http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/piersakerman/index.php/dailyt... THE DAILY TELEGRAPH PM's abuse apology ignores rape scandal Piers Akerman Monday, August 31, 2009 at 11:55pm THE hypocrisy of the Rudd Government's announcement that it would apologise to Australians robbed of their innocence in state and church institutions is beyond breathtaking. Possible recipients should consider its worth, in light of the failure of Prime Minister Rudd's stage-managed Sorry Day stunt to achieve any changes in the sorry state of Aboriginal affairs. While a putative apology has been welcomed by representatives of the 500,000 or so Australians placed in some sort of care through the 1900s, it does not marry with Mr Rudd's personal denial of the unresolved Heiner Affair, which had at its heart the plight of those in care. It does nothing to address the massive abuse of power that has thwarted the carriage of justice against the Goss Cabinet members and the public servants who assisted them in destroying documents relating to the illegal treatment of Queensland state wards and known to be wanted as evidence. Those documents, from an inquiry being conducted by the late former magistrate Noel Heiner, involved sexual attacks including pack rape at Queensland's John Oxley juvenile detention centre. Mr Rudd was then the powerful chief of staff to Premier Wayne Goss. In recent years, Mr Rudd has offered conflicting and incredible versions of his knowledge of the criminal destruction of the files. The entire Goss Cabinet was aware of the criminal nature of the act. The Cabinet submission, which would almost certainly have been vetted and approved by Mr Rudd, details the triggering elements for sections 129 and 132 of the Queensland Criminal Code, which deal with the offences of destruction of evidence and conspiracy to defeat justice. Mr Rudd, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, Governor General Quentin Bryce and others should be aware that the Queensland Studies Authority has now approved for use in the education system a text book for Year 11 and Year 12 students that encourages pupils to research what has become known as the Heiner Affair and select pages from Australian websites and, as a group discuss the issues addressed . The text, Business Communication and Technologies in a Changing World, Macmillan Education Australia, is one of a number of academic books worldwide that cite the Heiner Affair as one of the world's major political scandals. Speaking of scandals, Mr Rudd had the rug pulled from under his feet with the overdue collapse of the Federal Police case against the Australian Wheat Board over payments made under the auspices of the United Nations' corrupt oil-for-wheat program, which he claimed on January 19, 2006, was the biggest corruption scandal in Australia's history and one of the biggest corruption scandals that we have ever seen around the world . Mr Rudd even accused former PM John Howard of lying about the AWB affair, declaring in 2006: Documents demonstrate that we have an Australian prime minister who is a liar and I use the term precisely and intentionally. He never produced proof of that outrageous smear, nor an apology. The veracity of the Heiner Affair, however, has been solidly supported and is the subject of a nine-volume 3000-page report by David Rofe QC which alleges there are 68 prima facie criminal charges capable of being brought against officials caught up in the scandal, including Mr Rudd. Queensland students will find that a raft of the nation's most highly respected retired superior court judges, including several chief justices and underpinned by earlier support from former Chief Justice of Australia Sir Harry Gibbs, issued a statement in August, 2007, urging former premier Peter Beattie to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the matter. They claimed it struck at the very heart of the rule of law in Australia. He and Ms Bligh rejected their request. Further, the students will find that Ms Bligh, who in recent months has proclaimed her desire for openness in government, stated (according to Hansard, August 25, 1998) her determination to ensure that no one will ever discover what happened under the Goss government because we have restored the tradition the Premier eats the attendance register; you can take us to the Court of International Justice and attendance register will remain in the bowels of the former Labor Premiers . They will also discover that as recently as January 7 this year, the Labor-dominated parliamentary crime and misconduct committee voted not to refer evidence relating to the Heiner Affair to an acting parliamentary commission for independent examination and advice. This decision breached Section 295 of the Crime and Misconduct Act and undermined the bipartisanship of the Fitzgerald reform process in the fight against corruption in Queensland. Add to that his record of deliberately avoiding the truth when inconvenient - think false claims about the