Editorial - The Courier-Mail 6th March 1999
Comment:
There is no doubt that the CJC is a political animal first and foremost serving the will of the Labor party. The best example "Shreddergate" is referred to in the article below - where the CJC, according to the University of Queensland's Weekend Independent, and I quote:
But back to the Criminal Justice Commission.
It is important that some serious questions now receive an answer.
Did that organisation really investigate this matter "to the nth degree" ?
Did it investigate it properly?
Did it investigate it at all?
On the basis of what is on the public record, the answer is that it certainly did not investigate it properly.
But why not?
And why did it go on saying the matter had been investigated "to the nth degree"?
Perhaps Messrs Connolly and Ryan will be able to seek some answers to these questions (in public we trust) before they conclude their inquiry.
On the other hand there are many matters thrown up by "Shreddergate" that are quite outside the terms of reference of their inquiry which need to be answered.
The actions of many other public officials and organs of public administration are of very serious concern.
The CJC covered up the true facts behind Shreddergate, as exposed by the Sunday report a few weeks ago. The Sunday programme revealed that the extent of CJC examinations on this serious issues was just two short one page letters. The beneficiaries of this cover-up, the Labor Party, were aided and abetted by their mates at The Courier-Mail who have, until today, refused, unethically to report the facts of this case involving accusations of child abuse.
Yes, this Murdoch paper is nothing more than a sick joke... and the beat-up on Jack Paff's party joke is a convenient quirk which has been grabbed on by the rabble in the major parties who day after day are "guilty" of such transgressions and more but, because of their corrupt alliance with Murdoch's lackeys never find a mention of their sins being put into print...
Now I wonder what is happening to that Queensland Labor backbencher who is to shortly appear before the courts on serious child abuse and sex allegations? The Courier-Mail seem to have conveniently forgotten that case - but then what the hell, a private joke overheard at a party is a far more serious issue, isn't it?
Editorial starts here:
The Queensland Parliamentary wing of the One Nation party has plumbed such depths of unseemly behaviour that the question may be asked whether it is appropriate to continue to dignify the actions of its five remaining members with serious editorial analysis. The party has become a pitiful joke and the 23% of Queensland voters who cast their ballots for One Nation last June must now be wondering what bizarre alignment of the planets caused them to support such a cockeyed mob. Still, tempting as it is to ignore One Nation until it goes away at the next state election, some outrages cannot be allowed to go uncorrected. Certainly the actions of One Nation MLA Jack Paff in knowingly making false accusations of criminal activities against four senior police officers deserves the contempt of the community.
Bad enough such falsehoods coming from any Member of Parliament. But Mr Paff was also a member of the parliamentary criminal justice commission and should have had a far keener appreciation of the need to adhere to the highest ethical standards. Instead, having had a few drinks at a Government House reception last September, he tore down the fine reputation which four officers had taken a lifetime to build. "Of course," he later said, "I suppose liquor tends to make a person big-time himself."
But it was another Paff quote which the voters of Ipswich West should particularly engrave into their memories: "It was a total lie." If he did not create an unwanted modern precedent for Parliament to consider the expulsion of this member whose conduct, the PCJC described - with considerable restraint - as "completely unacceptable and inappropriate".
The logical assumption would be that One Nation's parliamentary leader, when faced with overwhelming evidence of Mr Paff's "big-timing" lies, would immediately have disciplined him. But logic is not a word or a concept readily grasped in the One Nation party room. Instead, Bill Feldman ran the extraordinary line that Mr Paff was a fearless old police officer who the PCJC wanted to jettison. Moreover, he went on radio to claim that the false allegations had been made against four officers to test whether there were leaks coming from the CJC - despite the fact that Mr Paff had testified to the PCJC that he had not been testing for leaks at that time and had only thought of such an explanation after the event.
Not satidfied with leaving it there, Mr Feldman claimed the whole affair provided further proof of a conspiracy between the CJC and The Courier-Mail. Given that the newspaper has been locked in a protracted legal battle with the CJC for much of the commission's existence and that it was The Courier-Mail which, more than any other organisation in this state, which brought to light the truth of the Heiner affair and the abuse of of children, Mr Feldman's allegation displays as much correlation to reality as did those of Mr Paff.
Every indication is that the One Nation members have reached the conclusion that they are all one term wonders, but it does not provide them with carte-blanche to act as wreckers in the little time they have left in the House. If One Nation is to leave behind anything of substance, Mr Feldman must start exercising some stern discipline and control, starting with himself.