured . its a HUGE amount
of criminal offences commited against us ! police refused to act on
any of it, that includes hand guns pointed at us. unbelievable , but
all true......."
Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18
State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000
Contact the CMC's Communications Officer (Media) if you have a query, or wish to arrange an interview.
Telephone: (07) 3360 6344
Mobile: 0407 373 803
Fax: (07) 3360 6235
Dear Sir or Madame
I am the editor of INLNews.com and I have authorized the world wide publication of the following article on our web site www.inlnews.com
If
you and/or any in your organization and/or anyone mentioned in the
artilce are unhappy with the article and/or anything in it, please get
your lawyers to email me your objectyion and any legal threats in
relation to the objection you may have. If I do not hear form you the
article will stay with further articles as follow up ones to be
continued on the same lines with more detailed information
I
look forward to hearing from you if you want to respond to this email
and/or the attached article that is now on public display on the world
wide Internet.
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants-
INL
News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland
Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the
Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion
dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia
who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest
rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high
profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug
profits-INL News has been given evidence by a well known low level drug
dealers and user who agreed to help expose the corruption in the
Queensland Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in
drug taking and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-the
witnesses who has provided sworn evidence to INL is now in hiding for
fear of their lives.....
Watch this space for more details soon to
be published by INL News for the world to see what really goes on in
the sunny Gold Coast Queensland Australia which is fast becoming the
crime capital of the world, with such crimes being developed,
supported, maintained and protected by senior members of the Queensland
Police Force- INL has been told by one senior ex-police officer that
used to be in the major crime squad that he had to the leave the
Queensland Police Force because he could not stand up against senior
police protecting major drug dealers operating openly with senior
police protection in the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to
either join their corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police
force and keep his integrity... but again was too scared to speak up
publiclly as to what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his
family living in the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to
protect their illegal business interests and because they are the
police, there is no where to run and no where to hide from these
people, who have no hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure
of their silence and making threats of murder and physical body damage
to anyone or their families that
get in their way.....
INL
News has such evidence well secured in an international location ready
to be presented to the International Court of Justice if those involved
with such crimial and wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to
innocent people who are presently being wrongfully being harrashed by
The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed
by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady
business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for
a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts
commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and enter,
conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold
Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants
Your mail message "Murder by Queensland's CMC and its officers of an
unborn Child" dated Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:20:33 -0700 has been received
by the Crime and Misconduct Commission mail server.
If you have contacted us through our Contact Form, then your message
has been received and is being attended to. If your message was
addressed to a specific officer or a specific section it will be
delivered shortly. If it cannot be delivered, you will receive an error
message and be asked to check the address.
Please contact us on (07) 3360 6060 (or email Desktop_Services) if you require further assistance.
Response
to Ministerial Correspondence Received by E-mail
Ref:8893 F1 WK
19 November 2007
Mr Patrick Obi
patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Dear Mr Obi
Thank you
for your email of 31 October 2007 concerning your allegations against the
Queensland Police Service.
This
matter is receiving attention and you will be advised further as soon as
possible.
Yours sincerely
Judy Spence MP
Minister for Police, Corrective
Services and Sport
As Yet there has been no further
communication from Judy Spence, the Minister for Police, Corrective
Services and Sport for Queensland.
INLNews.com does not expect to receive any further communication from
Judy Spense, as it is quite clear that Judy Spence and the rest of the
Government in Queensland are not in the least bit interested in
tackling and or wanting to even admit the existence of the serious
multi billion dollar illegal drug trade in Queensland that ex Major
Queensland Crime Squad Detective Dan Lansky, now working for
www.smartventures.com.au and Chapmans Limited says exists.
Mr Dan Lansky has stated to reporters of INLNews.com that he left the
Queensland Police Force after a long and successful carreer because it
sickened him so constantly get instructions from his more senior police
officers that that instead of arresting well known drug lords in
Queensland's Gold Coast that her saw living the life style of the rich
and famous on other people's misery, he was constantly asked to protect
the drug lords at the head of the food chain who make the billions each
year out the illegal industry that thrives with the help of senior
Queensland Police like Detective Greg Storemont, who heads a major
criminal drugs and shady loans syndicate that involves Queensland
Police at the most highest rank, multi millionaire and billionaire
businessmen, well respected Lawyers, CMC Officers, Bikis gangs and
standover and hit men.
Ex Queensland Major Crime Squad detective Dan Lansky says he does not
regret for one minute leaving theQueensland Police Force to work in the
high flyer world of Public listed company with Borris Ganke in Chapmans
Limited and Brett Goldsworthy in www.smartventures.com.au. Dan Lansky
says at least he now makes an honest living, rather than being paid by
the Queensland Government to protect billionaire drugs lords living
lavish life styles in Queensland's Gold Coast, which is fast becoming
known as the drug and crime capital of the world.
If Judy Spence, the Commissioner of Police, the Premier of Queensland
and the Criminal Misconduct Commission (CMC) and the rest of those in
charge of running Queensland are serious about tackling the billion
dollar illegal drug trade that is now a major part of Queensland's
thriving economy, then they will get the CMC and other law enforcement
and investigative bodies to interview people like Lisa Quain on the
lower end of drug taking and selling drugs to feed her $1,000 a day
drug habbit and people like Dan Lansky who can give clear evidence of
his knowledge of illegal activities within the police force and also
have another Royal Commission into the Queensland Police Force with a
specific reference to exposing and investigating why a multi billion
dollars illegal drug industry can thrive in Queensland right under the
noses of State and Federal Police Authorities whoa re meant to be there
to stop such illegal activity, rather than protect protect such
activity and share in the billion dollars profits made each year form
the suffering and misery of those who pay each week for these illegal
drugs.
The other devastating and sad effect of this thriving billion dollar
illegal drug industry in Queensland is that it is the major cause of
the rest of the crime that takes place in Queensland such as robberies
and violence as the hooked drug users like Lisa Quain have to break and
enter house, cars and rob people in the street to obtain the money to
pay for the drugs they are desperate to obtain each week. Such drug
users also supliment the income they obtain from robberies and violence
by selling drugs for the billionaire drug lords who have corrupt police
and other criminal heavies protecting their business and making sure
that low level drug users and sellers like Lisa Quain are well aware if
the try to expose them in any way they will either end up dead by a
bullet through the head, or just end up being found on some street
corner one morning having died of a hot shot of lethal cocktail of
drugs that have been given to her by her more senior drug dealer under
instructions from the power billionaire drug lords that run the whole
illegal drug industry in Queensland.
It is noted that it is a well established fact that most of the illegal
drugs that are sold in New South Wales and either grown and/or
manufactured in Queensland and transported by truck, train and plane
down daily to New South Wales.
If the Queensland authorities were serious about stopping the thriving
billion dollar illegal drugs industry in Queensland, which could be
down easily if the Queensland Police stopped protecting drug dealers
and sharing in the yearly profits made from the illegal drug industry,
and did the job they are paid to do by the Queensland people, that is,
to stop crime rather than being involved with perpetuating crime and
protecting the senior criminal fiqures that control crime in Queensland.
It is also a well know fact that the billionaire drug lords use senior
well respected law firms to launder their drug profits and to keep this
money circulating and making more money but placing these illegal drug
profits into the trust accounts of the well respected law firms and
then the money lend out to desperate business people who need cash in a
hurray for a business deal at up to 20% per month for short term loans.
They then secure these loans against the lenders real estate assets,
knowing they will never be able to keep up with interest payments of
10-20% per month.
Then the next step in the loan scam is that the
lenders use powerful corrupt estate agents like Ray White and LJ Hooker
and corrupt registered valuers like Herron Todd White who all work
together in the Gold Coast to devalue the borrowers home so it is
impossible for them the refinance their homes with a normal bank
lender. Because the false reduced value and market appraisal placed on
the property by the Ray White Estate Agents and Herron Todd White
Valuers means that the borrowers loan to equity ratio is too low for a
normal bank to approve a refinancing of the property to get the
borrower out of the now 20% per month loan that has gone into penalty
rate form the original 10% per month rate .
What happens next is the drug lord billionaire lender now reposesses
the home of the borrower, sells it up cheap at a mortgagee sale with
the buyer being a partner of the lender. The property is eventually
resold year or so later for a big profit and the finds received form
the sale of the property is then clean tax free money from attack form
any of the regulatory and taxation bodies. The parter of the
billionaire drug lord who brought the house cheap at mortgagee sale
lives in the house as his own home so when it is sold the profit on the
house is completely tax free.
In one instance in a street called Red Oak Drive Tallai, where the
criminal syndicate headed by Queensland Detective Greg Storemont and
his drug lord lenders, lend out about $7 million on properties which
had the potential for making hundreds of millions in development
profits because their large acreage and the sweeping Gold Coast and
Hinze Dam Views. These laoans where made in the hope that the borrower
could not pay the laons back and included loans set up fees of about
$100,000 per property besides the 10% per month interest rate that rose
to 20% per month if the interest was not paid on time.Detective Greg
Storemont ran around telling everyone in the street, in Tallai and the
whole gold coast including valuers, estate agents and financiers that
the companies that loaned the money were under investigation for a
serious fraud, Ray White Real Estate Agents and Herron Todd White
Valuers ran around saying the properties has an independent sworn
valuation of $2-$3 million each were only worth about $500,000 to
$600,000 being luxury large homes on about 10 acres each, with sweeping
views of the Gold Coast and the Hinze Dam and only ten minutes drive
from the ocean, ten major shopping centres, 20 minutes drive from the
Gold Coast International Airport and only 50 minutes drive form
Brisbane.
There powerful contacts even managed to get the valuers government body
to instruct all valuers in Queensland to refuse to value these
properties at any price. So that when the borrower had loans approved
from various normal lenders at 8% per annum to refinance these
properties and/or had any of these properties sold, they made sure that
no valuation could be obtained so the refinance and/or the sale could
not go ahead.
This way the 7 properties that had independant sworn valuations of
about $21 million with overall loans of about $7-8 million, suddenly
were un-refinanceable and un-sale able and they could onlt be sold to
cash buyers at mortgagee sales at about $600,000 with anyone that
showed any interest in purchasing the properties being told by Ray
White Real Estate who are considered the God in real estate advice in
the Gold Coast and Herron Todd White Valuers that these properties were
only worth about $500,000 to $600,000 each and no more. this meant that
no one was willing to pay anymore that these price sin the end the
properties started to be sold for about $600,000 each.
For the borrowing companies this meant they had loans of about $7
million with sale prices and market appraisals of about $3.6 million,
when only a few months before the borrowing companies had independant
sworn valuations of about $21 million which meant that there should
have been no problem about borrowing up to about $14 million at 8% per
annum, paying out all the high priced 20% per months loans and having
about $5 million in working capital to purchase a well established cash
flow business making ample income to pay the the the 8% per annum
interest on the $14 million loan.
In stead, the properties were forclosed on and the properties were
being sold to parters and/or friends of the powerful drug
lord/financiers/police at bargain prices of about $600 each.
The new buyers just have to make this their own home and eventually
sell these properties for millions of dollars as valuable developments
sites with luxury homes on them, with the profits all tax free as clean
money as any profit from the sale of your own home where you live as
your primary residence is completely tax free in Australia.
