CHRIS HURLEY TO TRIAL OVER DEATH OF MULRUNJI

Policeman faces death in custody trial
is the headline in The Age in Melbourne to-day.
The item puts the situation in an historic context
but if one knew nothing of the Australian penal system
one might think that a policeman is facing a death sentence.
Sensationalism?

Meanwhile, over at The Courier Mail in Brisbane, Queensland
the headline is terse.
Hurley trial in June
The reporting is succinct. Bare detail.
Trying not to offend anyone are we?
Like the Queensland Police?
Like Peter Beattie and the Queensland Government?

CHRIS HURLEY TO FACE JUSTICE OVER MULRUNJI'S DEATH

News has just come through that Sir Laurence Street in his review of the decision of the Queensland Director of Public Prosecution has declared that there is sufficient evidence to charge Chris Hurley in relation to the death of Cameron Doomadgee (Mulrunji) and that there may be sufficient evidence to convict. While Miss Eagle has provided links to the Media Release of Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine she believes that it warrants publication in full on this blog.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western QueenslandThe Honourable Kerry Shine
Friday, January 26, 2007

POLICE OFFICER TO FACE LEGAL ACTION

IN RELATION TO PALM ISLAND DEATH

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Kerry Shine, today confirmed he had received Sir Laurence Street’s legal opinion in relation to possible charges resulting from the death of Mulrunji on Palm Island in 2004.
Mr Shine said Sir Laurence, a former New South Wales Chief Justice, had considered the brief of evidence provided by the Director of Public Prosecution Leanne Clare.
Sir Laurence was asked to consider

(1) whether sufficient admissible evidence exists to support the institution of criminal proceedings against any person with respect to the death of Mulrunji; and

(2) whether a reasonable prospect of a conviction before a reasonable jury exists in the event a prosecution is brought against any person.
“Sir Laurence has advised me that he believes there is sufficient admissible evidence exists to support the institution of criminal proceedings against Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley for manslaughter of Mulrunji,” Mr Shine said.
“Furthermore, Sir Laurence believes there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction.”
Mr Shine said Sir Laurence had emphasised that his role was not to determine whether Senior Sergeant Hurley was guilty of an offence, but rather to determine whether he should be put on trial.
“In light of Sir Laurence’s opinion, and having given very careful consideration to the matter myself, I have decided it is in the public interest that this matter should be resolved in a court,” he said.
“I have today instructed the Crown Solicitor to take the necessary steps to initiate a prosecution as soon as possible.”
“I ask that, given the pending legal proceedings, the media show restraint in their reporting of this matter so that Senior Sergeant Hurley can be assured of a fair trial.”
Mr Shine said the fact that Sir Laurence had formed a different opinion to that of Ms Clare was in no way a slight on her.
“The best legal minds often differ on matters of law – even in the High Court of Australia it is common for differing judgements to be recorded,” he said.
“In my view, Ms Clare has acted within the scope of her duty and her authority.”
Mr Shine said the Government’s intention remained to table Sir Laurence’s opinion in State Parliament.
“We will do so as soon as it is legally appropriate, but it is likely this will not be until after the court case to ensure the fairness of the prosecution is not compromised,” Mr Shine said.

26 January 2007

Media contact: Kirby Anderson 0418 197 350

*****

Miss Eagle asks:

Why did the issue of justice not come naturally to the Government of Queensland and its employees (the DPP; the Police) in this case?

What does this case have to say about the state of governance at all levels in Queensland?

Mr Beattie put on display Queensland backwardness in relationships with the first people of this nation. What will he do to bring about best practice, 21st century standards, in race relations in Queensland?

Above all, Mr Beattie, why did you have to be pushed?

Why did so many people in so many places have to expend so much energy in so much sorrow to ensure that the Queensland Police faced justice on this issue?

Paradise - Penal Colony - Place of Promise

Palm Island: Paradise, former Penal Colony, place of promise

" When you come here and say you can't do anything,

you must accept the cynicism and disbelief of this community,"

These words by national ALP President, Warren Mundine, to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie say it all.

However, it could have been that yesterday Peter Beattie was indulging in the art of dog-whistling. Dog-whistling is a way of speaking of which Prime Minister John Howard has often been accused.

Was Peter Beattie dog-whistling yesterday when he said - on one hand - that he would not tell the DPP, Leanne Clare, what to do and yet - in the next breath - Beattie said that if Leanne Clare decided to seek an independent review and call in the NSW DPP, Nicholas Cowdery, to review the decision not to prosecute Chris Hurley in relation to the death of Mulrunji (Cameron Doomadgee) he would support the decision?

Is this how to tell a DPP what should be done when you won't tell the DPP what to do?

Beattie also said he would support the Doomadgee family if they decided to seek a review of the decision of the DPP in the Supreme Court of Queensland.

So for all he did not say, did Beattie really say something? Time will tell.

