Greg Hallam says boss of ‘McCarthyist’ CCC must resign

The state’s former councils advocate says he has never seen such a fear factor in local government as under the current CCC.

Local government in Queensland is crippled, with councillors living in fear because of outrageous conduct by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

So says former Local Government Association of Queensland chief Greg Hallam, who was highly critical of CCC boss Alan MacSporran QC.

“I am completely and absolutely of the view that MacSporran should go. His record is abysmal,” Hallam said.

Council officers were also under pressure.

He said the CCC had disparaged and belittled a series of mayors, including squeaky-clean former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk.

“I have never seen such a fear factor in local government in the elected bodies and among senior council officers,” Hallam said.

“It has slowed down normal council business to a very large extent.’’

Some mayors and councillors hardly vote any more, should they be accused of a conflict of interest or dragged into an integrity row that would destroy their careers.

Councils were forced to “lawyer up” at great cost to ratepayers.

Greg Hallam recently stepped down from the Local Government Association of Queensland’s top job after nearly 30 years.

“It is crippling decision-making,” Hallam said.

He said the CCC had created a culture of mistrust and fear by talking down and belittling mayors and other figures later found to be guiltless.

In his role at LGAQ boss, Hallam has been fighting for seven years to ensure accused mayors and councillors received justice.

Many of the accusations against them were outlandish.

His association assembled a team of robust solicitors and barristers.

He said the CCC took a dislike to councils and made reflections on the conduct of Brisbane, Logan, the Gold Coast, Moreton Bay and Ipswich councils.

“The CCC ruins lives,” Hallam said.

“We have made submission for change.

“There has to be a clean-out with new culture and new processes.

“It is important the community understands the full extent of the rot that has set in the CCC.

“I describe it, not unfairly, as a house of horrors and to use the Australian vernacular, a sh-t-show from top to bottom.

Crime and Corruption Commission chairman Alan MacSporran has come under increasing pressure.

“It is the closest thing I have seen in my 40 years in public life to a form of McCarthyism.

“In the event the CCC cannot get a prosecution or a conviction, the great bulk of which have failed, they will damage peoples’ reputations by talking about perceptions of wrongdoing.’’

He said it was the same modus operandi the CCC had in place for seven years.

“They set themselves up as judge and jury and if they cannot get a prosecution, they will use the politically convenient term ‘perception’ and try to equate that with an actual offence of crime.’’

He said Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate had been right to complain of the CCC.

Tate was cleared of wrongdoing after an investigation running more than two years.

And this week ousted Ipswich mayor Andrew Antoniolli was finally cleared of dishonesty charges.

“It is a complete misuse of office and an abuse of process to be able to smear people, being able to talk of ‘perceptions’ when there is no offence,” Hallam said.

MAYORS CAN’T BE WALLFLOWERS

Many mayors were abrasive and outspoken, but that didn’t make them criminals, Hallam said.

“There is no doubt some of the mayors are robust, difficult and sometimes offensive,” he said.

“But to achieve great things in the community you can’t be a wallflower.

“It doesn’t mean to say you have to commit a crime. It doesn’t mean to say you have to break the law or the rules.

“We achieve nothing if we treat (councils) as debating clubs.’’

He said the CCC didn’t seem to understand that mayors had to fight for their communities.

“They stick their necks out from time to time and push bloody hard to get results.

“None of them are made rich by their involvement in local government.

“That’s complete and utter nonsense.

“These men and women are elected to lead their communities and there is an expectation they should lead.”

Former LGAQ boss Greg Hallam has fired a parting shot.

Most councillors and council had been cleared of wrongdoing.

“(Paul) Pisasale went to jail but his convictions, bar one, had nothing to do with local government.’’

Hallam called for an inquiry. He also wants an independent tribunal to be established, perhaps headed by a retired judge, to conduct spot audits of CCC investigations. He said the culture and mindset of the CCC was all wrong.

The CCC had behaved like the discredited Queensland police force prior to the Fitzgerald reforms.

“There is evidence of bricking witnesses and abusing proper process,” he said.

“Many senior jurists have concerns about giving powers to an unelected body without the same disciplines that the courts have.’’

COUNCILLORS’ CASE WARNING

Lawyers for the LGAQ warned the government the case against the Logan councillors would fail, even before they were dismissed.

Three leading barristers said so in an opinion paper they presented to the government.

It seems to have been ignored because the councillors were charged with fraud and thereby ineligible to run for public office.

PAST PROBES MAY BE CLOUDED

Hallam said past investigations by the CCC may be under a cloud following adverse findings by the parliamentary crime and corruption committee against MacSporran.

He said: “The taint now, on any matter he has been associated with means that the carriage of justice becomes very difficult.’’

Hallam said it was not widely understood that only the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions could charge a person, not the CCC.

“In the Logan matter, MacSporran told the Parliamentary hearing, he had in his own handwriting, detailed charges that were to be laid against the seven (councillors).’’

Des Houghton is an independent media consultant and a former editor of The Courier-Mail, Sunday Mail, Sunday Sun and Gold Coast Sun