Now two years later properties in Red Oak Drive are no going on the market for over $2 million,
by the established estate agents who said that in two years ago they were only worth about $600,000.
A nice tidy tax free profit for the criminal Drug Lords/Financiers/Police syndicate and their associates.
The situation even gets worse. Those that are in a position to threaten
to expose this devious scam, are then frightened to speak about it all
publicly by Detective Greg Storement using his corrupt contacts in
Queensland's Crminal Misconduct Commission (CMC) to drag innocent
people into secret interrogation hearings where only a high priced
corrupt lawyer at the cost of $3,000 a day can attend and be asked
about these real estate deals and are told that if they speak to anyone
about this they will be arrested by the CMC as under the Queensland Law
it appears that anything that is discussed in these secret hearing is
not allowed ot be discussed outside to anyone. You are not even meant
to tell anyone you have been dragged to these secret hearings.
The purpose of Detective Greg Storemont who is fronting for the criminal syndicate, for the CMC hearings to two fold:
1. The frighten the life out od anyone that could be a danger to speak out against the criminal syndicate;
2. The by pass the well established right to remain silent, so that
trick questions can be asked at these hearings and can be used by the
corrupt police such as Greg Storement ro try and create a false charge
against the witness.
Then a charge is laid against the witness that could have been a danger
of exposing the criminal synidicate and then the police will try and
oppose bail, and i n the mean time one of their corrupt layer mates
will extract hundreds of thousand of dollars from the witness in legal
fee defending these false charges against them. In the end the false
charges are dropped when the police are forced by the courts to produce
evidence that proves a criminal offense has been committed.
In the mean time the witness that has been falsely arrest has had their
reputation destroyed, lost all their assets in legal fees and had a
nervous breakdown. Under Queensland Law it is very difficult to be able
to successfully sue a police officer for charging you with a criminal
offense and then not producing any evidence that satisfies the court
that a criminal offense has been committed, and the charges are thrown
out by the court. Most lawyer will tell a person that you can not sue a
police officer for laying charges that in the end had no basis.
So Detective Greg Storemont can corruptly use his power as a police
officer and his corrupt contacts in the CMC to have anyone that could
be see to be an enemy of his criminal business associates, dragged off
the street and/or form their home into secret interrogation star
chamber hearings, interrogated against their will and lose their normal
right to remain silent, the charged with a criminal offense that simply
has no basis whatsoever and force the person to spend a fortune on
lawyers to have bail granted and defend these false charges for about
two years. Then finally after spending all their money in high priced
lawyers, had their creditability tarnished and had a nervous breakdown
over all the victimization, Greg Storemont does not produce the
evidence to the court to satisfy the court at a preliminary or
committal hearing that the person has committed a criminal offense and
the charges are thrown out by the court.
Detective Greg Storemont knows nothing will happen to him and his
criminal syndicate members who in the mean time are living the high life
from all the profits of all their criminal activities.
However, what Greg Storemont does not understand that the INL News
Group have in the past helped Tony Webster from Western Australia sue a
police officer form Kalgoorlie Supreme Court for damages, called
Sergent Lampard. The Master in the Supreme Court first dismissed the
action saying that one can not sue a police officer. The INL News Group
then help Tony Webster take an appeal to the High Court which ruled in
Tony Webster's favour.
Now everyone in Australia can use this High Court case called
Webster v Lampard as a legal basis to sue a police officer personally
for damages if it is felt hat his has gone beyond his normal call of
duty.
There is no doubt that before long Detective Greg Stroremont will be
sued for multi millions in damages and his employers, the Queensland
Government will be jointly and severally liable to pay this damage
claim. This damage claim will be paid from hardworking Queensland tax
payers money. This all could have been avoided if the Queensland
parliamentarians like Judy Spence would take notice of all the evidence
that there is serious and deep routed corruption in the Queensland
Police Force and now also the CMC which is effectively been used by
corrupt police like Greg Storemont and his and his other criminal
members of his criminal synjdicate as their personal Star Chamber t
frighten the life out of anyone that could be a danger to them and to
destroy other business people who may be in competition to them.
It something is not done soon to rectify the situation the it will all
end up inthe International Court of Justice and the world wide media
will brand Queensland, their police force and their legal system and
the politicians that run Queensland as the most corrupt place in the
world.
You
all will be proud of yourselves having succeeded in you wish to murder
of an unborn child that one of the CMC's innocent victim's was
carring, before she was deliberately, callously, cowardly, wrongfully
dragged into secret interrgation hearings by yourselves for no useful
purpose, other than to help deliberately murder an innocent unborn
child that the CMC's innocent victim was carrying at the time.
The
CMC and its officers have stated that they were tapping the CMC's
innocent victim's phone and email for some time when they issued a
notice of demand that the CMC's innocent victim be cross examined by
the CMC at secret interrogation hearings about a subject that she
simply knew nothing about, and could not be of any real assistance to
what the CMC was investigating.
From
listening to the CMC's innocent victim's telephone conversations and
reading her emails, the CMC and its officers clearly knew that that the
CMC's innocent victim was pregnant, when they had their corrupt police
officer attend the CMC's innocent victim's home to wrongly and falsely
tell her that. in his and the CMC's oppinion, she was a criminal and
was in a lot of trouble, and to serve the demand notice that the CMC's
innocent victim attend on just two days notice to the CMC, to be
interrogated at secret hearings where only a high priced laywer at
$1,600 a day is allowed to attend with her
A lawyer that the
CMC's innocent victim could not afford. Not many ordinary Australian
can afford $1,600 a day for a lawyer to attend the CMC's secret
interrogation hearings. As no one other than a lawyer is allowed to
attend with an innocent victim of the CMC, the CMC's innocent voctim
has no choice but to borrow the money to pay a high proceed lawyer to
attend the CMC's secret interrogation hearings with them.
It is a fact that the CMC's innocent victim spoke on her mobile phone
(which the the CMC officers clearly admitt had been tapped by the CMC for a long time),
on the Monday and excitedly discussed her pregnacy.
Then
the next day, on Tuesday, with the CMC knowing full well the CMC's
innocent victim was pregnant, the CMC had a corrupt police officer
attend her home to serve the CMC's demand for the CMC's innocent
victim to be interrogated, about a subject the CMC's innocent victim
knew nothing about, and could clearly not be of any real assistance to
what the CMC was investiagting.
The CMC's innocent victim's unborn
child is now dead, as a direct result of the malicious, deliberate and
calculating actions of the CMC and its officers.
Without the
wrongful actions of the CMC and its officers, that unborn child would
still be alive today. The attached email warned the CMC and its
officers of what they were doing was very wrong and illegal, but they
continuted on this wrongful and illegal path to help murder an unborn
child.
The
INL News Group will now publish this email and information on the world
wide web on as many web sites as possible, and let the world know what
these individuals and Queensland's CMC have done.
They all should hang there head in shame for ever.
Their
families, friends and associates should be absolutely ashamed of these
people, and the world generally, that read this information on the
world wide web, will also be horrified of this horrendous crime.
This
horrendous crime has also been sanctioned by the Queensland and
Australian Governments, who has also been warned, as a copy of the
attached email was also sent to the Queensland Attorney General and
also the previous Liberal Attorney General of Australia, that has now
been removed by the Australian people at the recent 2007 Federal
Elections.
The
INL News Group will also fund an application in the Internatonal Court
of Justice, to have these criminals brought to justice, as there is no
doubt these criminals will be protected by their mates in the
Australian Courts which is run by judges who are all ex-lawyers.
The
CMC is run by Australian lawyers, who also one day could become judges
who would then themselves be in the powerful position to protect
corrupt laywers running the CMC..
I
have been brought up in Africa and have seen some horrendous wrongful
things happen, but nothing I have ever seen is as horrendous as what
the CMC and its officers and appointed representatives have
deleiberately done here, with their involvement of the murder of an
innocent unborn child.
yours truly
PATRICK OBI
Managing Editor of the INL News Group
The
INL News Group note that, had the CMC's innocent victim been the
daughter of Rupert Murdoch, the most powerful person in the world
today, controlling a majority of the world's mainstream media outlets,
worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the Queensland's CMC would never
had treated the the CMC's innocent victim in this manner and the CMC's
innocent victim's unborn child would have still been alive today.
This
is another example that there is one rule for the rich and powerful,
and another rule for an ordinary innocent victim, trying their best to
live a normal and innocent life with their partner and new child due to
be born, and find some basic happiness after trying to recover from a
serious nervous beakdown in the last five years, which the CMC had full
knowledge of, from tapping the the CMC's innocent victim's telephone
and emails for a long time
Crime and Misconduct Commission Yes,
the CMC protects corrupt police offices who live beyond their means and
that can not provide any lawful evidence as to where their funds comes
from, in particular large drug dealers that provide funds to support
the employees of the Crime and Misconduct Commission to support our
expensive life styles.. as the wages that the people of Queensland are
simply not enough to pay for all our expensive life styles...
Yes, the
CMC supports criminal behavour by police officers in Queensland, in
fact anywhere really, as long as they have some sort of police badge we
make sure they can continue their criminal behaviour without being
harassed in their activities...if anyone tries to expose these criminal
activities we have unlimited powers to drag them and/or their families
into secret hearings that cost about $2,000 a day to pay a lawyer to
attend these hearings with them, as we have made the rules such that
only a lawyer can attend with the person we get our corrupt police to
drag off the street on only two days notice into these secret
hearings.. at the same time we are all paid large salaries by the
people of Queensland and the cash we receive on the side from our
corrupt police mates and other other criminal mates...
