PCCC chief defends commission but slams govt’s ‘integrity inferno’

Fitzgerald 2.0 won’t have powers to check claims the CCC ‘buried’ allegations about the state’s building commission and Logan councillors who were not charged over phone records.

The chairman of a parliamentary committee which wrote a damning report on the Crime and Corruption Commission has defended a state-instigated Commission of Inquiry into the crime watchdog.

Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee chairman Jon Krause said the inquiry, to be headed up by former Supreme Court judge Tony Fitzgerald, would follow the terms of reference recommended by his bipartisan committee in November.

PCCC chair Jon Krause.

Mr Krause, who is the LNP MP for Scenic Rim, dismissed claims its narrow terms of reference were an issue.

“The terms of reference simply implement the PCCC recommendation made on a bipartisan basis,” he said.

“That is not an issue but this announcement must not distract from the lack of action on the integrity inferno in the government, much of which has come to light just in the last week.

“This is not Fitzgerald 2.0. It simply does what was recommended by the PCCC on a

bipartisan basis, and so the government should.

“This cannot distract from the steaming pile of integrity issues dogging this government, which include a raid on the Integrity Commissioner looking into unlawful lobbying; a seized laptop; and the former State Archivist who has blown the whistle on a deeply flawed culture of secrecy and cover-ups.

“The Premier and Attorney-General should put their own show to the level of scrutiny going to the CCC. Queenslanders deserve nothing less.”

However, critics have labelled the Commission of Inquiry, instigated by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday, “a Clayton’s inquiry”.

Non-practising barrister Greg Williams. Photo: Mike Knott

Former barrister Greg Williams, who has represented victims of the CCC and other government agencies, said he believed the narrow terms of reference would ensure the government would be spared public scrutiny of wider systemic integrity problems.

He said the CCC had not investigated any of the 300 complaints he had lodged about the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.

“I recently forwarded a survey of victims of the QBCC to the CCC,” Mr Williams said.

“It included more than 300 allegations of criminal offences by its officers and all the CCC did was to advise me to refer the allegations back to the QBCC.

“The CCC had not read any of the complaints and just referred the criminal allegations back to the offending agency.

“The CCC has a habit of advising complainants that it will not respond to any further correspondence and then just files the complaint.

“Following the sacking of the Logan City councillors, I ran another survey about victims of the CCC with responses showing most were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the dignity and respect extended to them by the CCC.

“Forty per cent alleged that the CCC had leaked details of their matters to the media.

“I believe there should be a separation between CCC investigations and decisions on whether to prosecute.”

Outspoken former Logan City councillor Phil Pidgeon said the narrow terms of reference would not allow the commission to investigate CCC chair Alan MacSporran’s conduct or delve into complaints about Logan councillors who were not investigated and their phone records.

Mr Pidgeon said those councillors were key witnesses in a CCC inquiry into eight Logan councillors.

Fitzgerald 2.0 won’t have powers to check claims the CCC 'buried' allegations about Logan councillors’ phones.

“It’s great that we have an inquiry set up to correct and uncover wrongs but the reality is that it is limited,” Mr Pidgeon said.

“If it is to be a credible inquiry, it needs to look at all the PCCC records and investigate claims I made to the CCC about serious breaches of misconduct to do with Logan councillors’ phone records.

A letter from the CCC says no reply was required after calls for the watchdog to investigate claims of misconduct at Logan council about phone records.

“My claims were serious allegations and were never followed up.

“I received a letter back from the CCC, the day after I sent my complaint, stamped with ‘No Reply Required’ so nothing was ever done about my legitimate complaint.”

The terms of reference for the 1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry were twice expanded to accommodate the extent of corruption in Queensland.