‘Unviable‘: Premier axes Coaldrake integrity promise
Annastacia Palaszczuk will break her promise to implement Peter Coaldrake’s integrity recommendations “lock, stock and barrel”.
QLD Politics
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The Queensland government will walk away from a pledge to fully implement all recommendations in the Coaldrake review, declaring opening a clearing house for complaints and corruption concerns is “unviable”.
The establishment of a “single door to government” clearing house to stop complainants being forced to navigate a “baffling” system was one of 14 recommendations in the Coaldrake review.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – who when the review was released in June last year pledged to implement the recommendations “lock, stock and barrel” – revealed the clearing house was now “found to be unviable”.
It was first flagged as a simplified one-stop shop where new technology could help complainants track the progress and outcomes of their concerns.
Ms Palaszczuk said the idea raised in Peter Coaldrake’s report had been considered, but dismissed.
“This was thoroughly investigated but was found to be unviable, both financially and technologically,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“In its place, an approach to improving complaints handling has been implemented.”
Instead, the government said a simpler-to-use complaints web form went live in January while a new guide for handling grievances “in a timely, people-focused and proactive manner” had been developed.
Opposition integrity in government spokeswoman Fiona Simpson criticised the government’s refusal to implement the clearing house as recommended by Prof Coaldrake.
“The early assessment of this attempt by Palaszczuk Labor government won’t fly with Queenslanders,” she said.
“A virtual mailbox is not a thorough clearing house.
“This only serves to further obscure and delay integrity crisis reforms, as opposed to driving the change spelt out by Prof Coaldrake.”
Following the release of Prof Coaldrake’s report last year Ms Palaszczuk declared she would “accept all of his recommendations and we will implement them lock, stock and barrel”.
“They are bold, they are comprehensive and they are visionary and they are exactly what I want,” she said.
In the report Prof Coaldrake argued the new agency would also reduce the incidence of complaints being rebuffed “because the clearing house would direct complaints to the correct integrity body in the first instance”.
It was one of 14 recommendations in the Coaldrake review aimed at strengthening integrity within the government, including a landmark call to release cabinet submissions within 30 business days.
Ms Palaszczuk reiterated previous pledges that “implementation action is well underway” for the recommendations, with some such as strengthening the Integrity Commissioner’s office already achieved.
She said the 2023–24 Queensland budget allocated an extra $6.1m over four years to implement recommendations from the Coaldrake Report.
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