What disgusted Miss Eagle is the announcement by Beattie that he would provide funding for the building of a diversionary facility on Palm.

Here in a nutshell is the ignorance and arrogance of governments of all persuasions in Queensland.

Palm Island is social mess - but it is a social mess of historic whitefella making from when the Queensland Government rounded up Aboriginal men and women from across North Queensland early in the 20th century and herded them onto Palm Island in what was - for all intents and purposes - an Aboriginal penal colony. People were thrown together irrespective of family and clan connections or clan rivalries. Palm Island was a gulag where even someone like Aboriginal Liberal Party Senator Neville Bonner would have to get permission to visit his family on Palm - and that permission was not always forthcoming!

True, Aboriginal people, just like settler people, could always do better.

Above all Queensland has to do better.

In Miss Eagle's book, Queensland has a fail mark on race relations. In fact, Queensland - with its head and its money stuck firmly in the south-east corner far, far away for the state's north - hasn't a clue. Beattie displayed that yesterday. Beattie will continue to sink money hand over fist into Brisbane because it is the second-fastest growing city in the world after Phoenix Arizona. In North Queensland, there is not even a flood free highway - let alone money for justice and redressing social, health, economic, educational, employment, and governance issues on Palm Island and other Aboriginal communities.

Labor turmoil: a case of needed change and a defence of the past and its people

Now its on again, turmoil and all, as the so-called Dream Team of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard challenges Kim Beazley, the current Leader, for leadership of the ALP prior to a 2007 Federal election.

Miss Eagle wonders about the over-statement of the Rudd-Gillard, Right-Left partnership as a Dream Team. However, Miss Eagle recalls that, after years of corrupt National Party government in Queensland, a major factor undergirding the successful ALP campaign which resulted in the election of Wayne Goss as Premier of Queensland 17 years ago to this very day on 2 December, 1989, was the partnership of right and left with the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Australian Metal Workers Union (AMWU).

This partnership shocked people - not least those within the ALP - and spelled the beginning of the end for Peter Beattie in his role as State Secretary of the Queensland ALP and meant some wilderness years for Beattie on his way to the Queensland Parliament, years on the backbench because of his rivalry with Goss, and now his success story as Queensland Premier. On this pragmatic tide, Wayne Swan - currently, Kim Beazley's Shadow Treasurer - became Qld State Secretary of the ALP. This was another rung on the Qld ALP's ladder of success. Without this right-left pragmatism, it is unlikely that Goss would have got to government and, almost certainly, not with the landslide success delivered to him in 1989.

This is something that Big Bill Ludwig, AWU heavyweight and powerbroker-kingpin in Queensland, should remember. Bill should remember in calling his factional Federal MPs to heel that he was unable to successfully call time in 1991 when Keating defeated Bob Hawke. Ludwig stuck doggedly to Hawke when the time for change had clearly come. Bill and his son, Senator Joe Ludwig, ought to remember this. Ludwig Senior and his AWU shearer mates in western Queensland stuck doggedly to Old Guard Labor tickets when Peter Beattie was reforming the ALP in Queensland in the early '80s and issuing reform tickets. Bill's mentality has not altered. Dogged loyalty can be an admirable thing but not to include yourself as a force of change and progress is not.

Bill, let the hounds off the leash in Queensland so that they can make their own decisions.

You would serve the nation well in doing this.

Recycling a rorter - and then back to Queensland?

Miss Eagle will have to pay more attention. This appointment had got past her - but she thinks it is still worth bringing attention to it.

Mike Kaiser, as a university student, was brought into a select clique of young men, including Paul Lucas who is currently Queensland's Minister for Transport and Main Roads. These young men were destined for careers in or relating to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in Queensland under the guidance and leadership of David Barbagallo, an expert in student politics as well as IT and former Chief of Staff to the Premier of Queensland, Wayne Goss.

Mike did what was asked of him or, to put it in Graham Richardson's vernacular, did 'whatever it takes' within the Labor faction governed by the AWU in Queensland; became State Secretary of the Queensland ALP; and was later elected to the Queensland Parliament from the seat of Woodridge. And then the excreta hit the rotating blade.

The Shepherdson Inquiry revealed Barbagallo and Kaiser's involvement (as well as the involvement of others) in electoral fraud. Peter Beattie wanted his government to be seen as cleaner than clean and so Kaiser resigned his seat. But it wasn't long before it became clear that Kaiser's resignation was window dressing and there appeared to be interest, including from Peter Beattie, in bringing Kaiser back in from the cold. He went off to be Assistant Secretary of the Federal ALP. Now, it seems, he may only be a step or two away from going to the electorate once again. He has moved from the backroom to become Chief of Staff to New South Wales Premier, Maurice Iemma. It is wonderful what the ALP Right can do. But if Mike is to face the electorate again - and, almost certainly, he won't bother if it is merely a marginal seat - what guarantee do the longsuffering voters have that Mike's ethics have improved?