Yes,
the CMC supports misconduct as long as it is misconduct by any of our
criminal mates employed in the Police Service and/or another
Government Departments or other private criminals that are friends, who
are prepared to offer funds to support our expensive life styles that
the salaries we obtain from the Queensland Taxpayers do not cover... we
specialise in supporting, protecting and encouraging the Queensland and
Federal Police and others to import and sell illegal drugs and break
and enter houses without a warrant to steal whole housefuls of
furniture (as they did in Tallai) and steal the original manuscripts of
books such as the Triumph of Truth (Who's Watching the Watchers) that
was in the process of being published world wide by International News
Limited in books and films and a TV series that would have brought a
lot of world wide attention to our criminal behaviour of our corrupt
police mates and expose our own criminal activities.. we simply had no
choice but to break into that house with the help of our drug taking
and selling mates and the Queensland Police, were we suspected this
book could be stored.. after all we had to protect our livelihood and
our business associates who provide our ability for ourselves to live
beyond our means... we at the CMC of course can not be investigated as
we are not going to investigate ourselves and we are the only ones with
such power... we are simply untouchable and have a very protected
monopoly in that regard
The 2008 New York International Theater, Film & Arts Festival ( NYIT Festival ) to be held at the Theatres, 45 Bleecker Street, New York
from the 19th January 2008 to the 23rd February 2008,
Mr Wijat and His team, are now in the USA, as Supermans is retired
they are in the USA for the American people fighting for
Truth Justice and the American Way
Remember,
You can play with a wijat,
You can dance with a wijat,
But you can't stand on
a wijat's toes
A MESSAGE FROM MR WIJAT
If you want the last laugh on pollies & powerbrokers,
SEE YOU SOON in The Adventures of Mr Wijat, Erf the Worm,
Super Hero Al, and marvelous Marvin exclusive to the
Just
a friendly reminder that the INL news group are happy to help with the
CMC's investigations in Red Oak Drive Tallai property dealings as the
INL group has a large file of information the CMC would be interested
if they are wanting the truth. Also the CMC is put on notice that
Suzanna Lea who is currently being interrogated by the CMC regarding
her knowledge of properties dealings in Red Oak Drive Tallai and other
matters has just found out she is pregnant and as a result of the
pressure the CMC is currently putting on her by interrogation from 10
am to 6.30 pm in one day there is every chance Suzanna Lea will have a
miscarriage and/or feel because the pressure become mentally unstable
and have another nervous breakdown and make some rash decision in an
unstable mind to terminate the pregnancy. If any of the above happen
you and the rest of the people behind having her interrogated at this
present time will be responsible for murder of that child. If this
happens then the CMC and the people that are behind the scenes in this
matter will all be charged with wilful murder in the International
Court of Justice and not stone and/or resources will be held back to
make sure each and every one of you are made fully accountable for that
deliberate murder, you all will be named in the international media and
be hounded for the rest of your lives until justice is seen to be done
and in fact is done. Even if you get away without being prosecuted
because of your powerful connections protecting you will have this
murder on your conscience for the rest of your lives and have to
explain to your families and friends why you became involved with this
deliberate murder and calculated murder. INL News suggests that you
immediately inform Mr Andrew Maloney Suzanna Lea's lawyer of Ryan and
Bosscher on Tel: 00061 (0) 7 5532 0066 Mob: 0061 (0) 412 041 143
situated at 100 Scarborough Street Southport, who is being paid for
form funds provided to INL News Group by Fusako Tsuji at 41,600 a day,
that Suzanna Lea is no longer required to attend court on the 9th of
October and/or any other time by the CMC until Suzanna has had a
healthy baby and is well enough to attend any further interrogation by
the CMC. You would be better off calling other witnesses who know a lot
more than Sue about what the CMC are inquiring about and if you can
provide a list of witnesses that the CMC want to call but can not find
at present, the vast resources of the INL News investigations section
will be able to assist the CMC free of charge to find these witnesses
and help the CMC bring to be interrogated. The CMC would be better off
calling in all the vendors of Red Oak Drive Tallai to see what they
know and in particular Fusako Tsuji who Suzanna Lea as trustee for in a
number of matters. Any funds and/or assets that have been in Suzanna
Leas possession in the last few years have been as trustee for Fusako
Tsuji in a very complex financial arrangement between S Lea, F Tsuji
and the INL Media Group. Fusako Tsuji has been very generous is
providing funds to help develop the media group and purchase real
estate assets for the media group to use for various needs. All the
funds used by S Lea and the media group have been as trustee for Fusako
Tsuji and have to be returned to her in good shape and value
eventually. Please provide a list of question that you want answered in
relation to any of these matters and the INL News Group will help as
far as possible to these answers for the CMC. It is noted that it is
highly unusual to have a sick mentally unstable young girl who has just
found out she is pregnant interrogated on two days notice from 10 am to
6.30 pm on Friday the 2nd of November 2007. If the INL News Media Group
and/or Fusako Tsuji did not provide the $Aust 1,600 to Mr Andrew Malony
and his legal firm to attend the interrogation of Suzanna Lea then
Suzanna Lea would have had to go into the interrogation all by herself,
being mentally and physically sick including just finding out she is
pregnant out of wedlock which alone for a young girl is a traumatic
experience to deal with. There could never have been that much of an
urgency for such aggressive interrogation of a young innocent girl. The
CMC as a body and as individuals should be absolutely ashamed of
yourselves for what you have done and should hope that Suzanna's Lea's
baby is still alive. If not, you are definitely all absolutely guilty
of murder in the first degree. You should on an urgent basis issue
instructions to Suzanna Lea's attorneys, that Suzanna Leas is no longer
required as a witness on the 9th of November 2008 and in fact not
required again till she has had a healthy baby, and maybe not even then
if the CMC has in the mean time satisfied their inquiries form other
means. I am a Nigerian and have not been trained in English that well,
so I apologise if there are spelling and grammar mistakes in this email
but I am doing my best with English and grammar and I am very
appreciated in the INL Group giving me the opportunity to have this job
and I thank Fusako Tsuji for providing funds to support the media group
to help people like me to be employed and gain work experience in the
Weston media.
yours kindly
Patrick Obi Managing Editor of INL News.com
cc:
Andrew Maloney Ryan and Bossher Attorneys 100 Scarbourgh Street
Southport, Gold Coast Queensland Tel: 0061 (0) 55320066 Mob: 0061 (0)
412 041 145
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [FWD: RE: lisa Quain Drug Dealer-user prepared to tell all
about corrupt police in Queensland]
From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Date: Thu, November 01, 2007 12:26 am
To: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au
Cc: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: lisa Quain Drug Dealer-user prepared to tell all about
corrupt police in Queensland
From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Date: Thu, November 01, 2007 12:00 am
To: patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Cc: jdweller@westnet.com.au
Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18
State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000
From
the large file our media group has on the activities of the Queensland
Police and their corrupt asssociates and others in relatoin to the
goings on and affairs of delaings in real estate in Red Oak Drive which
the Coimmisison is currently bringing in people ofr cross examination,
it seems clear that you are using the wide powers of the Commissoon for
a worngful purpose to help corrupt police and theit shady business
associates to obtain properties in red Oak drive Cheap so they can make
million od dollars, you are using the Commissions powers to help these
corrupt police frighten the life out of people so they are too scared
to get about their normal business and thus are helping these corrupt
police who we have clear evidence have been involved with breaking and
entering illegally changing locks, stand over tactics, drug relatated
offecnes and clearly acting in a wrong, illegal and corrupt manner to
help their shady business associates make money.
These
police have crossed the line in their duties and you can read much of
the detail of all this in the court cases that are on file in the
Supreme and Appeal courts in Queensland concerning John Carew-Reid and
the mortgagees over the court application to try and remove caveats
that were lodged by Mr Carew-Reid over 109 and 6 Red Oak Drive Tallai
to try and stop the mortagees trying to sell these properties at one
quarter of the sworn valuations placed on the property by sworn valuer
Mr Phillp Petterson 9 a well known and respected valuer in Queensland).
Our media group has ample evidence that can be presented to the CMC
that conclusively proves there has been a clear conspiracy by powerful
real estate agents such as Ray White and L J Hooker, the police,
powreful valuers, shady financiers, people working for news Limited (
our opposition meida group) and their powerful property developer
connections, to destroy the valuations and perceived pubic price image
of the properties in Red Oak Drive Tallai and the nearby streets that
are well known as the Holliwood Hills of the Gold Coast.
This has been done for a number of reasons which include:
1.
To destroy the real estate asset base of friendly investors that were
prepared to financially back our media group to launch alternative
newpapers in Australia called Aus News, the Australian Weekend News,
Yahoo Real Estate etc becasue they wouldbe in serious competition to
other powerfulnewpsapers and web sites run by our powerful opposition
media group,News Limited worth over 300 billion dollars and have the
most corrupt and powerful connections n every area and are quite happy
to use these connections for a wrrongful purpose to destroy any
opposition.
2. There are powerful property
developers and investors who wanted to purchase the properties in Red
Oak Drive cheap and wait when their powerful estate agents connections
in Ray White Real Estate are ready to help them publicly create the
next big boom in the Hills surrounding the Gold Coast, of which Tallai
is the premium piece of real etsate that has the exclusive name of
being the Holliwood Hills of the Gold Coast.
3.
It seems clear that there is a particular concerted effort by powerful
people that are enemies of John Carew-Reid and his efforts over many
years to bring to public light serious corruption in the political,
legal,public trustee and businees world through is nespsaper and books
that have been publishied in Australia by the Weekend News and the
Australian Weekend News. One of these books is called The Triumph of
Truth (Who's watching the Watchers?) and the original manuscript of
six volume with over 10,000 pages has been has been stiolen by the
Queensland Polic ein an effiort to try and bury all the material on
corruption. It was stolen by the Queensland Police from 6 Earl Court
Tallai where the police and theri shady associates were also involved
with stealing two housefuls of furniture, illegally changing locks etc
from the owner of the house Ingrid Pluktchy. they wnated papers formt
he hosue that they could not get and could not get a warrant to search
the hosue without first organising the robbery, taking the papers which
included the Book the Triumph of Truth, as well as other contracts and
papers concerning properties in Red Oak Drive Tallai. this was done on
the tuesday, then on the Wednesday the polcie were at one of the
vendors places interviewing him over these contracts to verify that he
had signed these contracts. With this information the polcie then were
able to get an official warrant to search now an empty house on the
Thursday two days after the robbery. It was on Thursday the police rang
Ingrid Pluktchy form 6 Earl Court stating they were in the hosue the
house was open, they were just driving by and entered and that all the
furniture was taken and there was nothing left.
Ingrid rang
another rental estate agent to go to the house and make sure it was
locked up. This agent arrived about 5pm on the Thursday and found that
the police had left the house unattented and open for anyone to walk
in. This is extremely unusual behaviour by the polcie. If there has
been a robbery and the police are notified to attend then normally the
polie will make sure the place is secure before they leave the
premisies. the agent found some keys behind the front door ont he floor
and checked that they fitted the front door. then locked the hosue uop
and went home. On the next Tuesday the police obtain another warrant to
go to the house. While at the house on the Tuesday for the second
warrant they organise the change the locks back to the original keys
that firred the house before the robbery. This was confirmed by the
fact that the agent with the keys that were found on the Thursday
before that fitted the front door, no longer fitted the front door
after the police attended on the next Tuesday for the second Warrant.
Then Ingrid Pluktchy organised the original agent that had the original
keys to attend 6 Earl Court Tallai with photgraphers to take photos of
the house inside and out. The original agent attended 6 Earl Court with
the original keys which now fitted the lock. That agent was not told
the other agent had found keys for the door that then fitted on the
Thursday after the polcie had attended ( now no longer fitted).
The
whole idea was that the polcie orgaised the locked to be changed so
they could break into the hosue and do the robery with their criminal
associates, then change t he lockls back to make it look like the
origonal kesy must have been used to enter th house, which John
carew-Reid and Ingrid Pluktcy were meant to be the only ones with these
keys. In that way either John Carew-Reid and/or Ingrid Pluktchy could
be set up and be accused of the robbery as they were the only ones with
the original keys besides the estate agent and the alarm codes.
the
other person who had the alarm codes was Lisa Quain who had been
staying there until Ingrid Plukcthy told her to leave and changed the
locks so she no longer had a key. Lisa had been bringing all sort of
strange peopel to the house and her ex boyfriend opened up and siad she
had a serous $1,000 a week speed habit and was working in with the
corrupt police and drug dealers on the Gold Coast selling drugs for
them and sleeping with them to obtain the drugs each day to feed her
drug habit.
When Ingrid Pluktchy found out about this she
made sure the lockls were chjnaged and lisa hasd no further access tot
he house. However, she still knew the security code.
