Fitzgerald Inquiry
Encyclopedia
The Fitzgerald Inquiry into Queensland Police
corruption
was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald
QC
. The inquiry resulted in the deposition of a premier, two by-elections, the jailing of three former ministers and a police commissioner who was jailed and lost his knighthood.
corruption in The Courier-Mail
by reporter Phil Dickie, followed by a Four Corners television report, aired on 11 May 1987, entitled "The Moonlight State" with reporter Chris Masters
. Both reports highlighted prostitution, gambling and possible police corruption. With Queensland
's Premier of 18 years, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
, out of the state, his deputy Bill Gunn ordered a commission
of inquiry the day after television report was broadcast.
The allegations aired in the media
were not new; they had surfaced from time to time and some news organisations had been forced to pay damages to aggrieved people who alleged their reputation
s had been damaged (Bjelke-Petersen himself was notoriously litigious in response to unfavourable press coverage). Ian Callinan
drafted the terms of reference
for the inquiry as well as appearing before it. While the terms of the inquiry were initially narrow, restricted only to the specific allegation
s raised against specific persons named in the media over a period of just five years, Fitzgerald used his moral authority to lever the inquiry into a position of being able to inquire into any relevant matter. The terms of reference for the Commission were extended twice.
This enabled him to set a new precedent for Royal Commission
s in Australia generally, using innovative methods such as indemnities from prosecution for key witnesses to secure vital evidence. The inquiry was initially expected to last about six weeks; it instead spent almost two years conducting a comprehensive investigation of long-term, systemic political corruption and abuse of power in Queensland. Public sittings were held on 238 days, hearing testimony from 339 witnesses.
On 28 August, a Licensing Branch sergeant, Harry Burgess implicated Jack Herbert, assistant commissioner Graeme Parker. Parker confessed and implicated police commissioner Sir Terry Lewis on 16 September.
The inquiry would eventually outlive the Bjelke-Petersen government. Mike Ahern became the new Premier after Bjelke-Petersen was deposed by his own party. Evidence revealed by the investigation (including testimony from Bjelke-Petersen himself) caused significant political damage and an internal power struggle within the National Party
, resulting in Bjelke-Petersen resigning as Premier after his unsuccessful attempt to have the Governor
sack all of his ministers after they deposed him as party leader.
The inquiry's special prosecutor was Doug Drummond QC. It was Drummond that decided not to retry Bjelke-Petersen after the hung jury.
s were charged with crimes; notably Queensland Police Commissioner (Sir) Terry Lewis was charged with corruption.
Bjelke-Petersen himself was charged with perjury
in respect of evidence given to the inquiry. The jury in the case remained deadlocked. In 1992 it was revealed that the jury foreman, Luke Shaw, was a member of the Young Nationals and was identified with the "Friends of Joh" movement. A special prosecutor announced in 1992 there would be no retrial because Sir Joh, then aged 81, was too old.
Jack Herbert had been the bagman, collecting bribes for police commissioner Terry Lewis from 1980. Lewis himself had been a bagman for former commissioner Francis Bischof
.
Lewis was convicted (and subsequently stripped of his knighthood), while the Bjelke-Petersen trial resulted in an mistrial due to a hung jury
amidst allegations that the jury foreman (later revealed to be a member of the youth wing of Bjelke-Petersen's National Party
) had misrepresented the state of deliberations to the judge.
Leisha Harvey
former health minister, was charged with misappropriating of public funds as part of an investigation resulting from the findings of the inquiry. She spent one year in jail. Don Lane
, former transport minister, was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for falsifying expense accounts. Lane's resignation resulted in the 1989 Merthyr state by-election
. Brian Austin
, another former health minister, was convicted of misappropriating public funds. Russ Hinze
was found to have accepted bribes from businessmen but died before charges were laid. Hinze's resignation led to the 1988 South Coast state by-election
.
(CJC) and the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission which was to review electoral boundaries. The need for Freedom of Information
legislation in the state was noted, as was the need to review laws relating to public assembly and guidelines for the disclosure of pecuniary interests of parliamentarians. The CJC was to be responsible for investigating specific individuals mentioned during the inquiry.
The police culture of the state was also criticised. Aspects such as loyalty to fellow police officers, police not enforcing laws against other police and criticism of other police not being impermissible were condemned because they led to misconduct, inefficiency and contempt for the justice system. Many of the inquiries recommendations were implemented by Wayne Goss
, the first Labor Party Premier of Queensland in 32 years.
Margot Hutcheson
painted a picture of the inquiry, Wasn’t the Fitzgerald Inquiry Fun?
