Pisasale defends donations from 'the poor old developer'

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale has called for public funding of council campaigns as he faced a grilling at a Crime and Corruption Commission hearing into alleged corruption during the 2016 Queensland local government elections.

The CCC's investigation into funding and disclosure allegations against independent candidates in the 2016 Ipswich, Gold Coast and Moreton Bay council elections entered its second day in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Cr Pisasale, who was re-elected with 83.45 per cent of the vote at last year's council election, said local government campaigns were expensive to run.

His own campaign cost $220,000, Cr Pisasale said, with that money coming by 76 donors, "about 15 per cent" of which came from developers.

Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale.Credit: Chris Hyde

Council assisting the CCC Glen Rice, QC, asked Cr Pisasale how conflicts of interest were managed.

Cr Pisasale said all conflicts were declared and, in the absence of party politics, all independent candidates had to find the money somehow.

"My preferred funding model would be the same (as federal and state), where people got a payment on the amount of votes they got, similar to state and federal," he said.

"That way, people can then run their own campaigns without putting pressure on the poor old developer who gives because they want good leadership of the city and then gets accused of trying to buy a vote.

"I always have a simple statement I make: People give money to churches but they don't expect divine intervention."

Cr Pisasale said most planning decisions did not go to the full council, so donations to candidates would be of little benefit to developers.

"We've got great planners in the city of Ipswich and the planning people are not going to be bought off by a developer," he said.

"They are professional people and they'll be making decisions in the best interest of the planning document and the city."

Cr Pisasale said he had been a member of the Labor Party for "25 years or more", despite running as an independent during his time in Ipswich civic life.

"I'm a long-term member of the Labor Party but it has no influence, and has not had any influence, in regards to how I do my job," he said.

"People know my work and my role as the mayor of Ipswich is to represent the city, and to represent the city I need to work with all levels of government and I need to work with people from all political parties, and I do that."

When asked whether voters should know whether "independent" candidates were members of a political party, Cr Pisasale said yes, they should.

"Mine's been in my register of interest since the day I was elected," he said.

Cr Pisasale said the Labor Party did not contribute to his campaign.