We have
clear evidence that Lisa Quain was involved with the police and others
in breaking into 6 earl Court and helping rob two house fulls of
furniture. She provided the security code for the alarm and th epolcie
orgabise dthe locked to be changed so that it did not look like a break
and and the police were going to set up Ingrid Pluktchy and John
Carew-reid on false charges of breaking into the house when Ingrid
called on her insurance policy for the lost goods. After the media
group and Ingrid Pluktchy put great pressure on the police they gotr
scared and suddenly produced the furniture and told Ingrid that is was
at a secure storage unit inthe Gold oats where Ingrid Pluktchy
organised to pick it up. thdere were still some things missing
including mist of the furniture that she purchased off the original
owners of 194 Red Oak Drive Tallai, a fridge, bed linen and crockery,
the original manuscript of the book the Triumph of the Truth etc,
there
is much mor einformation available tot he CMC by our media group if the
CMC are not corrupt and ttrying to protect the guilty police instead of
exposing them,. At this present time it appears that the CMC and its
officers are actinf in a corrupt manner and are using their powers to
protect corruption instead of exposing it and hlep put worngful
pressure on inoccnet people to scare the hell out of them by sneding
corrupot police to their door whao verbally accuse these innocent
people of being a criminal and at the same time handing the supina to
them fromt he Cmc giving them only two day notice to attend a secret
hearing were not even family members can attend to support them. Unless
you start to correspond back to our media group as to these allegations
against you and the CMC you names will be publiclly exposed and this
and other information will be posted on many of our world wide web
sites for the wporkd to see how ytou are other sre using the almost
unlimited powers of the CMC for a wrongfull and illegal purpose.
kind regards
Patrick Obi
Managing Editor of INL News
Urgent Attention
Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18
State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000
Contact the CMC's Communications Officer (Media) if you have a query, or wish to arrange an interview.
Telephone: (07) 3360 6344
Mobile: 0407 373 803
Fax: (07) 3360 6235
Dear Sir or Madame
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re:lisa Quain Drug Dealer-user prepared to tell all about
corrupt police in Queensland
From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Date: Tue, October 30, 2007 10:04 pm
To: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au
Cc: attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
and
pass on to as many people and as many authorities as possible as this
sort of behaviour by the police has to stop as Australian Citizens are
in danger and besides it is giving Australia a very bad name in the
world as one of the most corrupt and dangerous societies to live,
especially Queensland which seems to be the most corrupt
The
CMC should supine Lisa Quain to get her to tell all about the police
involvement with selling and taking drugs and helping to protect major
drug dealers in Queensland and other states in Australia, Western
Australia where she originally comes form she says has the same
problems with corrupt police, they have been protecting her drug
operation for year, however she is only a very low level drug dealer
who is a young mum you ended up with a $1,000 a week speed habit as a
result of the police who work in with the local bikie gangs supplying
her with a large amount of speed and she then had to keep selling drugs
for and with the police and their associates to support her $1,000 a
week speed habit. Eventually they will provide her with a Hot Shot (a
lethal dose of drugs)and kill her that way so she can not speak out
anymore and tell the world what the police and their criminal drug
dealing partners have been up to. There will simply be an article in
the newspaper that a well know drug dealer and drug addict died of an
overdose of drugs last night and nobody will give a dam. Lisa Quain
needs protection by the CMC and to be looked after and she can help the
CMC clean up the billion dollar drug operation in Queensland and have
many of the corrupt police and drug dealers arrested. That is of course
if the CMC are not corrupt themselves and want to clean up the drug
problem and the corrupt police, in that case the CMC will do nothing,
not bother to bring Lisa Quain in to tell all she knows, and she knows
a lot, believe us. Lisa Quain can bring a lot of powerful people down
and maybe force another royal commission into the Queensland police and
the Federal Police to try and stop the corruption that helps make sure
the multi Billion Drug industry survives in Queensland and keeps
killing out young people and destroying their lives
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Kallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their associates-
INL
News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland
Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the
Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion
dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia
who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest
rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high
profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug profits-
INL
News has been given evidence by well known low level drug dealers and
users who have agreed to help expose the corruption in the Queensland
Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in drug taking
and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-
the witnesses who have provided sworn evidence to INL are now in hiding for fear of their lives.....
Watch
this space for more details soon to be published by INL News for the
world to see what really goes on in the sunny Gold Coast Queensland
Australia, which is fast becoming the crime capital of the world, with
such crimes being developed, supported, maintained and protected by
senior members of the Queensland Police Force-
INL has been told
by one senior ex-police officer that used to be in the major crime
squad, that he had to leave the Queensland Police Force because he
could not stand up against senior police protecting major drug dealers
and allowing them to operate openly with senior police protection in
the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to either join their
corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police force and keep his
integrity... but again he was too scared to speak up publiclly as to
what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his family living in
the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to protect their
illegal business interests and because they are the police, there is no
where to run and no where to hide from these people, who have no
hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure of their silence and
making threats of murder and physical body damage to anyone or their
families that
get in their way.....
INL News has such evidence
well secured in an international location ready to be presented to the
International Court of Justice if those involved with such crimial and
wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to innocent people who are
presently being wrongfully being harrashed by The Crime and Misconduct
Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by John David Hallahan,
Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and others being used by
powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady business associates
which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for a wrongful purpose
to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts commited by them which
includes conspiracy to break and enter, conspiracy to defraud, major
drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold Coast and to cover up major
crimes committed by public company directors and their assistants...
"...I texed
lisa Quain today, to ask her how she was... this is the
reply.....having a bad day again, as per usual. trying to correlate the
whole saga of extremely traumatic events.we are trying to put it in
chronological order, with names and phone numbers of witnesses
and government authority contacts or departments that can verify facts
that prove a gross misconduct and negligence or official corruption .
its just too much to cope with. too much occured . its a HUGE amount
of criminal offences commited against us ! police refused to act on
any of it, that includes hand guns pointed at us. unbelievable , but
all true......."
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [FWD: CMC used by corrupt Queensland police to cover up crimes
police have committed]
From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Date: Mon, October 29, 2007 10:46 pm
To:
Cc: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: CMC used by corrupt Queensland police to cover up crimes police
have committed
From: patrick.obi@inlnews.com
Date: Mon, October 29, 2007 10:31 pm
To:
Cc: mailbox@cmc.qld.gov.au media_unit@cmc.qld.gov.au.
Attorney General for Queensland Honourable Kerry Shine MP
The
Honourable Kerry Shine MP was appointed Queensland’s Attorney-General,
Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western
Queensland on 1 November 2006.
Mr Shine was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Toowoomba North in 2001.
Floor 18
State Law Building 50 Ann Street Brisbane Qld 4000
Contact the CMC's Communications Officer (Media) if you have a query, or wish to arrange an interview.
Telephone: (07) 3360 6344
Mobile: 0407 373 803
Fax: (07) 3360 6235
Dear Sir or Madame
I am the editor of INLNews.com and I have authorised the world wide publication of the following article on our web site www.inlnews.com
If
you and/or any in your organisation and/or anyone mentioned in the
artilce are unhappy with the article and/or anything in it, please get
your lawyers to email me your objectyion and any legal threats in
relation to the objection you may have. If I do not hear form you the
artilce will stay with further artilces as follow up ones to be
continued on the same lines with more detailed information
I
look forward to hearing from you if you want to respond to this email
and/or the attached artilce that is now on public display on the world
wide internet.
Stop Press International News Flash
The
Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed by
John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others are accused of being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police
and their shady business associates which includes an ex-Queensland
Police Officer for a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and
wrongful acts commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and
enter, conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's
Gold Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants-
INL
News has been presented with evidence that senior state Queensland
Police officers are involved with protecting major drugs dealers in the
Gold Coast to help with developing and protecting the multi billion
dollar drug industry thriving in the Gold Coast Queensland Australia
who use their illegal drugs profits to lend out on shady high interest
rate real estate loans at up to 15% interest per month using high
profile lawyers trust accounts to launder the billions in drug
profits-INL News has been given evidence by a well known low level drug
dealers and user who agreed to help expose the corruption in the
Queensland Police Force and the police involvement at high levels in
drug taking and drug selling in the Gold Coast in Queensland-the
witnesses who has provided sworn evidence to INL is now in hiding for
fear of their lives.....
Watch this space for more details soon to
be published by INL News for the world to see what really goes on in
the sunny Gold Coast Queensland Australia which is fast becoming the
crime capital of the world, with such crimes being developed,
supported, maintained and protected by senior members of the Queensland
Police Force- INL has been told by one senior ex-police officer that
used to be in the major crime squad that he had to the leave the
Queensland Police Force because he could not stand up against senior
police protecting major drug dealers operating openly with senior
police protection in the Gold Coast Queensland... it became a choice to
either join their corrupt and illegal activities or leave the police
force and keep his integrity... but again was too scared to speak up
publiclly as to what he saw for fear of his life and the life of his
family living in the Gold Coast... these people will stop at nothing to
protect their illegal business interests and because they are the
police, there is no where to run and no where to hide from these
people, who have no hesitation of having someone murdered to make sure
of their silence and making threats of murder and physical body damage
to anyone or their families that
get in their way.....
INL
News has such evidence well secured in an international location ready
to be presented to the International Court of Justice if those involved
with such crimial and wrongful behavior cause any further trouble to
innocent people who are presently being wrongfully being harrashed by
The Crime and Misconduct Commission of Queensland in Australia headed
by John David Hallahan, Michael O'Connor, Dan Bartlet, Ian Thomas and
others being used by powerful corrupt Queensland Police and their shady
business associates which includes an ex-Queensland Police Officer for
a wrongful purpose to cover up serious crimes and wrongful acts
commited by them which includes conspiracy to break and enter,
conspiracy to defraud, major drug dealing in the Queensland's Gold
Coast and to cover up major crimes committed by public company
directors and their assistants
The allegations aired in the media
were not new; they had surfaced from time to time and some news
organisations had been forced to pay damages to aggrieved people who
alleged their reputations had been damaged. While the terms of the inquiry were initially narrow, restricted only to the specific allegations
raised against specific persons named in the media over a period of
just five years, Fitzgerald used his moral authority to lever the
inquiry into a position of being able to inquire into any relevant
matter.
This enabled him to set a new precedent for Royal Commissions
in Australia generally, using innovative methods such as indemnities
from prosecution for key witnesses to secure vital evidence. The
inquiry was initially expected to last about six weeks; it instead
spent almost two years conducting a comprehensive investigation of
long-term, systemic political corruption and abuse of power in
Queensland.
The inquiry would eventually outlive the Bjelke-Petersen government.
Evidence revealed by the investigation (including testimony from
Bjelke-Petersen himself) caused significant political damage and an
internal power struggle within the National Party, resulting in Bjelke-Petersen resigning as Premier after his unsuccessful attempt to have the Governor sack all of his ministers after they deposed him as party leader.
Based on the inquiry's final report, [1] a number of high-profile politicians were charged with crimes; notably Queensland Police Commissioner (Sir) Terry Lewis was charged with corruption, and Bjelke-Petersen himself was charged with perjury for evidence given to the inquiry.
Lewis was convicted (and subsequently stripped of his knighthood), while the Bjelke-Petersen trial resulted in a hung jury amidst allegations that the jury foreman (later revealed to be the leader of the youth wing of Bjelke-Petersen's National Party)
had misrepresented the state of deliberations to the judge.
