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A CAVALCADE of former Queensland powerbrokers could face trial for a serious criminal offence nearly a quarter of a century after making one of the state's most intriguing Cabinet decisions.
Commissioner Tim Carmody, QC, has found evidence suggesting the document shredding at the core of the "Heiner Affair" was illegal.
That potentially puts everyone from former Queensland premier Wayne Goss to former treasurer David Hamill to former Attorney-General Dean Wells in the firing line.
Former MP Anne Warner, who was the minister responsible for the portfolio at the time, would also be in the frame.
The role of Mr Goss's then chief-of-staff, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, would also be closely examined in any trial.
But Heiner's central thesis, that this long-ago Labor government covered up child abuse, has been firmly rejected by Mr Carmody, who calls the accusation "scandalous, disingenuous and groundless".
His finding is the latest chapter in one of the state's most fascinating and enduring conspiracy theories.
Whistleblower Kevin Lindeberg has long argued that a 1989 inquiry headed by retired magistrate Noel Heiner into the old John Oxley Youth Detention Centre produced documents alleging child abuse.
Soon after the inquiry was abandoned, the incoming Labor government headed by Mr Goss won power from the Nationals. The documents were shredded after a Cabinet decision in early 1990.
After a year of deliberation, Mr Carmody's report, handed down yesterday, clearly finds that the act of handing the documents to the state archivist and putting them through the shredder on March 23, 1990, was possibly illegal.
The reason? The documents might have been needed in a potential legal proceedings contemplated by former John Oxley manager, Peter Coyne.
The Carmody Inquiry established conclusively that the Heiner Inquiry heard almost nothing about child sexual abuse.
But Heiner did hear hours of evidence from staff unhappy with the way the centre was being run under Mr Coyne, who in turn contacted lawyers to protect his reputation.
Mr Carmody found that a jury could conclude the Labor cabinet handed the documents over for destruction "to ensure that they could not be used in evidence if required in an anticipated judicial proceeding".
And that is a crime.
"Therefore, strictly as a matter of law, each of them is at risk of being convicted of an offence against section 129 of the Criminal code for their role in making cabinet decision number 162 of 1990."
To muddy the waters, Mr Carmody found the same body of evidence was also capable of supporting competing inferences "probably equally consistent with innocence".
And he further found a guilty verdict would probably be quashed on appeal on the basis of reasonable doubt given to Goss and his cabinet.
"In any event, the balance of policy and public interest considerations, including the lapse of time, does not favour a criminal justice response."
The ball is now in the court of Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie, who will consider handing the matter to the Department of Public Prosecutions.
Supporters of the Heiner Affair, with nearly a dozen inquiries and investigations behind it, will possibly be given a new lease of life with Mr Carmody's finding.
But while Mr Bleijie was giving little away yesterday afternoon, his demeanour suggested he was not overly enthusiastic about putting an old Labor babinet in the dock over a technicality.
"I will consider the report's recommendation to refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions," he said.
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