Editorial: Thumbing nose at landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry doesn’t pass the pub test

Voters can handle arrogant politicians, but thumbing the nose at the recommendations of the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry is something Qlders will not stand for, writes The Editor.

Longtime public servant John Sosso. Picture: Tim Marsden

Arrogant behaviour by our state politicians is one thing. Thumbing your nose at the recommendations of the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry is quite another.

The former, voters expect. The latter, they will not stand for.

It might have all happened more than a generation ago, but the lessons of Fitzgerald remain the moral compass by which all Queenslanders in authority must navigate by.

And just like the justice system itself, what matters when taking Fitzgerald’s advice is not only that the right thing is done, but also that it is seen to be done.

This is a critical point today in the wake of Attorney-General Deb Frecklington’s proposal to appoint Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie’s director-general to the body that determines the state’s new electoral boundaries – the Queensland Redistribution Commission.

Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning and Minister for Industrial Relations Jarrod Bleijie. Picture: John Gass

There is no suggestion that the director-general, John Sosso, is not qualified. To the contrary – a private solicitor earlier in life, Mr Sosso has a long history since of meritorious public service, including most recently being president of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

But in his landmark 1989 inquiry report into police and government corruption in Queensland, Tony Fitzgerald recommended the predecessor of the Redistribution Commission – the EARC, or Electoral and Administrative Review Commission – be set up, and that it remain independent and free from any political affiliations.

It is not hard to understand why.

The infamous gerrymandering of Queensland’s rural and regional electorates under the Joh
Bjelke-Petersen-led National Party distorted the rules in favour of the government and saw them hold on to power for decades without majority support. It was a system that cynically trampled on what should be the central tenet of Australian democracy – that of one vote, one value.

Fitzgerald wrote: “The fairness of the electoral process in Queensland is widely questioned … It has not always been obvious that the electoral commissioners were independent of the government … There is a vital need for the existing electoral boundaries to be examined by an open, independent inquiry as a first step in the rehabilitation of social cohesion, public accountability and respect for authority.

“Such an inquiry should be conducted by a person or group of people of undoubted integrity whose judgment will be acceptable to all political parties and the general community.”

Tony Fitzgerald QC head of the police corruption inquiry, in 1987.

While he did not specify individuals for appointment to EARC, Fitzgerald advocated for a selection process that would safeguard the commission’s autonomy and effectiveness.

There was no room in his model for anybody who might be perceived as being aligned with the executive branch.

As Opposition Leader Steven Miles correctly observed on Tuesday: “Anyone with any understanding of Queensland political history would know how critical it is that we have fair electoral boundaries determined by people who are not just impartial, but are perceived as impartial.”

Mr Sosso has a history of working for LNP governments, and while The Courier-Mail does not suggest he would not be able to be impartial in this role, that is not the point. Further, for the current government to argue it’s all fine because Labor made similarly problematic appointments – well, that does not pass the pub test.