Bjelke-Petersen's trial was later the subject of a TV movie, "Joh's
Jury" [2]
Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct, "Fitzgerald Inquiry report", Government Printer, Brisbane, 1989.
Further reading
Jack Herbert with Tom Gilling, The Bagman: Final Confessions of Jack Herbert, ABC Books 2004, ISBN 0-7333-1412-0
Phil Dickie, "The Road to Fitzgerald" University of Queensland Press 1988
Queensland Police
The Queensland Police Service is the law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland.
In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the
Queensland Police Service and the old motto of "Firmness with Courtesy"
was changed to "With Honour We Serve". The headquarters of the
Queensland Police Service is located at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
he Queensland Police was established on January 1, 1864
and started operations with approximately 143 employees, including the
first Commissioner of Police D.T. Seymour. The service had four
divisions: Metropolitan Police, Rural Police, Water Police, and Native Police. Bicycles
were introduced in 1895. At the turn of the century there were 845 men
and 135 Aboriginal trackers at 256 stations in Queensland.
In 1904 the Queensland Police started to use fingerprinting
in investigations. The first women police officers were inducted in
1931 to assist in inquiries involving women suspects and prisoners.
Following World War II a number of technological innovations were adopted including radio for communication within Queensland and between State Departments. By 1950 the Service was staffed by 2,030 sworn personnel, 10 women police and 30 trackers.
The Queensland Police Academy complex at Oxley, Brisbane, was completed in 1972. Bicycles were phased out in 1975 and the Police put more cars and motorcycles into service, the Police Air Wing also became operational in 1975 following the purchase of two single-engine aircraft. In 1980, a new computerised
message switching system was put into use throughout the State, giving
Queensland one of the most effective police communication systems in
Australia.
The 1980s were a turbulent period in Queensland's political history, allegations of high-level corruption in the Queensland Police and State government led to a judicial inquiry presided by Tony Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald Inquiry which ran from July 1987 to July 1989
led to charges being laid against many long serving police including,
Jack Herbert, Licensing Branch sergeant Harry Burgess, assistant
commissioner Graeme Parker, [1]the Police Commissioner Terry Lewis (who was gaoled and served ten and a half years) and a perjury trial against the State Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
The Police Powers and Responsibility Act 1997, was passed by the Queensland government on July 1, 1997. The Act provides Police with powers necessary for modern effective policing. Technological introductions in the 1990s include Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Spray, the Glock semi-automatic pistol, extendible batons and hinged handcuffs in 1998,and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) laser-based detection devices and an Integrated Traffic Camera System in 1999 to enforce traffic speed limits.
The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 came into force in
July 2000, consolidating the majority of police powers into one Act.
The Queensland Police contribute to the national CrimTrac system and the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), established in 2000. The Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 commenced 1 January 2002 and redefined the responsibilities of the service and the Crime and Misconduct Commission with respect to the management of complaints.
As of 30 June 2002
there were 8,367 sworn staff (20.2% women) and 2,925 staff members at
321 Police Stations, 40 Police Beat shopfronts and 21 Neighbourhood
Police Beats throughout the state.
As of June 30 2004, the Queensland Police Service had 9,003 sworn staff (21.8% women) and 2,994 staff members.
Around 2006, some officers received a TASER stun gun.
In mid-2007, approximately 5,000 officers participated in the Pride in Policing march through Brisbane, Queensland's capital.
To serve the people of Queensland by protecting life and property,
preserving peace and safety, preventing crime and upholding law in a
manner which has regard for the public good and rights of individuals.
Regions
There are eight police regions in the State of Queensland, each under command of an Assistant Commissioner:
Far Northern Region
Northern Region
Central Region
North Coast Region
Metropolitan North Region
Metropolitan South Region
Southern Region
South Eastern Region
These regions are further divided into districts or divisions.
Rank insignia is worn only by uniformed officers. Officers at the rank
of Inspector and above (commissioned officers) have the words
'Queensland Police' embroidered on their epaulettes,
which are significantly larger than the epaulettes of lower ranks.
Different paypoints apply within the same rank relative to years of
service.
Specialist areas
Officers must serve a mininum of three to five years in general
duties before being permitted to serve in specialist areas such as:
Padraic Murphy and Ewin Hannan | November 24, 2006
A FORMER top Victorian officer recruited to help clean up
police corruption in Queensland after the Fitzgerald inquiry yesterday slammed
as entirely inappropriate the secret election deal the Bracks Government struck
with the police union.
And Bob Falconer, another former deputy
commissioner in Victoria who went on to run the West Australian police force,
joined Noel Newnham in condemning the pact that has seen the previously hostile
police union strongly urge its members to back Labor at tomorrow's election.
Mr Newnham, a former Victorian deputy commissioner now retired from a senior
role at the Australian Graduate School of Police Management, said it was
"unbelievable" that Victorian police chief Christine Nixon was not involved in
the talks.
"Policing ought to be above politics," he said.
"It should always be overt and open. Policing is about enforcing the law, the
preservation of police and the safety of the public.
"The public have a right to know about the decisions that affect policing.
There has to be accountability so that corruption is not even seen to be an
issue."
Mr Bracks yesterday denied any wrongdoing but admitted he "argued and urged"
the police union to support Labor's policies at a secret meeting revealed by The
Australian yesterday.
The Premier also confirmed he gave Police Association secretary Paul Mullett
a series of written commitments but yesterday refused to release the signed
letter sealing the pact.
Mr Bracks said Ms Nixon - who refused to comment yesterday - was not involved
in the talks in which he personally lobbied the union to support Labor. He
confirmed he discussed police numbers with Senior Sergeant Mullett before
Labor's policy was announced. "We hoped that they would (support us) because
it's a good policy," he said. "We argued and urged them to support our
policies."
Despite declaring "war" on the Bracks Government leading up to the election,
Sergeant Mullett has, since the pact, campaigned strongly for Labor.
While Liberal leader Ted Baillieu - who also met Sergeant Mullett during the
election campaign, but did not agree to his demands - has offered more police
recruits, the union chief has publicly written off the Opposition in favour of
the Government.
One of the key findings of the Fitzgerald corruption inquiry in Queensland in
the late 1980s was that the state premier should only meet the police union in
the presence of the police commissioner.
Mr Newnham, who took over as Queensland police commissioner immediately after
the Fitzgerald report was handed down, called for a corruption watchdog in
Victoria, saying it was "unbelievable" the police union and the minister were
able to meet without Ms Nixon being present.
"In Victoria, you have a corruption body and a chief commissioner who both
refuse to take complaints seriously," Mr Newnham said. "There has to be another
solution."
Victoria is one of the few states without an independent corruption
commission. It has been rocked in recent years by a deadly gangland war and
evidence of police involvement in drug trafficking.
Mr Falconer said police unions across the country had become adept at
manipulating political parties for their own ends and said if deals had been
struck behind Ms Nixon's back her position would be "very difficult".
"You need a certain amount of independence. If a chief commissioner is not
even at the table, then the position becomes very difficult," Mr Falconer said.
The deal was also criticised by a former head of the Victorian special
operations group, John Noonan, who said it gave the perception that the
association was favouring one party over theother.
"We (police) should be seen to be independent in regard to any political
party and be there just to do our job," he told Southern Cross Radio.
The Australian understands the union received a series of commitments from
the Premier, including that Labor would use its best endeavours to have police
command sign off on a new pay deal by the middle of next year.
Government sources said the agreement - a signed letter to Sergeant Mullett
from Mr Bracks and Police Minister Tim Holding - did not specifically promise
pay rises but committed Labor to having an "open mind" about the union's demands
for better pay and conditions.
The union log of claims includes pay rises of between 28 and 35 per cent, an
overhauled classification structure allowing quicker pay progression and the
ability to salary-sacrifice superannuation payments.
Asked if he had agreed to support the union claim, Mr Bracks said: 'No,
absolutely not. That would be the sole discretion in the enterprise negotiating
between the employer and the employee. Our job is to resource and to support.
All we've said is we'll make sure it's a proper process, as it should be."
Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells yesterday confirmed he and Mr Baillieu
met with Sergeant Mullett on November 8, two days after the union chief's
meeting with Mr Bracks.
Mr Wells said Sergeant Mullett presented the Liberal pair with a list of
demands during the 30-minute meeting but said no agreement was reached.
He appealed to rank-and-file police officers to bypass the union and consider
that the Liberals had offered double the number of officers proposed by
Labor.
Padraic Murphy and Ewin Hannan | November 24, 2006
A FORMER top Victorian officer recruited to help clean up
police corruption in Queensland after the Fitzgerald inquiry yesterday slammed
as entirely inappropriate the secret election deal the Bracks Government struck
with the police union.
And Bob Falconer, another former deputy
commissioner in Victoria who went on to run the West Australian police force,
joined Noel Newnham in condemning the pact that has seen the previously hostile
police union strongly urge its members to back Labor at tomorrow's election.
Mr Newnham, a former Victorian deputy commissioner now retired from a senior
role at the Australian Graduate School of Police Management, said it was
"unbelievable" that Victorian police chief Christine Nixon was not involved in
the talks.
"Policing ought to be above politics," he said.
"It should always be overt and open. Policing is about enforcing the law, the
preservation of police and the safety of the public.
"The public have a right to know about the decisions that affect policing.
There has to be accountability so that corruption is not even seen to be an
issue."
Mr Bracks yesterday denied any wrongdoing but admitted he "argued and urged"
the police union to support Labor's policies at a secret meeting revealed by The
Australian yesterday.
The Premier also confirmed he gave Police Association secretary Paul Mullett
a series of written commitments but yesterday refused to release the signed
letter sealing the pact.
Mr Bracks said Ms Nixon - who refused to comment yesterday - was not involved
in the talks in which he personally lobbied the union to support Labor. He
confirmed he discussed police numbers with Senior Sergeant Mullett before
Labor's policy was announced. "We hoped that they would (support us) because
it's a good policy," he said. "We argued and urged them to support our
policies."
Despite declaring "war" on the Bracks Government leading up to the election,
Sergeant Mullett has, since the pact, campaigned strongly for Labor.
While Liberal leader Ted Baillieu - who also met Sergeant Mullett during the
election campaign, but did not agree to his demands - has offered more police
recruits, the union chief has publicly written off the Opposition in favour of
the Government.
One of the key findings of the Fitzgerald corruption inquiry in Queensland in
the late 1980s was that the state premier should only meet the police union in
the presence of the police commissioner.
Mr Newnham, who took over as Queensland police commissioner immediately after
the Fitzgerald report was handed down, called for a corruption watchdog in
Victoria, saying it was "unbelievable" the police union and the minister were
able to meet without Ms Nixon being present.
"In Victoria, you have a corruption body and a chief commissioner who both
refuse to take complaints seriously," Mr Newnham said. "There has to be another
solution."
Victoria is one of the few states without an independent corruption
commission. It has been rocked in recent years by a deadly gangland war and
evidence of police involvement in drug trafficking.
Mr Falconer said police unions across the country had become adept at
manipulating political parties for their own ends and said if deals had been
struck behind Ms Nixon's back her position would be "very difficult".
