The Courier-Mail editorial 20th February 1999
Comment:
This editorial reveals a classic re-write of several historical facts about Shreddergate. All are aimed at covering up the sins of the Labor Party and the manner in which The Courier-Mail itself tried to help Labor in this goal.
It was only after Channel 9's Sunday programme, nearly nine years after the shredding, was about to run a segment on the scandal on its Sunday programme that The Courier-Mail suddenly uncovered information on Shreddergate.
Here are some examples of half-truths in this editorial:
"In 1990, the Goss government shredded inquiry documents to prevent inquiry witnesses being prosecuted over defamatory information supplied to the improperly constituted inquiry."
The Courier-Mail completely ignores the fact that the Heiner documents were being sought by the courts - making the shredding by the Cabinet a criminal offence.
And here is a classic:
"Media reports about the Heiner affair and the Neerkol Orphanage eventually prompted the government to investigate the matters further."
This is what the University of Queensland's Weekend Independent wrote about the media's coverage of Shreddergate... And the media.
Apart from Drena Parrington and The Gold Coast Bulletin, the Maryborough Chronicle and at earlier times Chris Griffith of the Sunday Mail, where have the media been? The answer to that question is quite disturbing.
The Forde Inquiry "happened" because One Nation forced the "accountable" Beattie goverment to release the cabinet documents at which the shredding was approved. This release led to the Forde Inquiry.... which has totally ignored the criminality of the shredding - the real issue here - but The Courier-Mail somehow seem to have forgotten that....
Shocking allegations of abuse and inhumane treatment of juveniles at Queensland's youth detention centres have re-emerged during recent months. The Forde inquiry, headed by former Queensland Governor Leneen Forde, was set up last September to examine allegations of abuse and neglect at the state's children's institutions. The inquiry has heard youths were doped, handcuffed to stormwater drains and locked in isolation for up to seven days at the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre.
Allegations about youths being handcuffed were first aired at the 1989 Heiner inquiry. However, evidence from the inquiry which examined allegations of abuse at the John Oxley centre was never acted on. In 1990, the Goss government shredded inquiry documents to prevent inquiry witnesses being prosecuted over defamatory information supplied to the improperly constituted inquiry. The allegations of abuse were then buried along with the shredded documents. According to one former Labor minister, former premier Wayne Goss and members of his cabinet were made aware of the nature of evidence presented to the Heiner inquiry. But the allegations were taken no further.
Regardless of the legal technicalities involved, neither the Goss Government nor the following Borbidge Government should have allowed such allegations to remain unchecked. A fresh, properly constituted inquiry should have been set up to deal with the allegations well before the Forde inquiry was established last year.
Youth and Community Care Minister Anna Bligh has announced a Au$63 million planned upgrade of Queensland's decrepit centres. But further examination of the general practices of government departments is also required. By their very nature, such departments and institutions must operate under strict confidentiality guidelines to prevent people's files from becoming tradeable commodities. But there is an inherent danger that such secrecy can cultivate a culture of impenetrability, where abuse can breed. A legitimate perception exists that when such allegations are raised about such institutions, a "closed shop mentality" ensues and all is denied. Royal Children's Hospital Child Protection Unit consultant paediatrician, Ken Armstrong, told the Forde inquiry last year that department child care officers rapidly burnt out and soon developed such a mentality. "Every day you pick up The Courier-Mail you find they (welfare workers) are under attack one way or another," Dr Armstrong said, "It tends to develop a closedness that makes external inquiry difficult."
The Heiner affair and Rockhampton's long-closed Neerkol Orphanage are testament to the secretive nature of such departments. When reports of sexual and physical abuse of children at Neerkol first became public, former residents' efforts to access their files were hampered by Government regulations. An investigation by Queensland's former Children's Commissioner, Norm Alford, into the orphanage suffered similar setbacks in obtaining critical files. The Children's Services Act was not changed until last year when it allowed the Forde inquiry to investigate the same files first sought by Mr Alford.
The media has been criticised for publicising a number of child abuse cases. But it should be acknowledged that such cases may have gone unnoticed for many more years to come without such attention. Media reports about the Heiner affair and the Neerkol Orphanage eventually prompted the government to investigate the matters further.
The Forde inquiry, due to report in the next few months, will go some way to opening such departments and institutions to greater scrutiny. But further measures are needed to prevent similar abuse from occurring in the future. The Government should now consider establishing an independent appeals tribunal to act as an arbiter and to handle complaints against the department.