Federal MP Julian Simmonds calls for CCC boss Alan MacSporran to stand down
A former Brisbane councillor turned federal MP has called for the head of the Crime and Corruption Commission to stand down over the sacking of seven Logan councillors.
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Federal MP and former Brisbane councillor Julian Simmonds has used parliamentary privilege to demand the head of the state’s corruption body immediately stand down, comparing the sacking of seven Logan councillors to the actions of a “tinpot dictatorship”.
He joins the Local Government Association of Queensland, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate and others calling for action against the Crime and Corruption Commission.
The former Logan City Council was dismissed in 2019 after the CCC intervened in the dispute and charged several elected councillors with fraud, but those charges were withdrawn in April due to lack of evidence.
Speaking in Parliament late on Tuesday Mr Simmonds, who was a Brisbane city councillor for almost a decade before entering Parliament in 2019, said CCC chairman Alan MacSporran had to be held to account.
“It is my view that Mr MacSporran must stand aside - today - while the inquiry occurs,” he said.
“That is a level of accountability he would expect of other elected officials and he should hold himself to the same standard.”
He said Mr MacSporran had weighed in on an industrial dispute and levelled criminal charges which had been dismissed with no chance of success.
“This sort of behaviour should frighten and terrify anyone who believes in the sanctity of our democratic process,” Mr Simmonds said.
“The dismissal of elected representatives, and barring them from running in elections, due to unproven and ultimately baseless charges, is the type of things you would expect to see in a tin pot dictatorship not in my beloved state of Queensland - yet this is the situation MacSporran’s actions have created.”
Mr Simmons’ calls came as The Australian revealed the integrity watchdog repeatedly attempted to circumvent industrial commission orders with the botched airing of secret documents in a bid to assist the unfair dismissal case of a witness in the Logan corruption probe.
The Crime and Corruption Commission delivered the purported explosive evidence without warning to Logan City Council just weeks after some of the same material led to an industrial commissioner stepping down from the case, citing their secrecy.
Affidavits obtained by The Australian show the extraordinary lengths, now being reviewed, the CCC took to help self-declared whistleblower, former Logan CEO Sharon Kelsey, in her unfair dismissal case.
In one sworn affidavit, her successor, interim CEO Silvio Trinca, says he was “taken by surprise” when CCC agents arrived at the council offices and asked him to consider classifying a bundle of documents as “council business”.
The parliamentary crime and corruption committee recently confirmed it will hold an inquiry into the incident.
Mr Simmonds said PCCC chair John Krause had indicated the committee would publish allegations raised against the CCC by the LGAQ.
LGAQ boss Greg Hallam said last night: “The LGAQ has been steadfast in its call for a public inquiry and it is our view that the CCC chair should stand aside while this inquiry takes place.”
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