"You need a certain amount of independence. If a chief commissioner is not
even at the table, then the position becomes very difficult," Mr Falconer said.
The deal was also criticised by a former head of the Victorian special
operations group, John Noonan, who said it gave the perception that the
association was favouring one party over theother.
"We (police) should be seen to be independent in regard to any political
party and be there just to do our job," he told Southern Cross Radio.
The Australian understands the union received a series of commitments from
the Premier, including that Labor would use its best endeavours to have police
command sign off on a new pay deal by the middle of next year.
Government sources said the agreement - a signed letter to Sergeant Mullett
from Mr Bracks and Police Minister Tim Holding - did not specifically promise
pay rises but committed Labor to having an "open mind" about the union's demands
for better pay and conditions.
The union log of claims includes pay rises of between 28 and 35 per cent, an
overhauled classification structure allowing quicker pay progression and the
ability to salary-sacrifice superannuation payments.
Asked if he had agreed to support the union claim, Mr Bracks said: 'No,
absolutely not. That would be the sole discretion in the enterprise negotiating
between the employer and the employee. Our job is to resource and to support.
All we've said is we'll make sure it's a proper process, as it should be."
Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells yesterday confirmed he and Mr Baillieu
met with Sergeant Mullett on November 8, two days after the union chief's
meeting with Mr Bracks.
Mr Wells said Sergeant Mullett presented the Liberal pair with a list of
demands during the 30-minute meeting but said no agreement was reached.
He appealed to rank-and-file police officers to bypass the union and consider
that the Liberals had offered double the number of officers proposed by
Labor.
The Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) was formed in response to the
1987–89 Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry into police corruption in
Queensland.
From its inception, the CJC focused its efforts on raising the standards of
accountability, integrity and performance of the Queensland Police Service.
In addition to handling complaints about police, the CJC trialled new
complaints-handling processes, developed alternative policing methods, evaluated
the use of police powers and monitored changes in the ethical climate of the
QPS.
This ambitious program of reform was achieved only because the QPS and
the CJC were equally committed to the continuous improvement of the police
service and prepared to work in partnership to place the QPS at the forefront of
policing in
Australia.
As a result, the Queensland Police Service of today is a vastly different
organisation from the one of the late 1980s.
For several years the CJC also assisted the police in investigating
organised and major crime. In 1997 the Queensland Crime Commission (QCC) was
formed to take over this function.
The CMC came into existence on 1 January 2002 when the CJC and the
QCC merged to form the new organisation.
We remain committed to the continuous improvement of the police
service, particularly in the areas of organisational management and performance,
and in maintaining a close working relationship with the
QPS.
Policing research
We conduct research into matters related to our functions, especially
criminal activity, police service methods, police powers, law enforcement by
police and the improvement of the police service.
April 17, 2007 - 5:32AM http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/police-corruption-still-rife /2007/04/17/1176696786844.html
A key Fitzgerald Inquiry whistleblower who claims police corruption is still
rife in Queensland should tell the state's crime watchdog what he knows, Premier
Peter Beattie says.
Col Dillon, a former police officer who spoke out in the Fitzgerald Inquiry
against corruption, has called for another investigation after claiming police
are just as corrupt as they were in the 1970s and `80s.
The 1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry uncovered corruption and misconduct at the
highest levels of the police force and government, and led to the demise of
police commissioner Terry Lewis and then-premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
"The culture that was pre-Fitzgerald is there today and every bit as strong
as it was pre-Fitzgerald,'' Mr Dillon told ABC's Message Stick program, which
aired last night.
"It may have softened a little bit after some of the reform processes come
into place and so forth.''
Mr Dillon said he would write a tell-all book and name corrupt figures who
were not identified in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
"I would say without any fear of contradiction that it is high time for
another far-reaching inquiry into our police service and the way that it
operates,'' he said.
However, Mr Beattie said Mr Dillon, who became Queensland's highest ranking
indigenous officer, could not make such "reckless claims'' without reporting
them to the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC).
"He should go down to the CMC and put in information as he did last time
during the Fitzgerald inquiry,'' he said.
"If there are matters that Col seriously believes needs to be investigated,
he should come forward with that information.''
Mr Beattie said he did not believe corruption was rife in the state.
"My firm belief is that the culture has changed,'' he said.
"(But) I'd welcome the CMC. If they wanted to look at these culture issues I
have no problem with that at all.''
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson says the service has
nothing to fear from an investigation into alleged corruption.
A former police informant and convicted fraudster made the claims earlier
this week, alleging he had seen Queensland police officers warning outlaw bikie
gang members about impending raids.
The matter has been referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission
(CMC).
Opposition MP Rob Messenger raised the issue during budget estimate hearings
last night, but Commissioner Atkinson says he cannot comment as the man is
before the courts.
"I discussed this matter with Mr Needham - the chair of the Crime and
Misconduct Commission only today [Wednesday] and not that it was necessary to do
so, but confirmed to him that the Queensland Police Service has absolutely
nothing to fear from these claims," he said.
"I have personal knowledge of one of the matters raised myself and his
version of it is absolute nonsense."
Welcome to the Corruption Prevention Network (Queensland)
http://www.cpnq.org/content/standard.asp?
The Corruption Prevention Network (Queensland) aims to equip corruption
prevention and fraud control practitioners with the necessary knowledge and
applied skills to effectively combat unethical conduct in Queensland government,
the private business sector and the wider community generally.
CPN(QLD)
aims to build capacity within organisations and between interested people
through:
creating opportunities for networking with fellow practitioners and
academics;
professional development;
access to the latest information/resources; and
provides an on-line forum for the discussion of current issues and
strategies in corruption prevention and fraud control.
More detailed information about CPN(QLD) is located in 'About Us'.
The Queensland Perspective
During the late
1980s the 'Fitzgerald' Royal Commission uncovered widespread corruption in the
Queensland Government, in particular the Police Force, which led to numerous
criminal convictions and dismissal of public officials for various acts of
official misconduct and disciplinary breaches. The inquiry provided the
immediate catalyst for a complete overhaul of the police service, but also
contributed to the reform of the governance and integrity framework in
Queensland generally.
The major components of the Queensland governance
and integrity framework are fundamentally legislative and organisational in
nature. Corruption and fraud prevention practitioners should be aware of the
following legislation that has been enacted in Queensland to assist with
proactive anti-corruption strategies and effective responses to incidents that
occur in the workplace including misconduct, criminal acts, workplace bullying,
harrassment, discrimination and other negative behaviours that impact on
professionalism and the health and welfare of those individuals who are directly
affected by such conduct.
Legislation
Individual employment
legislation, such as the Public Service Act 1996 and the Police Service
Administration Act 1990, establish individual provisions that define standards
of conduct and procedures for the investigation, determination and sanctions in
relation to disciplinary breaches, misconduct and official
misconduct.
The following legislation supports these specific employment
provisions:
Public Sector Ethics Act 1994
Outlines the key principles for the conduct of
public officials including Respect for the law and the system of government,
Respect for persons, Integrity, diligence, and economy and efficiency and
mandates the development and implementation of codes of conduct within the
public sector.
Crime and Misconduct Act 2001
To combat and reduce the incidence of major crime
and to continuously improve the integrity of, and to reduce the incidence of
misconduct in the public sector.
Whistleblowers Protection Act
1994
The principal object of the legislation is to
promote the public interest by protecting persons who disclose unlawful,
negligent or improper conduct affecting the public sector, danger to public
health or safety or the environment.
Police corruption rife in Qld, says former officer
Mark Colvin
presents PM Monday to Friday from 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm
on ABC Local Radio. Join Mark for the latest current affairs, wrapping
the major stories of each
Transcript
This is a transcript from PM. The program is
broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on
ABC Local Radio.
PETER CAVE: A key whistleblower at the
Fitzgerald Royal Commission into Police Corruption in Queensland says
it's time to repeat the process.
Retired police officer Col
Dillon served more than three decades in the Queensland police force,
and is one of Australia's most highly decorated Indigenous police
officers.
He's told the ABC's Message Stick program, corruption in the force is still very much alive.
He's also called for an inquiry to help mend relations between the police and the Indigenous communities.
Lindy Kerin reports
LINDY KERIN: When he retired six years ago, Col Dillon was the country's highest-ranking Indigenous police officer.
He
rose to national prominence during the 1980s, when he blew the whistle
on police corruption at the Fitzgerald Royal Commission.
Now Col Dillon has told the ABC's Message Stick program, things haven't improved and that police corruption in Queensland is rife.
COL
DILLON: The culture that was pre-Fitzgerald is there today and every
bit as strong as what it was pre-Fitzgerald. It may have softened a
little bit after some of the reform processes come into place and so
forth, but there's been backsliding of a great magnitude in terms of
the police doing the services in this State.
LINDY KERIN: Col Dillon is now documenting his policing career.
He says his tell-all book will name corrupt figures who weren't identified in the Fitzgerald inquiry.
COL
DILLON: There will be people out there that will be concerned and have
some apprehension about what may be put to paper by me because there's
no doubt in my mind, and I know for a fact that there are people when
the net was cast to haul in the corrupt, there were quite a few that
got away.
LINDY KERIN: Last December Col Dillon quit his job as
a State Government adviser in Queensland. He resigned in protest over
the handling of the death in custody of an Aboriginal man on Palm
Island.
Col Dillon says he's deeply concerned about the relationship between Queensland police and the Indigenous community.
He says it's time for an inquiry into how the Queensland Police Service operates.
COL
DILLON: To my mind I would say this without any fear of contradiction
that it is high time again for another far reaching inquiry into our
police service and the way that it operates.
LINDY KERIN: The
Queensland Police Service has declined to respond to Col Dillon's
comments. So too has the State's Police Union.
A spokesman Ross Musgrove says the union doesn't want to help promote Col Dillon's book.
He
says if the former police officer has a legitimate complaint, he should
take it to the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.
But
the President of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry
O'Gorman, says Col Dillon's comments should be taken seriously.
TERRY O'GORMAN: Col Dillon's got an enormous store of credibility.
He
was an inspector of police and an Aboriginal inspector of police in the
Licensing Squad when he blew the whistle on corruption.
He stayed in the police for a period of time after that.
When
he left the police he worked in Indigenous Affairs for the Queensland
Government, while still keeping in close contact with the Queensland
Police Service.
He's got enormous credibility and the Police
Minister and the Police Commissioner cannot simply brush his
well-founded criticisms aside.
And if he says that the Crime and
Misconduct Commission is so compromised because it's over time fallen
into a pretty ineffective oversight body against the Queensland police
then perhaps an external inquiry needs to be set up.
PETER CAVE: Terry O'Gorman from the Australian Council for Civil Liberties ending that report from Lindy Kerin.
In
a statement this afternoon, the Queensland Police Minister said she
hadn't yet seen the program in which he makes these claims and would
watch it when it goes to air tonight.
Judy Spence says if Mr
Dillon is has any information on corruption in the Queensland Police
Service he should report it to the appropriate bodies.
Another Ex Senior Queensland Police Officer Dan Lansky now the a senior adviser with Bret Goldsworthy's Smartvenure.com.au has also given a statement to INLNews.com the he left the Queensland Police Force because it was too corrupt and he was disappointed that he could not fight the corruption.
