CITATION: Bronwyn Bishop

The Award has been given for the progress achieved, by the Federal Parliamentary Committee that Ms Bishop chaired, in exposing the wrongdoing that accompanied the shredding of the Heiner documents by the Qld Government.

The Report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, titled Crime in the Community: Victims, Offenders and Fear of Crime, recommended that members of the Queensland Cabinet of the relevant time be charged with an offence pursuant to section 129 of the Qld Criminal Code Act 1899.

The Standing Committee and its chair distinguished themselves by being the first authority to take evidence, albeit 12 years after the shredding, from Magistrate Heiner and from Minister Beryl Nelson who appointed him.

The Committee’s stance, that it is  illegal to destroy evidence likely to be needed for future litigation, joins that of QCs Tony Morris and Greenwood, Justices Callinan, Thomas and Samios, and Sir Harry Gibbs in building the weight of eminent legal opinion opposing the opinion without precedent followed by legal officers appointed to Qld Government positions – the Crime and Misconduct Commission, Office of the Ombudsman, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Office of State Coroner, and the  Information Commission.

How could so many watchdogs be so totally in breach of legal precedent?

The Whistleblower’s Action Group Qld Inc has long argued its concerns that the justice system in Queensland may now be so comprehensively ‘captured’ by its political masters that it is unable to reform itself.

The view held by the Group is that influence and authority from outside of Queensland is needed if reform of the Queensland system is to be achieved. The work of Ms Bronwyn Bishop and her Committee has made a vital contribution along this pathway to reform.

It has been the cause for the Qld Commissioner of Police to break ranks from his fellow political appointees, and recommend that the shredding be revisited.

Ms Bishop’s actions thus come within the Whistleblower Action Group’s definition of outstanding support to whistleblowers.