Fitzgerald Inquiry - Citizendia

The Fitzgerald Inquiry into Queensland Police corruption was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC. The Queensland Police Service is the law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. Leadership and corruption is a specific form of Leaders misconduct sometimes involving Political corruption, and generally designed to gain a financial or political The Honourable Justice Gerald Edward Fitzgerald AC QC (born 26 November 1941) was an Australian judge Queen's Counsel ( postnominal QC) &ndash known as King's Counsel ( KC) during the reign of a male sovereign &ndash are The inquiry was established in response to a series of articles on high-level police corruption in The Courier-Mail by reporter Phil Dickie, followed by a Four Corners report, aired on 11 May 1987, entitled "The Moonlight State" with reporter Chris Masters. Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force The Courier-Mail is a daily Newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Four Corners is Australia 's longest-running Investigative journalism / current affairs Television program Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Christopher "Chris" Wayne Masters PSM (born 4 December 1948 is a multi- Walkley Award winning and Logie Award winning With Queensland's Premier of 18 years, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, out of the state, his deputy Bill Gunn ordered a commission of inquiry. Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern corner of the mainland continent Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen KCMG (13 January 1911 &ndash 23 April 2005] New Zealand -born Australian Politician, was the longest-serving William Angus Manson Gunn, known as Bill Gunn, (1920-2001 was elected to the Queensland Parliament in 1972 for the Seat of Somerset, representing the National A government agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the Machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions

The allegations aired in the media were not new; they had surfaced from time to time and some news organisations had been forced to pay damages to aggrieved people who alleged their reputations had been damaged. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" Reputation is the opinion (more technically a social evaluation of the public toward a Person, a group of people, or an Organization. While the terms of the inquiry were initially narrow, restricted only to the specific allegations raised against specific persons named in the media over a period of just five years, Fitzgerald used his moral authority to lever the inquiry into a position of being able to inquire into any relevant matter. An allegation (also called adduction) is a statement of a Fact by a party in a Pleading, which the party claims it will prove

This enabled him to set a new precedent for Royal Commissions in Australia generally, using innovative methods such as indemnities from prosecution for key witnesses to secure vital evidence. The term Royal Commission may also be used in the United Kingdom to describe the group of Lords Commissioners who may act in the stead of the The inquiry was initially expected to last about six weeks; it instead spent almost two years conducting a comprehensive investigation of long-term, systemic political corruption and abuse of power in Queensland.

On August 28, a Licensing Branch sergeant, Harry Burgess implicated Jack Herbert, assistant commissioner Graeme Parker. Parker confessed and implicated police commissioner Sir Terry Lewis on September 16. Terence Murray "Terry" Lewis (born 29 February 1928 previously Sir Terry Lewis OBE GM QPM, is a former Queensland, ^[1]

The inquiry would eventually outlive the Bjelke-Petersen government. Evidence revealed by the investigation (including testimony from Bjelke-Petersen himself) caused significant political damage and an internal power struggle within the National Party, resulting in Bjelke-Petersen resigning as Premier after his unsuccessful attempt to have the Governor sack all of his ministers after they deposed him as party leader. The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party. A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government

Jack Reginald Herbert had been the bagman, collecting bribes for police commissioner Terry Lewis from 1980. Terence Murray "Terry" Lewis (born 29 February 1928 previously Sir Terry Lewis OBE GM QPM, is a former Queensland, Lewis himself had been a bagman for former commissioner Frank Bischof^[2] .

Based on the inquiry's final report, [1] a number of high-profile politicians were charged with crimes; notably Queensland Police Commissioner (Sir) Terry Lewis was charged with corruption, and Bjelke-Petersen himself was charged with and later acquitted of perjury for evidence given to the inquiry. A politician (from Greek " Polis " is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of Politics or a person In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment Terence Murray "Terry" Lewis (born 29 February 1928 previously Sir Terry Lewis OBE GM QPM, is a former Queensland, Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under Oath or Affirmation in a

Lewis was convicted (and subsequently stripped of his knighthood), while the Bjelke-Petersen trial resulted in an acquittal due to a hung jury amidst allegations that the jury foreman (later revealed to be the leader of the youth wing of Bjelke-Petersen's National Party) had misrepresented the state of deliberations to the judge. Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. A hung jury is a Jury that cannot agree upon a Verdict after an extended period of Deliberation and is deadlocked with irreconcilable differences of The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party. Bjelke-Petersen's trial was later the subject of a TV movie, "Joh's Jury" [2].

References

Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct, "Fitzgerald Inquiry report", Government Printer, Brisbane, 1989.

References

Further reading