Dan Lansky says he know about how and who runs the multi billion dollar illegal drug industry in the Gold coats and the rest of Queensland. Dan Lansky stated he was told to protect these powerful drug lords living luxury in the Gold Coast by his the more senior police. Inthe end he was sicked by it all and felt he had ot leave and get into provate enterptrise. A move he says he now never regrets If any individual or government investigative authority like the CMC wants to seriously investigate police and other corruption and the police involvement in the billion dollar drugs industry in the Queensland they can contact
UNITED STATES - Office
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York City, New York 10020
UNITED KINGDOM - Office
1 Ropemaker Street
London EC2Y 9HT
Top corruption fighter called in
By Richard Baker State Political Reporter June 2, 2004
Tony Fitzgerald
Australia's best known anti-corruption investigator, Tony
Fitzgerald, QC, has been called in to conduct a key inquiry into
corruption in the Victoria Police.
Dr Fitzgerald, who ran the
landmark 1980s royal commission into the Queensland police, will
investigate how a top secret Victoria Police report containing
sensitive information on a police informer was leaked to criminals.
The
police informer, Terence Hodson, and his wife Christine were shot dead
at their East Kew home on May 16 - just weeks after the police report
exposing Hodson's activities as an informer was allegedly leaked to the
underworld.
State Ombudsman George Brouwer used his new
corruption-fighting powers - which became law only yesterday - to
initiate the special inquiry into the leaking of the police report and
to hire the former royal commissioner to run it.
Previously the Ombudsman did not have the power to launch an inquiry without first receiving a formal complaint.
It is believed the idea for hiring Dr Fitzgerald came from Mr Brouwer, not the State Government.
Premier
Steve Bracks, who has rejected calls to set up an independent
commission to fight police corruption and underworld killings,
announced in Parliament yesterday that he had been advised by the
Ombudsman of the former royal commissioner's appointment.
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In a prepared statement, Mr Brouwer said Dr Fitzgerald would
have access to all the new powers given to the Ombudsman by the State
Government.
These include the power to compel witnesses to give
evidence, even if it is self-incriminating, and to search premises and
seize documents after receiving court approval. Witnesses who refuse to
answer his questions could face charges.
Mr Brouwer said Dr Fitzgerald would be supported by experienced investigators and have as many resources as he required.
Senior
Assistant Ombudsman Bob Seamer also said last night that Mr Brouwer's
office could set up a public hearing if Dr Fitzgerald wanted it. "If
Tony Fitzgerald suggested a public hearing, I am sure it would be given
due consideration," he said.
Dr Fitzgerald's 1980s inquiry
uncovered corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of
Queensland's police force and government, leading to the jailing of
ministers and the then police commissioner.
But his appointment
to the Victorian inquiry failed to satisfy Opposition Leader Robert
Doyle, who has been calling for an independent commission. Mr Doyle
said Dr Fitzgerald's appointment to investigate just one area of police
corruption was symbolic of the Government's fragmented approach.
"It is not an answer to grab someone, no matter how talented like Tony
Fitzgerald, and then apply them to a single problem," Mr Doyle said.
"The only answer will be an independent, well-resourced crime
commission."
The hiring of Dr Fitzgerald came a day after ABC
radio reported that members of Melbourne's underworld had seen the
confidential police report detailing Terence Hodson's activities in the
weeks before he and his wife were killed.
Hodson, 56, had been
due to give evidence against suspended drug squad detectives David
Miechel and Paul Dale, who are facing serious charges over a drugs
theft in Melbourne.
According to the ABC, the leaked document
includes details provided to police by Hodson in 2001 of a meeting he
had with associates of crime figure Lewis Moran, who had offered Hodson
$50,000 to kill alleged drug trafficker Carl Williams.
Moran was murdered earlier this year and Williams is on bail on
drugs charges. Williams yesterday said he had not seen the secret
police document but believed "about 100 people have probably seen it".
His father, accused drug trafficker George Williams, said he had seen the report but had "no idea where it came from".
Mr
Bracks, who told Labor MPs yesterday to hold firm against public
criticism of the Government's reluctance to establish an independent
crime commission, warned the ABC it might be compelled under the
Ombudsman's new powers to hand over the document. "This is a serious
matter of which a media outlet, the ABC, has some detail on and they
are obliged therefore to provide the detail because public safety is an
issue," he said.
ABC head of Victorian news and current
affairs, Marco Bass, said the ABC could not reveal its source, in
accordance with journalistic ethics. He said the ABC had co-operated
with police and had been talking with them for six days to establish
the veracity of the document.
Hodson's lawyer, Rob Stary,
accused the Government of taking a cheap shot by putting the spotlight
on the ABC. "It ought to be looking at how and why these things take
place, not attacking a journalist who happens to get access... to
information."
In other developments, Attorney-General Rob Hulls
said Victoria would not have a royal commission into police corruption
because it would lead to the indefinite adjournment of many criminal
trials.
• Judges will have the power to
strip superannuation payments from corrupt police and public servants
under legislation introduced in State Parliament this week. Courts will
be able to order corrupt public servants to hand back any super accrued
above the basic 9 per cent paid to all workers.
- with Darren Gray, Ian Munro, AAP
Transcript
Police Corruption
Broadcast: 11/06/2004
Reporter: KERRI RITCHIE
http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/qld/default.htm
KIRRIN McKECHNIE: Queensland and Victoria have a lot in common. Both
have vibrant economies and populations. Queensland publicly purged its
police force two decades ago after the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Now Tony
Fitzgerald has been called on to help clean up what seems to be another
dirty link between police and organised crime. Kerri Ritchie reports.
MIKE AHERN, FORMER QUEENSLAND PREMIER: He comes with a proven track record of tackling the hard issues
KERRI
RITCHIE: Tony Fitzgerald has been described as a quiet man with a
strong sense of public duty others liken him to a terrier sniffing out
corruption and injustice at any cost. In the late 1980's Fitzgerald and
his family were under round the clock police protection as the softly
spoken lawyer went about uncovering a trail of corruption within the
Queensland police force now he's being called on again this time in
Victoria.
CHRIS MASTERS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: I suspect nobody including Tony Fitzgerald knows what he's really in for
KERRI
RITCHIE: This week the Victorian ombudsman announced Tony Fitzgerald
would be made a special investigator to look into revelations first
aired on the ABC that a leaked police document circulating in
Melbourne's underworld may have led to the murder of a police informer
and his wife. History shows Tony Fitzgerald is the right person for the
job. A federal Court Judge at the age of 38 he was handpicked in 1987
by the National Liberal Coalition Government in Queensland to
independently investigate allegations senior police were being paid to
protect organised crime. The then Premier Sir Joh-Bjelke Petersen was
opposed to the move but Fitzgerald with a reputation for not rocking
the boat was expected to wrap things up quickly. Instead the Fitzgerald
inquiry as it became known led to the jailing of the State's Police
Commissioner Terrence Lewis and helped bring down the Government.
MIKE
AHERN: This inquiry was to be six weeks in duration in Queensland it
took two and a half years. The reality is that once you start to dig
into the situation, identify problems you?ve got no alternative but to
go to the next step and to clean it right up.
KERRIE RITCHIE:
Mike Ahern was the Premier in Queensland during the inquiry replacing
Bjelke-Peterson who stepped down. He believes Victoria's problems with
police corruption and the underworld are far greater than anything seen
in Queensland in the late 80's and Tony Fitzgerald has a tough job
ahead.
MIKE AHERN: When people are prepared to slaughter other
human beings almost at will and without prosecution then that is a very
very pervasive fear based power in the underworld community. They won't
roll over they won't talk because they face execution if they do.
(Footage of Four Corners Report, The Moonlight State) KERRI
RITCHIE: The difficulty of getting people to talk is something Chris
Masters knows all too well, he's been reporting on police corruption
for more than 20 years. His Four Corners piece titled the Moonlight
state revealed the extent of the problem in Queensland. Chris Masters'
report was a catalyst for the inquiry conducted by Tony Fitzgerald.
CHRIS
MASTERS: It took a lot out of him and I suppose I for one am a bit
surprised that he's prepared to take something on like this on again
because I know after the Fitzgerald Inquiry that he was beaten about.
KERRIE
RITCHIE: Chris Masters is in Melbourne working on another piece
involving Victoria police. Like Mike Ahern he believes the problems
here are far more serious than they were in Queensland and is surprised
the Victorian Government hasn't ordered an independent inquiry.
CHRIS
MASTERS: They seem to be denying the pressure of the facts. You can't
deny those murders, you can't deny the extent of police corruption, you
know can't deny that the two stories merge. There is a responsibility
of the Government to do something about it
KERRI RITCHIE: But
the Victorian government believes it IS doing something giving the
Ombudsman increased powers and resources, which Tony Fitzgerald will
have at his disposal. Fitzgerald has been given a specific task in
Victoria to look into whether that confidential police report was
leaked to criminals. Some expect that brief will widen.
WAYNE
GOSS, FORMER QUEENSLAND PREMIER: The trouble with these inquiries is
that they can always spread; you don't know where they?ll spread.
KERRIE
RITCHIE: In 1989. In a landslide victory the Labor party's Wayne Goss
was elected Queensland Premier ending a 32 year long conservative rein
Wayne Goss' government went on to implement Fitzgerald's
recommendations.
WAYNE GOSS: With people being shot by each
other or by rival gangs on a regular basis that's appalling and if this
inquiry will help that well and good but I think it's going to need
more than Tony Fitzgerald. It?ll need innovative investigative
techniques and it?s going to need some luck as well and probably
somebody to break ranks.
KERRIE RITCHIE: Tony Fitzgerald has
accepted the job in Victoria on a part-time basis. He charges five
thousand dollars a day for his services. The consensus is he's worth
every cent.
CHRIS MASTERS: You can't rely on the police to
police themselves. There is a necessary culture change you know and
it's not something that you can turn around overnight it does seem to
need a generational change and I do think it's fair to say that Tony
Fitzgerald in Queensland delivered that.
Transcript
Freedom of Information
Broadcast: 08/02/2008
Reporter: KATHY MCLEISH
JOHN TAYLOR: This week you might have heard about the speaker of
Queensland Parliament announcing his intention to ban television
cameras from future sittings. He wants government controlled cameras to
do the work instead. His detractors say it's all about government
control. And next week when Parliament sits we'll hear more about it.
The move also comes at a time when the Bligh Government is re-examining
Freedom of Information laws; another important check on Government
power. An independent panel has recently released a discussion paper on
FOI and is asking for public input. Earlier I spoke to panel chairman,
Barrister, journalist and author David Solomon.
(JOHN TAYLOR TALKING TO DAVID SOLOMON) JOHN
TAYLOR: David Solomon welcome. Let?s get straight to it. With FOI since
its introduction in 1992 successive governments of both persuasions
have always acted to weaken the FOI laws to make government more
secretive; why should we believe that this government wants to suddenly
open a new chapter in FOI?
DAVID SOLOMON, F.O.I. REVIEW
CHAIRMAN: Because it?s a new government. And because the Premier
wouldn?t have appointed an enquiry headed by an ex journalist if she
wasn?t really serious. She says she?s serious about reviewing the
legislation to the point where she?s even mentioned the possibility of
a whole new act coming in instead of changing just bits of it. And
we?ve been given terms of reference that invite us to go right to
basics, basic questions.
