Analysis: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk can no longer ignore explosive integrity issues

Explosive issues raised by former state archivist Mike Summerell have been downplayed by the Premier in recent days, but the latest may be a lot harder to ignore, writes Jessica Marszalek.

The government has, for days, been downplaying the explosive issues being raised by former state archivist Mike Summerell, in particular complaints of interference in his independent office.

In private, they’ve painted him as a disgruntled former employee, or an LNP hack appointed by the Newman Government.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has faced media questions with flippant disregard.

If anyone has any complaints, take them to the CCC. We have checks and balances. There’s nothing to see here.

Mr Summerell has now released what he says is the original version of his 2018-19 annual report that includes a statement that is not in the official annual report available on the Queensland Government’s publications website.

He alleges he was directed to remove this statement, because it didn’t reflect well on the government, but he refused.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: John Gass

However, he says he noticed that when it was tabled to parliament, his statement had been removed. Peculiar indeed.

In that statement, Summerell attempts to make public his concerns around the appropriateness of legislation in allowing for the accountable and transparent operation of government in making and maintaining public records.

He says a 2015 audit found 85 per cent of public sector agencies weren’t keeping records properly and he believes problems only became worse during his tenure.

And that’s leaving aside the problems he uncovered with the ministers and their offices during the Mark Bailey mangocube investigation.

Remember, without public records, there’s no proof of good, or bad decisions, nothing for whistleblowers to get their hands on, and nothing for journalists to access via Right to Information laws.

“Unfortunately, there have been far too many incidents that have led to us investigating potential breaches of the Act by public authorities,” Mr Summerell wrote in that deleted statement you were never meant to see.

“While that is in itself disappointing, the inability to take action under the Act’s power to proven breaches is frankly far more concerning.

“The Act is now 17 years old and the advances in new communication technologies are creating more digital information than originally anticipated.

“There is now an urgent need for the Act to be updated to reflect this new digital reality.

“As the State Archivist, it is increasingly clear that the Act is unfit for purpose in ensuring that the key public records of Queensland are created, managed and preserved appropriately.

“The risk of the Act being no longer meaningful is that key public records that should be made and preserved for the benefit of current and future generations may be lost, or worse, never created at all.”

Here is seemingly black-and-white proof of interference.

Put simply, why are there two versions of this report?

The Premier might find this question a whole lot harder to answer, or ignore.