Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will continue. The letter says:

This affair encompasses all the essential democratic ideals. The right to a fair trial without interference by government and the right to impartial law-enforcement, to say nothing of respecting the rule of law itself rest at its core. Respecting the doctrine of the separation of powers and our constitutional monarchy system of democratic government are involved.

We believe that the issues at stake are too compelling to ignore.

We suggest that if the Heiner affair remains in its current unresolved state, it would give reasonable cause for ordinary citizens, especially Queenslanders, to believe that there is one law for them, and another for Executive Government and civil servants.

We find such a prospect unacceptable.

We urge the Queensland Government to appoint an independent Special Prosecutor as recommended by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in its August 2004 Report (Volume Two—Recommendation 3) following its investigation into the affair as part of its national inquiry into “Crime in the community: victims, offenders and fear of crime”.

Such an independent transparent process we believe will restore public confidence in the administration of justice throughout the Commonwealth of Australia, more especially in Queensland.

I turn now to another document that I table. It is from Ryan & Bosscher Lawyers. It says:

Dear Mr Beattie,

RE: THE “HEINER AFFAIR”

We act on behalf of Mr Kevin Lindeberg in relation to a series of events and allegations referred to commonly as the Heiner Affair.

A leading Sydney Queens Counsel, Mr David Rofe QC, assisted by our client, has prepared over the last two years a detailed chronology of matters and events commencing with the alleged pack rape of a fourteen year old Aboriginal female inmate from the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre (“JOYC”) in late May 1988; the setting up by the Cooper Government of a Departmental Inquiry presided over by retired Magistrate Noel Heiner in November 1989; the extraordinary and unexplained destruction of documents said to be Cabinet documents during February and March 1990 by the new Goss Government; together with ancillary conduct which appears to have been a “cover up” of the above events by the Goss Government’s Cabinet, certain ministerial staff and public servants holding senior positions in the Queensland Public Service.

It is the case, despite all of the information available, that the alleged rapists of the fourteen year old inmate are still at large and have never been charged with this offence.

Mr Rofe QC, as a result of Mr Lindeberg’s efforts in collecting and collating relevant material over many years, had been able to identify no less than 67 prima facie cases of alleged breaches of the Criminal Code, and other statutes by members of the Goss Cabinet, other ministerial staff, senior public servants and other persons all of whom have been complicit in the destruction of the Heiner documents and the apparent suppression and cover up of these activities.

I note that you are on record in the Parliament stating that if politicians and/or public servants are reasonably suspected of being involved in possible breaches of the criminal laws of this State, whether they be of your political persuasion or otherwise, you would do nothing to stand in the way of ensuring that they are bought to account before our Courts.

Mr Rofe believes that there is prima facie evidence that members of the Goss Cabinet, certain of their staff and certain public officials in March 1990 illegally authorised, and/or were complicit in, causing the destruction of the Heiner documents knowing that they were evidence realistically required for a judicial proceeding (inter alia litigation involving Mr Coyne and the physical and sexual abuse of children held in care and custody of the State of Queensland at the JOYC).

It is Mr Lindeberg’s view, and that view is shared by this office and Mr Rofe, that neither the former CJC, the Queensland Police Service or the Crime and Misconduct Commission (or any other body for that matter) has ever conducted a full and proper investigation/enquiry investigating this matter to completion.

The purported “exoneration” of relevant persons by the CJC in January of 1993 has clearly been discredited by the material collated by Mr Lindeberg and the review conducted by Mr Rofe. We note it is on the public record, at an earlier time when considering the same facts, that other eminent jurists such as Mr Ian D F Callinan QC (as he was then) in 1995, and former Chief Justice of the High Court, the late Hon Sir Harry Gibbs GCMG AG KBE in 2005, have also discredited the CJC’s January 1993 “exoneration.”

On the material available, combined with the relevant law, it is our opinion that the conduct of these arms of Government in the handling of this matter over the years demands a full and open investigation by an independent examiner for justice to be afforded not only to our client but to the citizens of the State of Queensland. It is clearly in the broad public interest for such an inquiry to occur due to the conduct having involved so many persons in senior positions in various arms of Government over many years in this State.