Time to act on injustices

THE cover-up of hundreds of cases of suspected child abuse by Queensland Child Safety workers on the orders of Queensland government ministers has shocked millions of Australians, but one young Aboriginal woman isn't surprised.

Annette, who is still waiting for police to act on her 19-year-old complaint of rape and carnal knowledge, compares the response of Queensland authorities to horrific cases occurring in Third World nations, highlighted by Amnesty International. She believes Queensland police are "protecting'' not only those who committed the crimes against her, but those who took part in the ongoing cover-up. In a letter from her lawyer, Gordon Harris, last week to Task Force Argos detectives investigating her gang rape, Annette outlined her reservations about them being able to carry out their inquiry because of the cover-up. Statements about Annette's rape while in the care of the Queensland government at the John Oxley Youth Centre were made to retired magistrate Noel Heiner. But they were shredded in 1990, not long after premier Wayne Goss took office, when his Cabinet ordered a halt to Heiner's investigation. Harris's letter states: "It has been reported by politicians, investigative bodies, the Director of Prosecutions, parliament, the newspapers and in correspondence that the matter has been fully investigated.'' However, "the release of FoI documents made a mockery of the claim that the matter was fully investigated.'' Just as in the case of the 10-year-old girl whose rape at Aurukun sparked the current blaze of publicity, Annette, then 14, had not reached the age of consent when she was raped. Harris has told the police Annette is "completely suspicious'' of their motive in wanting correspondence relating to another rape matter unrelated to her complaint, and believes police are trying to gain information in an attempt to discredit her and protect the State from a damages claim. "Up until the release of the FoI documents, her complaints were covered up, not investigated and she was treated as though she had leprosy,'' Harris said. "The consequence to her was a collision course with alcohol, drugs and mental illness.'' Annette believes the cover-up was considered acceptable because she was an Aborigine. Harris noted that Peter Coyne, former manager of the youth centre, told The Weekend Australian of October 13/14: "I did nothing wrong. We investigated the alleged rape, we acted and the documents show that.'' Harris compared that with a November 8, 2001, story in The Courier-Mail that reported Coyne knew of the rape and thatit had been covered up. The article also said a former youth worker had been asked about the rape by Noel Heiner, who, the witness said "knew about it already''. Harris said it was clear from the documents now available that police knew of the assault, the victim's age and the law in respect to rape and carnal knowledge, but took no action. The Deep North scandal has again ripped the scab from the scandalous conduct of successive Queensland governments in relation to indigenous Australians and their failure of the laws relating to crimes of sexual abuse. The responses of Premier Anna Bligh and her predecessor Peter Beattie are long on hypocrisy but fall far short of what is needed to bring an end to the injustices endemic to that State's legal culture.