Queensland Police
The Queensland Police Service is the law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto of "Firmness with Courtesy" was changed to "With Honour We Serve"...
corruption
Police corruption
Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest....
was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald
Tony Fitzgerald
Gerald Edward Fitzgerald, AC, QC is a former Australian judge, who presided over the Fitzgerald Inquiry.-Life and career:...
QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
. The inquiry resulted in the deposition of a premier, two by-elections, the jailing of three former ministers and a police commissioner who was jailed and lost his knighthood.
History
The inquiry was established in response to a series of articles on high-level policePolice
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
corruption in The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
by reporter Phil Dickie, followed by a Four Corners television report, aired on 11 May 1987, entitled "The Moonlight State" with reporter Chris Masters
Chris Masters (writer)
Christopher "Chris" Wayne Masters PSM is a multi-Walkley Award winning and Logie Award winning Australian journalist and author.-Life:Chris Masters was born in Grafton, New South Wales...
. Both reports highlighted prostitution, gambling and possible police corruption. With Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
's Premier of 18 years, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
, out of the state, his deputy Bill Gunn ordered a commission
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...
of inquiry the day after television report was broadcast.
The allegations aired in the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
were not new; they had surfaced from time to time and some news organisations had been forced to pay damages to aggrieved people who alleged their reputation
Reputation
Reputation of a social entity is an opinion about that entity, typically a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria...
s had been damaged (Bjelke-Petersen himself was notoriously litigious in response to unfavourable press coverage). Ian Callinan
Ian Callinan
Ian David Francis Callinan, AC, QC is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Education:...
drafted the terms of reference
Terms of reference
Terms of reference describe the purpose and structure of a project, committee, meeting, negotiation, or any similar collection of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal. The terms of reference of a project are often referred to as the project charter.- Terms of...
for the inquiry as well as appearing before it. While the terms of the inquiry were initially narrow, restricted only to the specific allegation
Allegation
An allegation is a claim of a fact by a party in a pleading, which the party claims to be able to prove. Allegations remain assertions without proof, until they can be proved....
s raised against specific persons named in the media over a period of just five years, Fitzgerald used his moral authority to lever the inquiry into a position of being able to inquire into any relevant matter. The terms of reference for the Commission were extended twice.
This enabled him to set a new precedent for Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
s in Australia generally, using innovative methods such as indemnities from prosecution for key witnesses to secure vital evidence. The inquiry was initially expected to last about six weeks; it instead spent almost two years conducting a comprehensive investigation of long-term, systemic political corruption and abuse of power in Queensland. Public sittings were held on 238 days, hearing testimony from 339 witnesses.
On 28 August, a Licensing Branch sergeant, Harry Burgess implicated Jack Herbert, assistant commissioner Graeme Parker. Parker confessed and implicated police commissioner Sir Terry Lewis on 16 September.
The inquiry would eventually outlive the Bjelke-Petersen government. Mike Ahern became the new Premier after Bjelke-Petersen was deposed by his own party. Evidence revealed by the investigation (including testimony from Bjelke-Petersen himself) caused significant political damage and an internal power struggle within the National Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
, resulting in Bjelke-Petersen resigning as Premier after his unsuccessful attempt to have the Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
sack all of his ministers after they deposed him as party leader.
The inquiry's special prosecutor was Doug Drummond QC. It was Drummond that decided not to retry Bjelke-Petersen after the hung jury.
Findings
Fitzgerald's report was submitted on 3 July 1989. Based on the inquiry's final report, a number of high-profile politicianPolitician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s were charged with crimes; notably Queensland Police Commissioner (Sir) Terry Lewis was charged with corruption.
Bjelke-Petersen himself was charged with perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
in respect of evidence given to the inquiry. The jury in the case remained deadlocked. In 1992 it was revealed that the jury foreman, Luke Shaw, was a member of the Young Nationals and was identified with the "Friends of Joh" movement. A special prosecutor announced in 1992 there would be no retrial because Sir Joh, then aged 81, was too old.
Jack Herbert had been the bagman, collecting bribes for police commissioner Terry Lewis from 1980. Lewis himself had been a bagman for former commissioner Francis Bischof
Francis Bischof
Francis Erich Bischof was a police commissioner in the Australian state of Queensland from January 1958 until his resignation, on the 13 February 1969, amidst allegations of corruption...
.
