Corruption watchdog boss’s furious response to Queensland’s Clerk of the Parliament

The corruption watchdog boss has accused the Clerk of the Parliament of committing a ‘gross disservice’ and undermining the commission’s powers.

Queensland’s corruption watchdog boss said recent criticism of the Crime and Corruption Commission was “fundamentally wrong” and risked weakening public confidence in the crucial agency.

In an extensive submission to a parliamentary committee reviewing the commission, the clerk of state parliament, Neil Laurie, said the CCC lacked transparency while safeguards against misconduct had “now been fatally flawed”.

The bombshell criticism infuriated watchdog chair Alan MacSporran, who said he first heard of the criticism when it was published on the front page of The Courier-Mail.

“I was very upset,” he told reporters after appearing before the committee on Friday. “To say that we lack transparency is nonsense, frankly.

“We’re the most overseen agency — we have a parliamentary commissioner, a parliamentary committee, we have an obligation to act fairly, we report publicly the details of what we've been doing and how, we charge people and that goes through the courts and we can be scrutinised there.

“We’re completely transparent as we should be.”

CCC chairman Alan MacSporran said he was hurt by the approach of the clerk. Picture: Liam Kidston

Earlier, Mr Laurie addressed the committee and reiterated his fears the lack of information provided by the CCC on investigations protected itself from public scrutiny.

The clerk cited the watchdog’s investigation into private emails sent between Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Transport Minister Mark Bailey back in 2015.

Arguments and media scrutiny about the contents of the emails continue to fester, which Mr Laurie said could have been resolved if the CCC published a final report on the matter.

“Here in 2021 we are still talking about issues arising from that,” he told the committee.

“That matter should have been dead a long time ago and it could have been dead if the CCC had actually tabled a comprehensive report of what the investigation was and what the investigation found.

“And the reason why it’s dragged on for years, and keeps reappearing, is because there was never a final report.”

But Mr MacSporran said this approach would be “overkill”, insisting the CCC provides detailed breakdowns to the public of investigations even if it considers a full report is unwarranted.

“We could have reported fully but that would have taken us offline from other jobs that we need to do,” he said.

Clerk of parliament Neil Laurie is concerned the CCC lacks transparency. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

“Where we charge someone, we don't report publicly because the court process does that and the matter becomes public and then it’s assessed through the public court process.

“Where we don’t charge someone but it’s in the public interest to explain what happens, such as the two (Jackie) Trad matters, the high school and the Cross River Rail matter, we do a detailed press release or report.

“The premier’s matter — we did a detailed press release, and frankly, if you read that press release it tells you all you need to know about the case.”

Mr MacSporran said he was hurt by the strategy of the clerk of parliament, who the watchdog chair accused of glorifying his views through the submission and ultimately the media.

“I don’t mind being criticised if there’s a proper basis for it,” he told reporters outside parliament. “I’ll be the first to acknowledge if we’ve done something wrong or imperfectly.

“But where we haven’t, I think it (the criticism) does us a gross disservice and potentially, and most significantly, it is capable of undermining public confidence in us.

“And that (is something) I’m very concerned about, because we need the public to support us, and they can support us if they know what we do, why we do it, and we do it well, which I can assure the public we do.

“We’re not a cowboy outfit, we use our powers carefully and when we charge, it’s only after due and careful consideration.”

Originally published as Corruption watchdog boss’s furious response to Queensland’s Clerk of the Parliament