Corruption buster Tony Fitzgerald urges Queensland voters to ditch major parties CORRUPTION fighter Tony Fitzgerald believes Queenslanders should shun both major parties until they reform the state’s political system and commit to operating without self-interest. Mr Fitzgerald, QC, last night told the Griffith University School of Criminology’s third biennial lecture named in his honour that Queensland’s political system had been reduced to a “win-at-all-costs”, “whatever it takes” contest between the two parties. In a rare public appearance, Mr Fitzgerald said every three years voters supported one side or another knowing they would use the power to benefit themselves, financial backers and “ambitious camp-followers”. “As matters stand, neither major party wants political standards to be a significant electoral issue and neither will willingly reform the flawed political process which they control and from which they each benefit,’’ he said. Mr Fitzgerald renewed his criticisms of the Newman Government, accusing it of peddling populist rhetoric to encourage “ignorance and bigotry” while branding educated critics “elites”. “Behind that populist facade, the Government sacked, stacked and otherwise reduced the effectiveness of parliamentary committees, subverted and weakened the state’s anti-corruption commission, made unprecedented attacks on the courts and the judiciary, appointed a totally unsuitable Chief Justice and reverted to selecting male judges almost exclusively,” he said. Mr Fitzgerald predicted the next emerging concern would be the “inappropriate influence of politically-supportive police”. He also accused the Labor Party of sitting back poised to assume power sometime in the future without any commitments towards fixing the system and to avoid attracting attention to its own past conduct. “The Labor Party has given no persuasive indication of a change of heart since its last term in government and that, if elected, it will exercise power solely for legitimate purposes,’’ he said. Mr Fitzgerald said it was now incumbent on Queenslanders to demand a better standard of government by voting against the major parties until they commit to change. “If Queenslanders want a free, fair, tolerant society, good governance and honest public administration, a sufficient number of voters must make it clear that they will decline to vote for any party which does not first satisfy them that it will exercise power only for the public benefit,’’ he said. Mr Fitzgerald also criticised The Courier-Mail for failing to keep the Government honest and using “gossip-column cronies” to stifle free speech. He took aim at comments made to the paper last week by Bob Bottom, a retired journalist and special adviser to NSW police, who accused Mr Fitzgerald of ignoring transcripts he gave him relating to organised crime. “The hatred and lies of those whose criminality, misconduct and incompetence I exposed, their fellow travellers and lackeys and miscellaneous far-right lunatics and conspiracy theorists have continued since the corruption inquiry,” Mr Fitzgerald said, describing Mr Bottom as an “acquaintance of Queensland’s recently appointed, totally unsuitable Chief Justice”. “It diminished to some extent after 1998 when I retired as President of the Queensland Court of Appeal and left the state for a period, but it has built up again following my public opposition to the current government’s attempt to reverse the post-inquiry reforms and return the state to its previous dark era. “I’d prefer to disregard the abuse, but I don’t want my silence to encourage bullies or discourage others, especially young people, from speaking out against powerful vested interests.” He also called on Premier Campbell Newman and Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to take notice of the work the being done by Griffith University and seek help in order to improve the prospects of its crackdown on bikies and other crime. The speech, made to introduce the guest speaker, Professor Emeritus David Bayley, from the University of Albany in New York, was attended by multiple Supreme Court judges including Court of Appeal president Justice Margaret McMurdo and her husband, Justice Philip McMurdo. Deputy Premier and State Development Minister Jeff Seeney today refused to be drawn on Mr Fitzgerald’s comments, saying he wanted to focus on his Government’s achievements. “I think we’re here to talk about a much more important issue than Tony Fitzgerald, we’re here to talk about making affordable housing available to people in the community who need it,” he said, at a sod-turning event at Brisbane’s Lutwyche. Mr Seeney said he and his colleagues were focused on “providing services to people”. “The political nonsense is all froth and bubble, really,” he said. “It’s about providing services to people, it’s about outcomes. “Sometimes, it’s not readily apparent the amount of work that has to be done to get an outcome.”
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 13:11:19 +0000
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