Sunrise Anzac Day ceremony or his meetings with disgraced former WA Premier Brian Burke, to mention just two cases - and it becomes clear Mr Rudd's credibility is as shredded as the Heiner documents. Recipients of any apology from Mr Rudd should give careful consideration before becoming stage props at yet another Labor stunt. Readers Comments:- Piers, congratulations for keeping the spotlight on senior political and vice-regal figures over the Heiner scandal. It is a national disgrace that these people cannot hide. Now, why not also ask the other side of politics to read David Rofe QC's report into Hansard, so it can no longer be ignored or expunged from public record that certain people deliberately destroyed evidence with the intent to pervert the course of justice, and certain other people used vice-regal powers to suppress an inquiry into the act. Personally, I'm completely fed up with the outrageous extent of corruption in Australian political life. Probity in Australian politics is on par with Zimbabwe, Indonesia, PNG at present, thanks to Labor and its army of back-office stooges, family members, union mates, and every little toad that's owed a favour. Today David beat Goliath at Catherine Hill Bay, a small community won out in the Land & Environment Court in an unlikely result against the combined forces of Frank Sartor, the NSW government and a major land developer. If unlikely justice can happen in the ugly state of NSW, surely it can happen with Heiner in the equally ugly state of Qld? mareeS (Reply) Tue 01 Sep 09 (01:01am) Death To The Left replied to mareeS Tue 01 Sep 09 (11:00am) Australian political corruption has one name: LABOR. It is out of control in NSW, there are hints of it here in SA, and god only knows what goes on in thug-ruled Queensland. And what is happening federally IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE. Rudd Labor, like ALL Labor, is chock full of corrupt thug unionists, stinking leftist social engineers, and people who have never had a real job in their worthless lives running a trillion dollar economy into THE GROUND. Lies are just another tool. Truth is meaningless in Labor Land. The ALP is a sham, a halfway house for people who believe the rules don't apply to them; a refuge for nerds and dweebs who can't wait to get back at everyone who laughed at them at school; a place where people who believe violence and intimidation is warranted in the workplace can find friends; and the vehicle for every nasty little power-hungry Marxist apologist to find _expression_ for their twisted, embittered world views. WTF???? I am fuming at the joke that is NSW Labor, the la-la land of Anna Bligh, the Media Obsessed Mike Rann, the pathetic John Brumby.... secretive, corrupt, self-interested..... I mean, who votes these wankers in?? Are people THAT STUPID that they don't what Labor 'governments' do to governments??? HOW THE HELL CAN ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT BLOOMIN' MIND VOTE FOR A PARTY THAT DOES NOTHING MORE THAN LOOK AFTER ITSELF AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOOLS WHO VOTED FOR IT????? Wake up Australia - you've been had. Half a trillion dollars in debt and counting. LABOR HAS GOT TO GO. Trev replied to mareeS Tue 01 Sep 09 (12:27pm) The Audit is supposed to be 3000 pages in length.... bushrat replied to mareeS Tue 01 Sep 09 (01:00pm) Maree S A _link_ for you to ponder. Also google Labors rotten moral core by Piers.rudd has a lot more to appologise for too. Last night. Lateline. Maklin and NT. Housing expediture.Macklin fails to appear on lateline yet again. 45 million dollars later and buggar all built.Where's the Money gone?? DUDDY DIDDAMS replied to mareeS Tue 01 Sep 09 (03:39pm) Remember when Macklin stayed on the luxurious yacht and insulted the Aborinal Elders.She didn't want to mix with them. By staying on the boat, which normally charges customers $680 each a night, she did not have to stay in Aurukun's $90-a-night guesthouse. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23437901-5006786,0... To Piers - Thank you for an excellent and important article. This man, who loves being photographed as he strolls in that slow emperor-like stroll from church on sundays, is no Christian. This man who turns his back in parliament. This man who hides from tough interviews and loves to drop in and chat with air-heads like Rove. This man who lies and lies and lies. This man whose wife is currently grinning from the cover of Womans Weekly - the latest softening up of the electorate. Spin takes many forms. This man who walks over gang-raped girls. It is a shock to learn that the Heiner Affair is to be studied in school. Kevin will not like this. Clever Kevin buried his crime many years ago. This was not meant to happen. Clever Kevin is the outsmarter - not the other way around. For the young he harvests on Rove to learn there is more to Kevin than the cuddly bear image air-head Rove holds up of him ....
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