Piers Akerman
Shadow minister Tony Abbott has called for a Royal Commission into the long-running Heiner Affair in a speech in the House of Representatives.
Here is the address, as reported by Hansard June 25, 2008: Affair and Lindeberg Grievance. Mr ABBOTT (Warringah) (7.40 pm)—What has become known as the ‘Heiner affair’ is a serious blot on public administration in this country and a stain on the reputations of those who have obstructed getting to the bottom of it.
In the late 1980s, not only was a Queensland juvenile justice centre systematically mismanaged but its inmates were subjected to sustained abuse, including, in at least one case, pack rape.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the principal victim of the matters investigated by Magistrate Heiner has had her life destroyed.
I regret to say that one of the first acts of the then Goss government in Queensland was to terminate the Heiner inquiry and then order the shredding of the evidence taken, even though that government was already on notice that the evidence could be required in court proceedings. Whatever the case was legally—and there is strong opinion that what the government did was illegal—morally this was an official attempt to pervert the course of justice. Every member of that cabinet has been complicit in a shameful cover-up and they should be man and woman enough to face up to that.
Four years ago, a Queensland Baptist pastor was jailed for destroying evidence of child abuse that might have been used in court proceedings. A man was jailed for doing, more innocently perhaps, what the Queensland cabinet had done.
I want to say that an offence is not the less serious because it has been committed by numerous people acting in concert. Normally, in fact, the opposite is the case. So one man does wrong and he is jailed; the Queensland cabinet does wrong and its members suffer no adverse consequences at all. Is it any wonder that so many people feel that there are double standards of justice even in this country?
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It's a mess, but what do we expect?
Alan Jones
One headline today screams at us, "Why Iemma has made Sydney a global joke". And notwithstanding the dreadful transport mess that we're in, the headline derives from the fact that the company that couldn't deliver on the T-card - the integrated ticketing system - is now going after the Government, which is us, for $200 million.
And this has attracted the attention of the head of the International Association of Public Transport, a Mr Rat, who has said at a conference in Singapore that the way the T-card contract was handled and the resulting court case had damaged the State's image.
He said "Everywhere in the world where change of ticketing systems is occurring, if there's no teamwork from the departments and the management of public transport companies, it will fail. In New South Wales you throw away two CEOs a year."
Now this bloke represents public transport operators and transport authorities in 90 countries. He said uncertainty discouraged innovation.
He said "You create a situation where everyone's hiding. A massive change in ticketing means you need people who form a team and take risks together."
Now the New South Wales Government being bagged internationally is not good news. But this is where the Government is its own worst enemy.
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Socialists salute Comrade Ape
Andrew Bolt
What happened to the apes’ right to decide their rights for themselves?
Spain’s parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans.
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Republican Thaddeus McCotter gives a handy lecture in Congress on how to speak Democrat.
If the tyres were made of hemp, would they help?
Andrew Bolt
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Premier John Brumby gave Toyota $70 million it didn’t need to build a “green” car in Victoria, creating 200 jobs.
Today South Pacific Tyre announced it was closing its tyre-making plant at Somerton, also in Victoria. How many millions do you think Rudd and Brumby threw at the plant to try to save those 600 jobs?
Now explain the different treatment.
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Was monstering Mugabe just spin, too?
Andrew Bolt
Tony Parkinson, Alexander Downer’s former spokesman, wonders why Kevin Rudd won’t walk his talk on Zimbabwe:
While the Prime Minister acknowledged in Parliament this week that he considered Robert Mugabe to meet the classical definition of a dictator, he gave no real clues about the contribution his Government intends to make to help stop the Zimbabwean tyrant’s crimes against humanity.
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