The Teachers Are Blowing Their Whistles!

Robina Cosser says: When I moved to Queensland in 1987 I knew very little at all about the history of the state.

I had been teaching and studying in New South Wales.

Before that I had lived and worked in England.

I had never been aware of corruption in England or in New South Wales.

And when you have very little experience of corruption, it is very hard to believe that a place can really be riddled with people who are corrupt.

People who think it is smart to lie.

And it is very hard to believe that their corruption might affect your own life.

I realised that something was very wrong almost as soon as I arrived in Queensland.

I realised that the teachers I met in schools were very afraid.

But I didn't know why they were so afraid.

And I never imagined that I would learn to be afraid.

Too afraid to go to work.

So, for the benefit of teachers who are considering moving from other states or other countries, I have decided to provide some information about what has been 'going on' in Queensland - how the state has become a place where you may feel unsafe at work.

Almost a century ago the Queensland Labor Government abolished the upper house.

It has been suggested that this was the genesis of corruption in Queensland.

Without a house of review, power rests with the cabinet and absolute power corrupts in time.

Upper house could deliver what the Fitzgerald Report could not, Gary Hardgrave, pp. 48-49, The Courier-Mail, 6 April 2014.

Queensland's cultural and political life has long been hobbled by anti-intellectualism.

Some Queenslanders still pride themselves on being philistines.

The culture denigrates new ways of thinking, new ideas and abstract thinking.

It becomes 'uncool' to excel at school.

Historian and thinker Professor John Cole, executive director of the institute for Resiliant Regions at the University of Southern Queensland, says Queensland has a long history of anti-intellectualism and that 'Queensland intellectual' remains an oxymoron.

Professor Cole says that the anti-intellectual tone in Queensland was set up early when the University of Queensland rejected an application from a leading philosopher.

Professor Sir Karl Popper applied for the Garrick Chair of Law at the University of Queensland in 1938.

He was not even shortlisted.

Frances Cumbrae-Stewart was appointed - a man who had worked at the University as the registrar.

One of the great intellectuals of the 20th century was knocked back in favour of a long-serving administrator.

Robina Cosser says : The promotion system still seems to work this way in Queensland. 

People are given promotions and special awards for very, very strange reasons.

And then you have to work with these people.

Professor Popper went on to a chair at the London School of Economics and became one of the most influential thinkers and advocates for liberal democracy in the 20th century.

Where have all the intellectuals gone? , Des Houghton, pp. 34-35, The Courier-Mail, Saturday 5 July, 2014.

In 1963, Queensland premier Frank Nicklin commissioned Harry Gibbs, a judge of the Supreme Court, to preside over the National Hotel royal commission.

Allegations had been made of police corruption, including claims that police commissioner Frank Bischof and his cronies frequented the hotel and encouraged and condoned pr-stit-tion there.

The Terms of Reference of the royal commission have been said to be too narrow.

Others say the royal commission was a cover-up. 

After 34 days of hearings, Gibbs found that "no member of the Police Force has been guilty of misconduct or violation of duty."

The findings of the royal commission condemned Queensland to decades of institutionalised corruption.

This was the point at which public villainy became an industry.

Gibbs gave corruption green light, Terry Sweetman, pp. 34-35, The Courier-Mail, 15 March 2013

High school attendance was not compulsory in Queensland till 1964.

Labor governments in the first half of the last century had said they simply didn't have the money for education, Professor John Cole explains.

Where have all the intellectuals gone? Des Houghton, pp. 34-35, The Courier-Mail, Saturday 5 July, 2014.

Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen loved nothing better than baiting intellectuals. 

Joh would draw intellectuals out onto the streets to protest - and then win elections on law and order issues.

Most of the 'intellectuals' were chased out of Queensland during the Joh years.

They were chased interstate or to London.

And 'Intellectual' became a term of abuse in Queensland.

Where have all the intellectuals gone ?, Des Houghton, pp. 34-35, The Courier-Mail, Saturday 5 July, 2014.

Joh Bjelkie-Petersen's cabinets were infamous for having only one (and before that no) university graduate.

