CCC is ‘healthy’: Departing anti-corruption chief privately blamed critics, media

Former Crime and Corruption Commission chairman Alan MacSporran did not mention a damning inquiry into the agency, or several failed prosecutions, when advising staff of his decision to resign with only three days’ notice.

Former Crime and Corruption Commission chairman Alan MacSporran used his final email to remind staff that “the CCC itself is in a healthy state”.Credit: Dan Peled

Instead, Mr MacSporran suggested there was a campaign to undermine the watchdog, and used his final email to remind staff that “as you all know, the CCC itself is in a healthy state”.

“Any objective analysis of where it has come from, what it has achieved and the direction in which it is currently heading would support that contention,” Mr MacSporran wrote, after earlier tendering his resignation to Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman.

At the time, an inquiry was examining the CCC’s handling of corruption allegations involving Logan City Council that resulted in aborted prosecutions.

The week before Mr MacSporran resigned, prosecutors also dropped charges against former Moreton Bay mayor Allan Sutherland.

Critics of the CCC, particularly the Local Government Association of Queensland, had long called for Mr MacSporran to resign. The role and performance of the agency has been the subject of several reviews and inquiries, and contributed to a broader integrity debate that engulfed the Palaszczuk government.

Long-serving Queensland Civil Liberties Council president Terry O’Gorman (pictured right) argues a new funding model is timely for the CCC. Pictured are former Logan councillors Phil Pidgeon, Trevina Schwarz and Russell Lutton, outside Brisbane Magistrates Court after their fraud charges were dropped.Credit: Matt Dennien

In his email to staff, obtained by Brisbane Times under Right to Information laws, Mr MacSporran made no mention of any criticisms of the CCC.

Instead, the long-time barrister sought to associate the media with a broader bid to undermine the agency.

“As I have said publicly on a number of occasions, one of the main challenges in this role is in communicating the value in having a CCC which ultimately promotes and safeguards integrity, transparency and accountability. For all of us who work in this field, the answer is obvious.

“However, we also know that there are those, often the subjects of our investigations or those who support them, who actively seek to undermine every attempt we make to bring them to account or expose their conduct.

“It seems to me that the current media reporting has reached a stage where it is becoming a serious distraction to our ability to simply do our work. More concerningly, the negative reporting also has the capacity to begin to undermine public confidence in the CCC.”

In the official statement confirming his resignation, Mr MacSporran said he felt his relationship with a Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee, which oversees the CCC, had “broken down irretrievably”.

In his resignation letter, also obtained by Brisbane Times, Mr MacSporran told the Attorney-General “this is not an outcome of my choosing”.

“In any event, it does not matter how the relationship broke down, the objective fact is that it has and that in turn is not good for the PCCC, the CCC or indeed the Queensland community,” Mr MacSporran wrote, before again criticising the media.

Acting Crime and Corruption Commission chair Bruce Barbour.Credit: Dallas Kilponen

“I sincerely hope that my resignation may provide some clear air for the CCC to simply get on with its important work.”

Last month, acting CCC chairman Bruce Barbour acknowledged to the committee that “achieving alignment between purpose and organisational culture requires ongoing focus”.

Mr Barbour said the CCC’s response to the recent inquiry would include “undertaking an external review of our current practices in relation to the assessment of corrupt conduct complaints”.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also announced former corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald would co-chair an inquiry into at least one aspect of the CCC’s functions.