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Senate Move For New Inquiry Justice Project Sparks Senate Action By Susann Kovacs (Nov 27, 2003) The Australian Senate will vote next week on a move by Queensland One Nation Senator Len Harris to establish a select committee to inquire into and report on new and unresolved issues arising out of the long-running Shreddergate or Heiner Affair (see Shredding Story Overview and The Shredding). Senator Harris told the Upper House yesterday (November 26, 2003) the proposed committee would examine ongoing issues relating to child abuse in Queensland (see What They Did To A Girl In Care and related stories). During an address on a Matter of Public Importance, Senator Harris contrasted the discontent “certain Senators,” showed over former Governor-General Peter Hollingworth’s handling of child sex abuse issues in the Anglican Church with the apparent apathy the Heiner issue had met with over the years. He said the circumstances leading to Dr Hollingworth’s resignation as Governor- General “caused certain standards of handling child abuse allegations to be laid down by certain Senators,” and therefore the same standard should be applied “to ourselves”. “The Senate should not be deliberately or unintentionally misled. It cannot accept into evidence, or have on the parliamentary record, twisted interpretations of the criminal law for political or improper purposes,” he said. Senator Harris said of recent material published by The Justice Project and given as evidence to the federal parliament’s Committee of Inquiry into Crime in the Community, “a more disturbing bracket of evidence you would never read,”. Queensland Liberal Senator George Brandis criticised Queensland Premier Peter Beattie’s attitude to the issue of child abuse. He said Mr Beattie had been “swift to condemn Mr Hollingworth and more swift to earn some cheap political points out of his circumstances”. However, Senator Brandis said, only a matter of months after making a strong statement that “there must be a national royal commission into the issue of child abuse,” Mr Beattie had used his numbers in the Queensland Parliament to thwart a move by Independent Member for Gladstone Liz Cunningham to establish a royal commission into child abuse. West Australian Democrats Senator Andrew Murray said the motivation for the cover-up of child abuse associated with the Heiner matter may not have arisen from any criminal or “perverted intent,”. However, Senator Murray said: “It’s just not good enough.” He said the issues surrounding the Heiner Affair were a “matter of public importance”. Senator Murray also expressed concern that there was “far too much secrecy, suppression and concealment within governments and bureaucracies in general”. Queensland Labor Senator Claire Moore said her party believed authorities should focus more on “the genuine issue” of child abuse in the community. Top 2544 page visits Content Management Software 2012