Corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald QC names Queensland power abuses: @Qldaah analysis

On Friday, March 28, 2014, Tony Fitzgerald condemned Campbell Newman’s Liberal National Party (LNP) government for proposed changes to Queensland’s Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC). In a written submission to the parliamentary committee reviewing the bill, Mr Fitzgerald described the move as: “the final step needed to remove the Commission’s independence entirely and bring it completely […]

Democracy, ethics, tolerance and public civility

By Tony Fitzgerald December 08, 2012 Margo: Tony has kindly given me permission to publish a piece he wrote for the Oz late last year. There are about 800 politicians in Australia’s parliaments. According to their assessments of each other, that quite small group includes role models for lying, cheating, deceiving, ‘rorting’, bullying, rumour-mongering, back-stabbing, slander, ‘leaking’, […]

To perform our democratic function we need and are entitled to the truth: Tony Fitzgerald

By Margo Kingston March 6, 2013 News of the accidental publication of secret documents from the Fitzgerald Royal Commission got me thinking about my hero in the context of recent examples of our corrupt and dishonest politics. Tony Fitzgerald exposed the corruption at the heart of the Bjelke-Petersen government and laid out a blueprint for ethical government. Southerners were smug, but […]

Independent media must take Fairfax’s place

By Margo Kingston Source: ABC The Drum June 25th 2012 So, it’s finally over. Although it has been coming for a long time, really. What happened last week was just the full stop. Decades of mismanagement and executive asset stripping now sees Fairfax on its knees, bending to Gina. And there is the real prospect […]