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nullA Needless Rape Another John Oxley outrage (Two)     Rape of girl could have been ‘averted” : Bishop   By Penny Brand   THE Chair of the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of Inquiry into Crime in the Community, Bronwyn Bishop, says the rape of a girl reported on pages and two “could have been averted” if the Heiner Inquiry had not been shut down by the Queensland government in 1990.   Mrs Bishop said that the problem of what happened to the girl was “systemic” and if the subsequent Goss-Government had “seized the problem instead of trying to cover it up” the atrocities carried out at the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre may have been prevented.    “It just shows there was a complete lack of concern to look after children,” she said.   Mrs Bishop said that when Beryce Nelson, the Minister in the Cooper Government who established the Heiner Inquiry, gave evidence to her committee, she had said there was a culture that you “looked after” and “covered up” for adults and did not protect children.   “It seems to me that that culture is still abounding in Queensland when I look at the evidence that was given to the Committee with regard to Bribie Island,” Mrs Bishop said.   The girl was the second to have been raped as a child and the fourth female resident known to have been raped while in custody at the Centre.   Mrs Bishop said her inquiry had shed a “lot of light on what has been a very murky system”.   “I think it is truly amazing that in all the inquiries that the Premier refers to … it is utterly amazing Mr Heiner was never asked to appear, and that Beryce Nelson had never been called before [and] that the methods of the so-called inquiries never fully investigated all the problems surrounding the question of abuse of children and particularly what went on at the John Oxley Detention Centre,” she said.   Mrs Bishop said her Committee was continuing its examination and collation of evidence.   “At this stage we are concentrating on the evidence that we have taken and putting it together in report form,” she said.   Mrs Bishop said she was unable to comment any further on the report.   The Four Labor members of the committee resigned in mid-July.   Mrs Bishop said the resignations would not reduce the impact of the inquiry.   “It’s just a political stunt.  Anyone who saw the way in which they [the Labor members] treated some of the witnesses will understand that.   “They want to play politics with an important Committee.    “And that’s what they’re doing.  They are just playing good politics,” she said. 2671 page visits Content Management Software 2012