|
Welcome To The Justice Project
An Investigation Into What Happened In Queensland's
Orphanages And Children's Institutions
An internet initiative of the staff and students of the School of Journalism and Communication, The University of Queensland
Updates ...
Latest:
November, 2005
November’s issue of The Independent Monthly sees Queensland’s political system receive a roasting from leading identities on their way to a conference that will explore how, or if, the Smart State has reformed since the Fitzgerald Inquiry. And the United Nations criticises Queensland over its continued detention of children in adult jails.
October, 2005
The October edition of TIM has Queensland’s newly formed coalition heaping criticism on proposed Constitutional changes that may free the state government from a traditional check on its power. And a story reveals child offenders are still being locked up in adult prisons, despite a 13-year-long promise by the government to deal with juvenile offenders as children.
September 10, 2005
The September edition of The Independent Monthly reports on concerns that the checks which prevent the Queensland Government from abusing its power are being further eroded by proposed changes to the Constitution. Australia’s leading authority on parliamentary practice calls the changes – which potentially remove the Governor’s reserve powers – “dangerous and unnecessary”.
August 11, 2005
The Independent Monthly, in its August edition, reveals that the Queensland Police accept that the Heiner shredding may have to be revisited, while the CMC is now relying on the age of the matter -- rather than justifications based on legal reasoning -- to avoid reopening investigations. The CMC's current excuses are also heavily criticised by a former Solicitor for Queensland.
July 8, 2005
The July edition of The Independent Monthly reports on the double standards of Queensland’s justice system when a man – who was convicted on a charge for which politicians and senior bureaucrats were excused – appeals to the Governor for a pardon. The Premier has also been issued with a “please explain”.
July 1, 2005
The June edition of The Independent Monthly provides further graphic evidence of the appalling treatment meted out to inmates of the John Oxley Youth Centre in Brisbane … years after the Heiner Inquiry into the centre was torpedoed and whatever had been going on there was supposed to have been fixed.
May 12, 2005
The May edition of The Independent Monthly reveals a former High Court Justice believes the excuse used by politicians to get away with the shredding of the Heiner documents was "erroneous", while the current Dr Death Royal Commissioner warns anyone likely to be involved in his Bundaberg Hospital Inquiry not to shred anything. And the latest development in the sad story of the girl, who was pack raped in the John Oxley Youth Centre in 1988, is documented.
April 6, 2005
In the April edition of The Independent Monthly it is revealed the Governor has been waiting for a Government brief on the Heiner Affair ... for 18 months. A document surfaces which shows the DPP at odds with her predecessor. And a citizen asks why he should be sentenced when public officials weren't.
December 10, 2004
See the December edition of The Independent Monthly for important developments in the story of the pack-rape of a girl in care. After 15 years, the truth has finally emerged.
September 24, 2004
The judgment of the Queensland Court of Appeal in the matter of the Baptist pastor who destroyed evidence of child abuse (his appeal against conviction and the Attorney’s appeal against his “manifestly inadequate” sentence) is available as a pdf.
Ensbey Court of Appeal
September 10, 2004
The September edition of The Independent Monthly is now out and you may view the heiner coverage online.
August 12, 2004
The House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of Inquiry into Crime in the Community interim report into the Heiner Affair can be found as Report Two at:
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/laca/crimeinthecommunity/report.htm
August 6, 2004
Rape Could Have Been Prevented
The Chair of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of Inquiry into Crime in the Community, Bronwyn Bishop, says the rape of a girl reported on pages one and two of the August edition of The Independent Monthly “could have been averted” if the Heiner Inquiry had not been shut down by the Queensland government in 1990. Also see story below.
Death Threats
Female inmates of Brisbane’s infamous John Oxley Youth Detention Centre threatened to kill a 15-year-old girl in custody to stop her pressing charges against a staff member she said had raped her on an excursion from the centre. For the story, click heading above. To read more, including the death- threat letters, select August edition of The Independent Monthly.
July 30, 2004
One More John Oxley Outrage
Woman Tells of John Oxley Rape – 15 Months After Heiner!
Another former resident of Brisbane’s notorious John Oxley Youth Detention Centre has told The Independent Monthly she was raped while held in custody in the centre – shortly after her fifteenth birthday in 1991.
June 22, 2004
Justice Project Coordinator Bruce Grundy’s evidence to the Senate Select Committee on the Lindeberg Grievance on 11 June 2004 can be found at:
Senate Select Committee Hansard
From pages Lindeberg 83 to Lindeberg 104.
Evidence given to the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of Inquiry into Crime in the Community by Ms Beryce Nelson (the former Minister who established the Heiner Inquiry into the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre) on 18 June 2004 is also now available:
Nelson Evidence
See pages LCA 1783 to LCA 1798.
June 6, 2004
IN A controversial legal backflip, the Attorney-General has overturned the view of successive Labor administrations and lodged an appeal against the leniency of a sentence handed down to a man who destroyed evidence in a child abuse case.
