When men of honour speak the nation must listen

COL Dillon is a man of impeccable reputation. A former Queensland police inspector, a whistleblower to the Fitzgerald Inquiry which exposed corruption at the highest levels of the Queensland Police Force, he won respect for the brave stand he took against entrenched crime. He is beyond reproach.

On Tuesday, in a live interview with the ABC's Richard Fidler, Dillon used the strongest words to accuse the current Queensland Labor Government of corruption: "I want to make this crystal clear. Things are shocking in this state. Corruption still exists. It permeates right through the whole of government." Dillon said the Heiner Affair, which began with the illegal shredding of documents by the Goss Cabinet when it was known they were wanted as evidence, was at the heart of a scandal which embraced successive Queensland governments. Ominously for those involved, from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, to Premier Anna Bligh, to former Queensland governor and now Governor-General Quentin Bryce, he declared: "It is not going to go away. "I just hope the people who supported me, who heard me when I took the stand at the Fitzgerald Inquiry, would be mindful of what I am saying now and I would make this appeal to them that they go to their politicians and ask that something be done about this. "There are five eminent judges across this nation, one a former (High Court) Chief Justice, who are co-signatories to a letter saying this is a matter that is unfinished business. There is a case to be answered. "There has been cover-up after cover-up by a succession of governments in this state and until such time it is fixed our state will not be able to move ahead. It is a boil that needs to be lanced, sooner rather than later. "It will affect my children and your children, your grandchildren and future generations to come." Yesterday I spoke to Dillon, who was also the first Aboriginal Australian to join a major police force (entering the force in 1965, two years before Aborigines acquired the vote in Queensland) and retains the honour of becoming the highest-ranking Aboriginal police officer in the nation. After 36 years as a serving police office, he knows criminal activity when he sees it and is adamant politicians in Queensland have engaged in corrupt practices to prevent the Heiner case being investigated. Rudd, former premier Wayne Goss's chief of staff at the time of the illegal shredding, has made contradictory statements about his role in and knowledge of the affair. Bryce asked former premier Peter Beattie for a report on the matter but never revealed what she learned. When former governor-general Michael Jeffery asked that an inquiry be instigated before Bryce was to be sworn in as his successor, Rudd's office blocked his request. Bligh has made numerous attempt to avoid taking any responsibility. Dillon is not of a political bent. Honest Australians should demand he be given a forum to fully air the allegations he wishes to make against those he sincerely believes are engaged in a monstrous cover-up.