Flashback: 30 years since Gold Coast MP Russ Hinze resigned from Parliament during the Fitzgerald Inquiry
RUSS Hinze was an icon of Queensland politics for decades as he came from humble beginnings on the Gold Coast to become ‘Minister of everything’. But his downfall and exit 30 years ago was sudden.
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IN the end, the career of Russ Hinze came quickly and quietly.
The towering figure known as the ‘big man of Queensland politics’ exited parliament 30 years ago this month under a cloud of accusations at the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
The South Coast MP quietly handed in his resignation letter to the clerk of the Parliament just days shy of his 22nd anniversary in Parliament and left political life behind after suffering a series of blows.
Mr Hinze had been a leading member of the National Party Government for decades, famous known as the ‘Minister for Everything’ because of the large number of portfolios he simultaneously held in the early 1980s.
As a trusted lieutenant of Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Mr Hinze wielded enormous power through his portfolios of local government, main roads, racing and police.
But it all came crashing down in 1987 after revelations of institutional corruption on the Queensland Police and conservative government led to the creation of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
The sheer volume of allegations made at the inquiry led to the downfall of Sir Joh in late 1987, whose departure from politics in December that year also ended Mr Hinze’s Ministerial career.
The Gold Coaster was dumped from Cabinet by new Premier Mike Ahern while he remained under suspicion of criminal conduct from the Inquiry.
But as 1988 rolled around, Mr Hinze launched an intense campaign to regain his Cabinet post — he donated his pay as a backbencher to charity and boycotted sittings of parliament.
But in the end it was not enough to change Ahern’s mind.
“Some people have said hang-on-in, hang-on-in,” Mr Hinze told the media.
“Well, that’s fair enough to give that advice and I guess I’ll be judged by some people for not hanging in.
“I believe six months is a reasonable time to be reinstated to Cabinet. I can’t see much point in continuing.”
Mr Ahern described him as a ‘colourful character upon hearing the news of his retirement.
“His resignation will be received with regret,” he said. “But we wish him well in his retirement.”
The Premier however feared the outcome of the by-election which was to be held in South Coast.
With Mr Hinze gone, it meant is parliamentary majority was reduced to a razor thin three.
The 68-year-old said the National Party would “”have their time cut out’’ retaining the seat and predicted trouble holding the other electorates in the city.
Nationals candidate Judy Gamin won the by-election but Mr Hinze later proved correct as the 1989 state election arrived, ejecting Ms Gamin from the seat, as well as fellow Coast-based Nationals MPs Ivan Gibbs, Leo Gately and Tom Hynd.
Mr Hinze himself was finally charged with multiple offences in December 1989, including eight counts of receiving corrupt payments.
However, he died of cancer in mid-1991 before facing court and is buried at Upper Coomera.
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