When the Heavens Fall: How Justice Failed the Baden-Clay Family

By Will Keys

In every functioning democracy there is an expectation—quiet, steady, almost instinctive—that public watchdogs operate above fear, favour, and fashion. Their legitimacy does not come from popularity but from integrity. Their mandate is not shaped by public mood but by the law.

In Queensland, the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC), formerly the Queensland Misconduct Commission (QMC), has fallen short of that standard. In the Gerard Baden-Clay (GBC) matter, it fell catastrophically short.

This is not an allegation made lightly, nor in anger, nor on behalf of any faction or family. I have not talked to GBC any contact has been through his parents.  It arises from what I have personally discovered, what I have verified through sworn evidence, and what I have confirmed with Michael Byrne KC—one of the most senior members of the original defence team.

It is time to confront a hard truth:
The CCC’s conduct in the Baden-Clay matter created an institutional debt—a debt that can only be discharged by testing the exculpatory evidence in a transparent judicial setting.

The Secret Compulsory Examination That Never Should Have Happened

The CCC’s predecessor, the QMC, summoned members of the Baden-Clay family to compulsory questioning behind closed doors, under threat of punishment for disclosing its existence.
They were not witnesses to a crime.
They were not suspects.
They were not public officials.
They held no relevant office.

In short, the Commission had no lawful business dragging them into such a process.

Even more disturbing: the compulsory examination produced nothing.
No leads.
No evidence.
No justification.

Yet the secrecy surrounding that process remains unbroken.

When I raised the matter with Michael Byrne KC, he seemed genuinely surprised I knew. That alone speaks volumes.

A Commission that operates through secret, coercive methods beyond its remit has an obligation—a moral duty—to act openly and transparently when new evidence surfaces that may exonerate a man.

It has failed to do so.

The CCC’s Silence in the Face of Exculpatory Evidence

Let us list what the CCC has not addressed:

1. A witness of impeccable character who saw a woman matching Allison’s description running on the relevant night, at the relevant time, at the relevant location—reported to police and ignored.
   The CCC has never tested this.
2. A confession email, bizarre and likely false, but still a significant anomaly—never disclosed to the Defence.
   The CCC has never investigated its origins or implications.
3. Allison’s phone was never recovered but remained activated the following morning, pinging off the Fig Tree Pocket tower—undisclosed to the Defence.
   The CCC has never examined whether this contradicts the Crown’s timeline.

Individually, each of these items is significant.
Together, they form a pattern.

A watchdog worthy of its title would have stepped forward.
It did not.

A Watchdog Is Not a Lapdog

The CCC styles itself as Queensland’s guardian against corruption, misconduct, and institutional failure. But guardianship demands courage.

Instead, in the Baden-Clay matter, the Commission behaved like an organisation anxious about optics and tethered to the prevailing mood of the day.

Public opinion had decided the narrative.
The media reinforced it.
The courts—tragically—bent to it.

And the CCC, rather than acting as a circuit-breaker, acted as a bystander.
Worse: at one point, it acted as an improper participant.

When a watchdog fails the public, the public suffers.
When it fails an accused man, justice suffers.

The CCC’s Debt Must Be Paid

The CCC cannot undo its past.
It cannot erase its improper compulsory examination.
It cannot excuse its silence.
It cannot claim ignorance now that the facts are in the open.

But it can do one thing—the only thing left that is honourable:

Publicly and formally initiate a judicial testing of the exculpatory evidence.

Not an internal review.
Not a bureaucratic memo.
Not a press release.
A judicial process.

Because if the evidence is valid, then justice demands its recognition.
If it is not, then justice demands the clarity of its failure.

The ancient maxim applies:
“Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
Fiat justitia ruat caelum.

The CCC once acted in darkness.
Its only path back to legitimacy is to act now in the light.

Queensland’s Chance to Prove It Is Still a Just Society

The Baden-Clay matter is more than a tragic case.
It is a test of Queensland’s institutional character.

A decent society must choose truth over mood, evidence over certainty, and justice over judicial finality. The CCC has a responsibility—to the public, to the courts, and to its own reputation—to make that choice now.

And until it does, its debt remains unpaid.

By Will Keys