Lewis was convicted (and subsequently stripped of his knighthood), while the Bjelke-Petersen trial resulted in an mistrial due to a hung jury
Hung jury
A hung jury or deadlocked jury is a jury that cannot, by the required voting threshold, agree upon a verdict after an extended period of deliberation and is unable to change its votes due to severe differences of opinion.- England and Wales :...
amidst allegations that the jury foreman (later revealed to be a member of the youth wing of Bjelke-Petersen's National Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
) had misrepresented the state of deliberations to the judge.
Leisha Harvey
Leisha Harvey
Leisha Teresa Harvey is an Australian politician. She was a National Party of Australia member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1983 to 1989, representing the electorate of Greenslopes. She served as Minister for Health in the Ahern government from 1987 until her sacking in January 1989...
former health minister, was charged with misappropriating of public funds as part of an investigation resulting from the findings of the inquiry. She spent one year in jail. Don Lane
Don Lane (politician)
Donald Frederick Lane was a Minister of Transport in the Bjelke-Petersen state of Queensland's coalition government. A former policeman in the Special Branch, in 1971 he was elected as the Liberal member for Merthyr. In 1983 he joined the National Party providing it with a majority...
, former transport minister, was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for falsifying expense accounts. Lane's resignation resulted in the 1989 Merthyr state by-election
Merthyr state by-election, 1989
The Merthyr state by-election, 1989 was a by-election held on 13 May 1989 for the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of Merthyr, based in the inner Brisbane suburb of New Farm....
. Brian Austin
Brian Austin
Brian Austin was a Queensland politician and Minister of Health who represented the state seat of Wavell for the Liberal Party and then for the National Party...
, another former health minister, was convicted of misappropriating public funds. Russ Hinze
Russ Hinze
The Hon. Russell James "Russ" Hinze , born in Oxenford on the Gold Coast, was a Queensland politician in the 1970s and 1980s. He presided over an era of controversy that included the setting up of the Racing Development Fund, ministerial rezonings and the licensing of Jupiters Casino...
was found to have accepted bribes from businessmen but died before charges were laid. Hinze's resignation led to the 1988 South Coast state by-election
South Coast state by-election, 1988
A by-election was held in the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of South Coast on 28 August 1988. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting National Party member Russ Hinze....
.
Recommendations
The two most significant recommendations were the establishment of the Criminal Justice CommissionCriminal Justice Commission
The Criminal Justice Commission was established in 1989 by the Queensland Criminal Justice Act 1989, following widespread corruption amongst high-level Queensland politicians and police officers being uncovered in the Fitzgerald Inquiry...
(CJC) and the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission which was to review electoral boundaries. The need for Freedom of Information
Freedom of information
Freedom of information refers to the protection of the right to freedom of expression with regards to the Internet and information technology . Freedom of information may also concern censorship in an information technology context, i.e...
legislation in the state was noted, as was the need to review laws relating to public assembly and guidelines for the disclosure of pecuniary interests of parliamentarians. The CJC was to be responsible for investigating specific individuals mentioned during the inquiry.
The police culture of the state was also criticised. Aspects such as loyalty to fellow police officers, police not enforcing laws against other police and criticism of other police not being impermissible were condemned because they led to misconduct, inefficiency and contempt for the justice system. Many of the inquiries recommendations were implemented by Wayne Goss
Wayne Goss
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996.-Early life:He was born at Mundubbera, Queensland and educated at Inala High School and the University of Queensland...
, the first Labor Party Premier of Queensland in 32 years.
Cultural depictions
Bjelke-Petersen's trial was later the subject of a TV movie, "Joh's Jury".Margot Hutcheson
Margot Hutcheson
Margot Hutcheson is a notable British painter, who has lived and worked in Australia and Spain. She was a partner of writer Peter Carey.-Life and work:Margot Hutcheson was born in London...
painted a picture of the inquiry, Wasn’t the Fitzgerald Inquiry Fun?
See also
- Government of QueenslandGovernment of QueenslandThe Government of Queensland is commonly known as the "Queensland Government".The form of the Government of Queensland is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1859, although it has been amended many times since then...
- List of Australian political controversies
Further reading
- Jack Herbert with Tom Gilling, The Bagman: Final Confessions of Jack Herbert, ABC Books 2004, ISBN 0-7333-1412-0
- Evan WhittonEvan WhittonEvan Whitton is an Australian journalist who currently is a columnist the online legal journal Justinian. He was editor of The National Times from 1978 to 1981, Chief Reporter and European Correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald, Reader in Journalism at the University of Queensland, Journalist...
, "The Hillbilly Dictator", Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1989, ISBN 0-642-12809-X - Phil Dickie, "The Road to Fitzgerald" University of Queensland Press 1988