Opinion: Should the Crime and Corruption Commission be abolished?

After its botched prosecution of Logan council and failing to deal with corruption claims within parliament, Des Houghton asks if it is time to shut down the Crime and Corruption. HAVE YOUR SAY

Has Queensland’s crime watchdog become a mangy mongrel that needs a bullet behind the ear?

More politely, should the Crime and Corruption Commission be shut down, or have its powers curtailed for its own protection and ours?

Before I tell you what I think, we must consider the CCC’s botched Logan council prosecution that destroyed careers and hurt families.

It is perhaps the biggest failure of the CCC since it came into being as the Criminal Justice Commission in 1989 as the post-Fitzgerald gatekeeper.

The Logan investigation was described as a “travesty of justice” by Sunshine Coast mayor Mark Jamieson, the president of the Local Government Association of Queensland.

“Lives, reputations and careers have been ruined and a duly-elected council wrongly dismissed,” he said.

Member for Ryan Julian Simmons told federal parliament the Palaszczuk government must also shoulder some of the blame.

In calling for CCC chairman Alan MacSporran to stand aside, Simmons said the Queensland Government was warned the charges against the seven councillors would not hold up.

He said: “At the time the fraud charges were laid by the CCC the independent legal advice from multiple senior counsel ALL advised the criminal charges had no chance of success.

“This was all presented to the Queensland Government at the time but despite all that the democratically elected council was dismissed.’’

Now Robert Setter, the Queensland Public Service Commissioner, has highlighted what may be the CCC’s greatest failure in the fight against corruption inside government.

In a worrying submission to a parliamentary committee he said the CCC he often referred corruption complaints back to government departments that were entirely ill-equipped to deal with them.

“Concerns have been raised about the referral of corrupt conduct matters by the CCC back to agencies with no, or very limited, capability to handle them, or where the allegations involve the chief executive or member of a board,’’ Setter said.

There have been calls for Alan MacSporran to stand aside from the CCC. Picture: Liam Kidston

This will be disheartening news for many Queenslanders who have filed legitimate complaints unaware they will go nowhere.

Clerk of the parliament Neil Laurie echoed similar sentiments. He warned public confidence in the CCC was undermined when it referred complaints against police back to police to investigate.

I also suspect CCC routinely fails to fully investigate complaints directed at the Queensland Cabinet and the union-controlled public service.

There is perceived political bias (to me, anyway) in favour of the ALP. This was evident when Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was found to be in contempt of parliament over her threats to strip Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) MPs of staff.

The CCC said there was “prima facie” evidence Palaszczuk breached the Criminal Code. But it let her off, referring the case back to the parliamentary committee where Labor has a majority and the Premier would never be sanctioned.

Palaszczuk’s former deputy Jackie Trad and her Transport Minister Mark “Mangocube” Bailey likewise escape sanctions after becoming embroiled in allegations of wrongdoing.

All power is held on trust. The Logan debacle has shaken our trust in the CCC.

With phone tapping powers and a star chamber where any citizen is compelled to give evidence, the CCC may give the appearance of a secretive super force that can act with impunity.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was let off by the CCC after she was found to be in contempt of parliament. Pics Tara Croser.

Trust the CFMEU to inject some black humour into the debate.

The union, described in parliament and the courts as a criminal organisation, said the CCC was rotten to the core.

The CCC had become “a blunt instrument used by employers to intimidate workers and public officials”, said union secretary Michael Ravbar. His union would know all about intimidation.

The rise of bikie gangs, union thuggery and government corruption is precisely why the CCC should be retained with its coercive powers.

The watchdog remains an imperfect model. That does not mean it should be stripped of its power to uncover wrongdoing.

Without crime watchdogs like the CCC, the Gordon Nuttalls and Eddie Obeids will come slithering back.

Our crime watchdog does not require a bullet behind the ear.

It needs our help.

UNI FACES CLADDING BILL

The University of Queensland faces a multimillion bill to remove inflammable cladding from 60 buildings.

The cladding is like that found to be the cause of London’s deadly Grenfell Tower blaze in which 72 people died in June 2017.

Deborah Terry, the university’s vice-chancellor, said the work would take some years but denied there was a threat to the 55,000 staff and 7200 staff across four campuses.

Last week the university quietly signed off on $65,400 worth of repairs to the striking V-shaped Sir Llew Edwards overlooking the main forecourt of the St. Lucia campus.

“We have also worked with independent fire engineering experts, who have confirmed there are no immediate safety concerns with any UQ building, and we are putting in place additional safety measures in the interim out of an abundance of caution,” Terry said.

A task force found more than 2000 buildings in Queensland containing potentially combustible cladding. These included unidentified State Government buildings.