Some members of the Queensland cabinet had barely completed primary school.

Loyalty to Joh seemed to be more important than an articulate command of policy.

Not always time for change, There are lessons for the LNP Government in last Saturday's elections, Paul Williams, Opinion, PP. 20-21, The Courier-Mail, Tuesday 18 March 214.

In 1985 Queensland Parliamentary seats were corruptly re-distributed.

The re-distribution created extra National Party seats.

Upper house could deliver what the Fitzgerald Report could not, Gary Hardgrave, pp. 48-49, The Courier-Mail, 6 April 2014.

Deputy premier Bill Gunn commissioned Tony Fitzgerald to get to the bottom of what The Courier-Mail newspaper and TV's Four Corners had dug up about senior Queensland police being in the pay of br-th-l and gambling den operators in a seedy corner of Brisbane's Fortitude Valley.

The Fitzgerald Report became a legend in Queensland.

It blew the lid on decades of corruption.

The police commissioner went to jail.

Many other crooked Queensland policemen and politicians went to jail.

But the report may have been restricted by its Terms of Reference.

The Fitzgerald solutions included the creation of the Criminal Justice Commission (now called the Crime and Misconduct Commission).

Robina Cosser says : But the CMC adopted a policy of only investigation 2 per cent of disclosures.

The remaining 98 per cent of disclosures (I understand) were either dismissed or returned to the Ethical Conduct Department of the Queensland Government Departments concerned.

And the key role of some Ethical Standards Departments was the safeguarding of reputations - not Ethical Standards.

So public servants involved in corruption were allowed to investigate themselves and to 'find no evidence' of their own corrupt conduct.

Upper house could deliver what the Fitzgerald Report could not, Gary Hardgrave, pp. 48-49, The Courier-Mail, 6 April 2014.

25 years, The People, Their Stories, 1988, Tony Fitzgerald, The corruption fighter, Jamie Walker, The Weekend Australian Magazine, pp14-18, 21-22 September 2013.  

Integrity sinks in sea of trivia, Des Houghton, p.78, The Courier-Mail, 12 October 2013

The 1991 re-distribution of Parliamentary seats made it easier for Labor to retain government in Queensland in 1992.

There were rumours in Brisbane about the deals being done for a price.

The post-Fitzgerald era had delivered advantage to Labor, not control to the people.

Upper house could deliver what the Fitzgerald Report could not, Gary Hardgrave, pp. 48-49, The Courier-Mail, 6 April 2014.

It had taken 57 per cent of the vote to end Labor's term in office.

Upper house could deliver what the Fitzgerald Report could not, Gary Hardgrave, pp. 48-49, The Courier-Mail, 6 April 2014.

By March 2013, something seemed to be terribly wrong with the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

Liberal National Party politicians viewed the CMC with deep suspicion.

Some of the senior lawyers and functionaries who had led and worked for the CMC were regarded as hard-wired Labor Party sympathisers or even Labor Party stooges.

The Bligh and Beattie Labor governments had seemed to misuse the CMC by sending it complaints to deflect attention from their own failings.

The Labor party had seemed to use the CMC to embarrass and silence its critics.

The CMC had seemed allow itself to be used as a political tool.

It had run with vexatious complaints.

There had been allegations of political interference.

Matters of great importance had been left hanging while investigation into these vexatious complaints dragged on and on.

There was an apprehension of widespread dishonesty and unethical behaviour in public administration.

And there were so rules, so many policies and so many agencies that managers felt obliged to (or took the opportunity to maliciously) report possible misconduct by employees, no matter how minor and no matter how implausible the complaint.

Serious cases became lost in a sea of trivial or malicious complaints.

And managers could manage the easy way - by passing the buck.

Broken corruption watchdog put the bite on Parliament, Des Houghton, p.48, The Courier-Mail, 16-17 March 2013

Anti-corruption body is essential, Hedley Thomas, p.4, The Weekend Australian, 9-10 March 2013.

Integrity sinks in sea of trivia, Des Houghton, p.78, The Courier-Mail, 12 October 2013