CCC finds David Barbagallo did not properly declare business interests
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former chief-of-staff David Barbagallo did not properly declare business interests, a corruption watchdog has found. Bombshell findings released today found his actions ‘create the perception’ of an intention to use his influence to help his business.
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A corruption investigation into Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former right-hand man has uncovered explosive text messages that “clearly create the perception” he intended to use his influence to help his business interests.
In yet another integrity scandal for the Palaszczuk government, a year-long Crime and Corruption Commission investigation has found former chief of staff David Barbagallo did not fully declare his non-pecuniary interests, even as one of his companies secured $267,500 of government investment to develop a cruise ship app.
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The CCC said that Mr Barbagallo would likely have been disciplined over his behaviour had he not already quit in October last year after the lucrative investment was uncovered in a budget estimates hearing.
But it found he had not misused his position to obtain the funding.
The corruption watchdog found that Mr Barbagallo declared his shares, but not directorship of Fortress Capstone, which was developing the CruiseTraka app, and that the Premier did not properly sign his declaration of interests - which she claimed to have sighted.
Neither did Mr Barbagallo seek official advice from the Integrity Commissioner after his May 2017 employment, despite maintaining that he did, the CCC said.
Mr Barbagallo, who also served as Wayne Goss’s chief of staff, told the CCC that he had never completed training around the obligations of his position and never checked his declaration forms to make sure he had fully declared all interests.
Mr Barbagallo said he wasn’t making excuses, but “you work 100 hours in that job” and “it’s pretty hard yakka”. “I worked for Goss, we brought in the CCC stuff you know, we’re the good guys,” he said, adding that he started with “the presumption that I’m not going to do anything wrong”. “You know that other mob are the ones that are corrupt and f--ked over this state so you know I have an intellectual, philosophical and personal commitment and everywhere I’ve worked I’ve set up … a whole bunch of things to ensure people aren’t doing the wrong thing.”
He defended himself against assertions by the CCC that text messages unearthed during the investigation between him and the Fortress Capstone chief executive “clearly create the perception” he intended to use his position to help the company advance its agenda.
The text messages include one where he asked the chief executive whether there was anything he should “get Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to tell Royal Carribean (sic)” while she was on a trade mission to New York in 2018. The chief executive said he’d “put a few thoughts down and get back to you” before he sent through a “slide pack”.
In another exchange, Mr Barbagallo tells his colleague that the Carnival chief executive is “in town” and Mr Barbagallo is asked to get a “fourpage printed slide deck … in front of him”.
Mr Barbagallo told the CCC the first lot of text exchanges were “in relation to the cruising industry generally” and he “took no steps to facilitate a meeting with, or provide information to, the CEO of Carnival” regarding the slides.
The Premier’s former deputy chief of staff, who accompanied her to New York, told the CCC tht she did not meet with any cruise industry representatives while there. Mr Barbagallo’s role as the Premier’s chief of staff was also included in the investment pitch presentation by the chief executive to the investment panel, although the panel said that did not factor in its decision.
The chief executive told the CCC that the information was only given because full-disclosure was “an appropriate thing to do” and “absolutely not” something that could influence decision-making.
Mr Barbagallo maintained that he told Ms Palaszczuk of the $267,500 CruiseTraka funding after becoming aware the application had been successful in August 2017.
But Ms Palaszczuk had no records of that and told the CCC that she could only recall being told by her director of policy that “an issue” may be raised about one of Mr Barbagallo’s companies at estimates but it was “all above board”.
Meanwhile, the CCC noted that Ms Palaszczuk had said she had reviewed Mr Barbagallo’s declaration and the fact it wasn’t signed “does not establish” that she didn’t.
The CCC made five recommendations to improve the declaration and management of conflicts of interest.
Ms Palaszczuk, who previously maintained that her former chief of staff had done nothing wrong, issued a twoline statement saying that he was no longer employed and that she accepted the CCC recommendations.