View the story about the Attorney-General's backflip.
The Justice Project coordinator Bruce Grundy's submission to the Senate Select Committee of Inquiry into the Lindeberg Grievance is also now up.
May 23, 2004
The transcript of evidence given to the House of Representatives Crime in the Community Inquiry on Tuesday May 18 by Mr Noel Heiner is now available as a Microsoft Word document: Heiner Evidence
May 7, 2004
Page two of The Independent Monthly's May edition is now available.
See: May Edition
April 11, 2004
Select pages of The Independent Monthly's April edition are now available for viewing.
See: April Edition for details.
April 1, 2004
Shredding Inquiry On Again
The Australian Senate has established a committee of inquiry to re-open investigations into the 14 year-old John Oxley Youth Detention Centre shredding scandal.
March 25, 2004
Crime Inquiry chair accuses Qld Government of "cover-up" and CJC of "whitewash"
Chair of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Bronwyn Bishop, accuses the Queensland Government of a "cover up" and the CJC of a "whitewash" over the abuse of a a girl in care and a citizen being sentenced for destroying evidence while others escaped such charges.
The Hansard record of the evidence given by Justice Project coordinator Bruce Grundy to the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of Inquiry unto Crime in the Community on March 16, 2004 can be accessed via:
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/commttee/R7411.pdf
from pages LCA1613 to LCA1631.
His submissions to that Inquiry can be found at:
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/laca/crimeinthecommunity/subs/sub171.pdf
and:
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/laca/crimeinthecommunity/subs/sub171_1.pdf
March 14, 2004
Judge buries shredding excuses
February 28, 2004
The march edition of The Indpenendent Monthly is now out. See March 2004 to see the article, New Twist in Rape Story.
February 9, 2004
The first edition of the University of Queensland Journalism School independent paper, The Independent Monthly is now out. A selection of pages from this month's edition can be viewed at February 2004
January 16, 2004
Mystery Death not Misconduct for CMC
Former Queensland Police Commissioner rejects the Crime and Misconduct Commission's conclusions.
December 26, 2003
Death Mystery to CMC
December 10, 2003
Australian Senate Postpones Vote
The vote on Queensland One Nation Senator Len Harris' move to establish a select committee to inquire into and report on unresolved issues arising from the Heiner Affair has been postponed until the next period of sitting. A partial transcript of Senator Harris' and Senator Hill's statements can be viewed:
Vote Postponed
November 27, 2003
Senate Move for New Inquiry
November 5, 2003
A transcript of evidence given by Justice Project Coordinator Bruce Grundy to the Brisbane hearings of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of Inquiry Into Crime In The Community can be found from pages LCA 1382 to LCA 1415 at the following web site address: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/laca/crimeinthecommunity/transcripts/27oct03.pdf
There is none so blind as he who will not see, none so deaf as he who will not listen, and none so dumb as he who goes on speaking nonsense. Some of the major media outlets in Brisbane, yet again, have regurgitated the Premier's discredited claim in two recent press releases that the shredding of the Heiner documents has been thoroughly investigated. One might have imagined such a false reponse from the media would have been nailed years ago -- particularly when one of their own, Michael Ware of The Courier-Mail, made it clear as far back as 1999 that such claims were rubbish. See Newspaper Article . And for the record, as well as for those mentioned above, here is some of what Morris and Howard said (in the report of their partial investigation) about such claims. See Morris Howard Extract. And also just for the record, to clear away some of the cant, hypocrisy, disinformation and deceit associated with the matter, what conclusions did Morris and Howard draw from their investigation (into just the documents, remember)? For the answer, see Morris and Howard Findings.
October 24, 2003
Crime Inquiry Looks Into Heiner Shredding
Direct Links to new and developing stories or new pages will be regularly posted here, under Updates, for convenient viewing.
Use the menu on the left to navigate between other stories.
Use the Search facility to find keywords quickly.
The Project ...
The Justice Project is a continuing endeavour to uncover, not only the appalling recent history of the treatment of children in care in Queensland, Australia, but to record the stories of those who survived, and, through the efforts of journalism, to assist the victims to find some justice -- and peace in their lives.
The activities of the Justice Project are focused primarily on the issue of the abuse of children in Queensland institutions, on related matters of injustice suffered by such children, and on the claim that in this country we operate under a system governed by the rule of law.
For a detailed overview of the project, please read Beginnings.
Shreddergate: a summary ...
How a government tried to hide the abuse of children in its care. An unfinished story, identified by US academics Richard J. Cox and David A. Wallace, along with what happened to Martin Luther King's papers, the Nazi War Criminal records in Canada, documents in the Iran-Contra affair and public records in post-Apartheid South Africa, as one of the great document shredding scandals of the 20th Century. Their book "Archives and the Public Good" was published last year. See: Shredding Story Overview
Visitors to this site are advised that the stories of the victims presented on the following pages may cause distress.
Top
| 
