State investigates privacy breach of parliament confidentiality in OIA inquiry

A Queensland council has found itself at the centre of a high level investigation after explosive claims made in a private hearing and involving the state council watchdog were leaked.

State Development and Regional Industries Committee chair MP Chris Whiting said no permission was given for the release of a private transcript of a hearing during its inquiry into the Office of the Independent Assessor at the weekend, which comes amid an ongoing inquiry into the "alleged unauthorised disclosure" of a Bundaberg Regional Councillor's submission to the inquiry established in May 2022.

An investigation has been launched into the leaking of a private transcript containing explosive allegations of a hearing during the Qld government’s inquiry into its councillor watchdog.

The document, which stemmed from a hearing during the state’s inquiry into the functions of the Office of the Independent Assessor at Bundaberg on March 8, 2022, was picked up and published by the government tracking website, Govt-Monitor.

It circulated online at the weekend (January 7-8) before being taken down Monday, January 9, 2022.

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This publication has seen a copy of the transcript, which includes explosive claims around access to confidential information and wider historical allegations of misconduct involving Bundaberg Regional Council.

State Development and Regional Industries Committee chair, MP Chris Whiting said Wednesday afternoon the document should not have been made public.

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The leaked transcript stemmed from hearings held during the inquiry into the Office of the Independent Assessor held at Bundaberg in March 2022.

“A transcript of this hearing has not been authorised for release by the committee,” Mr Whiting said in a statement.

“It remains confidential and to divulge it could amount to a contempt of parliament.

“A report will come to the committee as to how a third party was possibly able to access it.”

It is not the first issue to arise during the inquiry with connections to the Bundaberg region.

The government’s website shows an inquiry was established in the middle of 2022 relating to the “alleged unauthorised disclosure of a submission from a councillor of the Bundaberg Regional Council made on December 15, 2021 to the committee in relation to its inquiry (into the OIA)”.

This “matter of privilege” was referred by the SDRIC to the Ethics Committee on May 26, 2022.

The inquiry is ongoing.

No further details are available.

The latest breach follows the referral of a matter of privilege related to the alleged unauthorised disclosure of a Bundaberg Regional councillor’s 2021 submission to the hearing. This inquiry is ongoing.

The watchdog came under fire from Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey and CEO Steve Johnston during the inquiry.

Mr Dempsey, in his publicly available submission, flagged his concerns the OIA process was open to abuse and had failed to deal with vexatious complaints properly. He accused the OIA of sending “test” cases to the Councillor Conduct Tribunal in an effort to establish legal precedent.

This latter claim was rejected by the OIA, with a spokeswoman saying “all alleged misconduct matters must raise a reasonable satisfaction of misconduct before any referral to the CCT”.

Mr Johnston challenged the OIA’s claim that keeping senior management at arms length of investigations “may be in the best interest”.

He said this “potentially undermines the role of the CEO in managing the whole organisation”.

The inquiry found the system needed an overhaul in how it handled complaints, with 40 recommendations for change in its report, tabled before parliament in October 2022.