JOHN TAYLOR: Well you?ve been looking at FOI now for some months how do we in Queensland compare to other jurisdictions?
DAVID
SOLOMON: It?s a bit mixed. It used to be very good; as you say things
have changed since it was introduced. Queensland was really part of the
second tier of countries and jurisdictions that introduced FOI and at
the time it was introduced in fact it was regarded as model legislation
and used as such by for example countries like Ireland. But since then
we?ve gone backwards and other jurisdictions have introduced laws that
are much better than ours.
JOHN TAYLOR: Well the 2006 Davies
Commission Report into the Bundaberg Hospital scandal it drew a link
between government secrecy and a culture of concealment in the health
system including over issues of unsafe care; does that go some way to
explaining why FOI matters or should matter to the public?
DAVID
SOLOMON: Oh yes FOI matters because it allows for more open and
accountable government. If people ignore FOI if they try to get around
FOI it means they?re hiding something.
JOHN TAYLOR: In current
political life governments like to control the agenda. They like to
keep as much as possible secret not because sometimes for any malicious
purposes but for reasons of control. They want to manipulate the media
to ensure that they?re presented in the best possible light. Even
that?s at odds with FOI.
DAVID SOLOMON: Well yes it is but you
must have some government secrets. I mean no-one is suggesting that
everything that goes into Cabinet should be on the table. That anything
that any public servant writes in advice to a Minister should be made
available. The system of government requires some secrecy. Now it can
go too far and it went too far in some cases in recent years when
material that governments thought they might be embarrassed by they
simply wheeled into Cabinet.
JOHN TAYLOR: And then of course the 30 year secrecy rule applied.
DAVID
SOLOMON: Yeah. Not because they thought this was going to be considered
by Cabinet, but simply to hide it. And that?s something that really
needs to be changed.
JOHN TAYLOR: What other of the hot button issues then?
DAVID
SOLOMON: Start from basics. Who should be covered by FOI. There are now
lots of bodies that were covered originally by FOI that have been
excluded. There?s an argument now that with more privatisation with
more contracting out the FOI should be extended to cover bodies for
example that provide services that used to be covered by government.
There are many many issues like that, really quite basic.
JOHN TAYLOR: Alright David Solomon thank you for speaking to Stateline.
DAVID SOLOMON: Pleasure.
The myths shrouding police corruption
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/26/1085461830675.html By Darren Palmer May 27, 2004
Victoria desperately needs a police inquiry. The evidence cannot be ignored.
Monday night's Australian Story
program on ABC TV, revealing police officer Simon Illingworth's trials
and tribulations while he investigated police corruption, has put a
more human face to the daily revelations of police corruption in this
state. I think it could become to the Victoria Police what ABC TV's Four Corners
program "The Moonlight State" was to Queensland - the harbinger of a
groundswell of public sentiment demanding that more be done to address
police corruption. In Queensland, of course, that led to the Fitzgerald
inquiry.
But for this to happen in Victoria we need to expose
five key myths being injected into the debate about the merits or
otherwise of a royal commission or commission of inquiry.
Myth
No. 1 is the claim that the expanded powers given to the police and the
Ombudsman match anything that would be given to a crime commission or
similar body, so there is no need for an inquiry or a new institution.
This
argument confuses "power" with "capacity". To take a simple example,
police have the power to book motorists for speeding, but they do not
have the capacity to catch every person who is speeding. In the case of
police corruption, an extra million dollars and new powers to coerce
answers to questions is all about power but has little to do with
capacity. Further, the Ombudsman continues to rely on Victorian police
investigating themselves. So even the enhanced powers are undermined by
the Ombudsman lacking his own investigation capacity.
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Myth No. 2 is the claim that royal commissions are largely
ineffectual because they produce few convictions and simply become a
gravy train for lawyers.
It is true royal commissions can be
expensive and some lawyers can do very well indeed. However, those who
pander to the politics of envy (why make lawyers even richer?) are
seeking to divert attention from the broader impact of such inquiries.
Suggesting
that the Fitzgerald inquiry in Queensland and the Wood royal commission
in New South Wales failed because they achieved few convictions surely
understates their importance. Both managed to get some "heavy"
convictions - not your "few rotten apples", but some of the people at
the top of the corruption food chain. Further, the impact of any
inquiry must be analysed beyond the "body count". Each inquiry has been
important for advances in understanding police corruption and in the
development of reforms in policing and beyond.
The idea that the
higher the number of police convicted the greater the propensity to rid
us of police corruption uses an impoverished version of deterrence
theory. The key to deterrence is the certainty of detection, whatever a
person's position. Thus the best way to evaluate an inquiry is to look
at who is convicted, and at what organisational changes are identified
to enhance the control of corruption by ensuring increased detection
and by developing robust preventive measures.
Myth No. 3 is that
police corruption in Victoria is sequestered in a small and now extinct
area - the abolished drug squad - and is not of the "systemic" type
identified elsewhere.
This is just an update of the now discredited "rotten apple" argument and is not supported by recent Victorian history.
To
take one simple but instructive example, consider what became known as
the "window shutter scam". In the mid-1990s up to one-in-six Victorian
police officers were under investigation for what can only be described
as highly organised corruption. Rather than following the required
procedure to call central communications when a broken window was
identified, police chose to call their "preferred providers". These
preferred providers reciprocated with the regular delivery of the
proverbial "brown paper bag" full of cash - the same sophisticated
money distribution system identified earlier in Queensland by the
Fitzgerald inquiry. Select police would then divide the funds among
themselves.
Beyond the cash there were "sponsored events", with
free food and alcohol supplied by the window shutter companies. And if
this wasn't enough, there was even a "frequent reporter" scheme,
whereby reports at a certain level triggered additional rewards.
This
was a good case of legitimate corporate marketing strategies being
applied to the development of police corruption. More importantly, it
was a highly developed form of corruption permeating from the bottom
upwards. The Ombudsman's findings on this matter indicated that
corruption in Victoria has not been limited in the recent past to a
small, specialised unit of the police - it was systemic, just as in NSW
and Queensland.
Myth No. 4 is the idea that corruption is a
planned, rational and calculated act - that is, that people either come
into the police force intending to be corrupt, or at some time simply
decide to be corrupt.
Yes, some police join up to engage in
corruption in this way - strategically planning the benefits that flow
from corrupt activities. But more often it is a slow process of
becoming involved in corrupt activities, where there are quite subtle
measures used in the recruitment of other police into corruption.
This
latter understanding of the processes involved in becoming corrupt
undermines the idea that conviction-based deterrence based on rational,
calculating individuals will work. What is needed is a more holistic
investigation of the processes involved; only a broad inquiry can
identify these subtle processes.
Myth No. 5 is that there is no link between Melbourne's gangland killings and police corruption.
Senior police have referred to what they call a lack of "evidentiary
connection". But even if this argument could be sustained in a strictly
legal or evidentiary sense, it misses the point that illicit drug
markets are formed in relation to police practices. That is, if police
are more successful against certain types of illegal drugs, or against
certain groups, this shapes the market in particular ways. How drug
markets are policed shapes the nature of those markets. Add to the mix
police corruption in the drug squad and beyond, and you simply add
another level of complexity to this market.
So even if we
cannot provide the "evidentiary link" between specific people, the
point is that the gangland killings are largely related to the illegal
drug markets. And having corrupt police working in this area - and
removing them either through convictions, dismissals or transfers - has
radically altered a market where power, life and vast amounts of money
are at stake.
By exposing these five myths about police
corruption, it becomes clearer still that we have reached the point
where there is no alternative to a broad public inquiry. Indeed, we
might ask Premier Bracks and his Police Minister the following
question: if the present evidence for an inquiry is not enough, despite
having passed the threshold that pushed NSW, Queensland and, most
recently, Western Australia into royal commissions and inquiries, then
what precisely would be enough to warrant such an inquiry in Victoria?
Darren Palmer is convenor of criminology at Deakin University.
THE ISSUES FROM THE GREEN LEFT A WELL RESPECTED AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER
http://www.greenleft.org.au/1996/219/15054
Why police corruption won't go away
14 February 1996
By Marcus Greville and Wendy RobertsonPoliticians
continually assure the public that police corruption occurs only in
isolated outbreaks and under exceptional circumstances -- the "rotten
apple" theory. However, if the royal commission headed by Justice Woods
-- and the similar Fitzgerald inquiry in Queensland that led to the
fall of Joh Bjelke-Petersen -- is any guide, there is something more
significant going on than the odd rotting of an apple. Justice
Wood -- taking advantage of modern technology, the stupidity of many
crooked cops and the lack of honour among thieves -- has uncovered
widespread and institutionalised corruption. Elimination of endemic
corruption in the NSW police force was supposed to be the focus of the
Police Board, established after the Lusher report in 1981, and the
Independent Commission Against Corruption, created in 1988. Both
clearly failed. Wood's interim report, released on February 5, proposes
to establish a new body, the Police Corruption Commission (PCC), to
tackle corruption. The new commission is to be completely independent
of the police, with no serving or former officers eligible for
involvement. It will have the full spectrum of coercive investigative
powers and a fully resourced databank. The establishment of an
independent body may initially make it more difficult for
institutionalised police corruption to flourish. However, corruption is
an integral part of police existence which cannot be removed simply by
the establishment of an investigatory body designed to catch the
already corrupt. In formulating his PCC, Wood studied the
anti-corruption bodies introduced by various national and international
institutions to combat police corruption and deemed them all failures.
In New York, other Australian states, New Zealand, Ontario, England and
Wales, such bodies were all seen to allow corruption to reappear in the
same, or an even more evil, form. The fundamental limitation of all
these commissions is that they cannot tackle the fundamental reasons
for corruption. Corruption in the police force thrives on the existence
of a black market dealing in contraband materials and the undemocratic
and unaccountable nature of the police. The Wood Royal Commission has
unearthed evidence fabrication, robbery and perjury, but the most
widespread corruption involves drug trafficking, illegal pornography
and prostitution rackets. While police are given the power to enforce
laws designed to remove the distribution of contraband, there will
exist the opportunity for corrupt material gain through controlling the
black market. A police trade in illegal goods can flourish because the
police force is not accountable to the public it supposedly serves.
This unaccountability is the root of the police "culture" which has
troubled Justice Wood and other investigators. Police are accountable,
really, only to the police above them in the hierarchy -- if that. Why
is it that the police, of all the bodies of the state, seem least able
to be democratically controlled by the public, or even by the elected
government that employs and pays them? In short, it's because helping
children cross busy streets, or arresting burglars, or even stopping
the sale of illegal drugs, are only secondary, peripheral tasks. The
ultimate role of the police is protection of the rule of the wealthy
minority over the majority. Democratic control and that central
function are incompatible. So even the best-intentioned of
investigators and commissions fail to root out police corruption. And
the best of intentions are not always present, as the now retired NSW
police commissioner, Tony Lauer, suggested when he said that the
overriding objective of inquiries into police corruption is to restore
public faith in the police department.
Mr Wijat's friend Magic Rabbit 
STUNTMAN: Jon Templeton will act as Hugh Jackman's stunt double in the film Australia. Picture: MEGAN RAYLE
