Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ignores calls for inquiry into her government’s integrity

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has ignored calls for an inquiry into her government’s integrity, rejecting the notion the public service is watering down reports.

Annastacia Palaszczuk is ignoring calls for an inquiry into her Government’s integrity, as the former state archivist questioned if the Premier would be happy with reports being watered down before being handed to her.

While insisting there were robust checks and balances on integrity, the Premier would not be drawn on whether she was concerned former state archivist Mike Summerell felt pressure to tone down a report on one of her ministers.

But Mr Summerell said Ms Palaszczuk should be, questioning whether she would be happy if reports were watered down before being handed to her.

The Sunday Mail revealed the former state archivist felt pressured to tone down his report into cabinet minister Mark Bailey’s private email saga in 2017, seeking advice from Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov who said the report should be presented in its original form.

The revelation came after Mr Summerell last week took aim at public servants and politicians who believed it was their right to choose what information was released while calling for an inquiry into integrity.

Asked whether she was concerned Mr Summerell felt pressure to water down his report, the Premier said people were entitled to their views.

“We should have a public service that can give fearless and frank advice,” she said.

“I’ve always had that opinion of our public service.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday. Picture: Richard Walker

But Mr Summerell said Ms Palaszczuk should be concerned, pointing to Ms Stepanov’s response to him which raised the alarm about government interference.

“I think the Integrity Commissioner’s response to me shows why she should be concerned … would she be happy if the reports to her were ‘watered down’ to be more palatable … just in case they were RTI’d?,” he said, referring to Right to Information requests.

Integrity-related issues have dogged the government during the past week, sparking calls for it to launch a royal commission-style inquiry.

But Ms Palaszczuk said on Friday Queenslanders knew her and could trust her.

Asked yesterday whether setting up an inquiry would support Queenslanders’ view of her, the Premier insisted there were robust mechanisms and checks on government integrity.

“We have an integrity commissioner,” she said.

“We have the CCC which is a standing royal commission.

“And I just want to contrast that with what checks and balances are there federally.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli again urged the Premier to launch an inquiry, saying anything short of a Fitzgerald inquiry 2.0 was a cop-out.

It came as Ms Stepanov said integrity in public service was often best achieved through robust discussion, which could be challenging.

The outgoing Integrity Commissioner, who tendered her resignation earlier this month, has backed an independent probe into the Public Service Commission following complaints it meddled in her office.

In a post on LinkedIn yesterday, she wrote that while media reporting had taken her by surprise, it “seems to have created an opportunity … for issues and strengths in governance and public administration to be … more discussed openly”.