PCCC told ‘no evidence of corruption’ in local govt

A parliamentary committee has heard the former chairman of the Crime and Corruption Commission was obsessed with cleaning up local councils and wanted to ‘nail’ them at any cost.

The state’s Crime and Corruption Commission has been dealt a further blow after a parliamentary committee heard the body was blinded by the former chairman’s obsession to clean up local councils and “nail something to the wall” at any cost.

Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (PCCC) Commissioner Michael Woodford summed up five years of hell for local governments across the state when he gave evidence to the parliamentary committee last week.

Mr Woodford, employed by the parliament as a statutory independent adviser, was questioned on assertions there was widespread corruption in local government and claims made by the Crime and Corruption Commission and its commissioner Alan MacSporran.

“Looking through all the work in the inquiry that was done, what seemed to come through that was a perception of local government needing to be cleaned up was something that was in the chair’s mind as the guiding eye of the CCC,” Mr Woodford said.

“That came through, that the chair really thought there was something that needed to be done and therefore a lot of resources and a lot of effort went into looking at that issue.

“Whether that caused a cascade of other things to happen, who knows?”

Mr Woodford, one of the state’s top lawyers, was speaking after five years of legal proceedings found no criminal or illegal activity by 24 elected members at seven councils, despite CCC charges.

But Coomera MP Michael Crandon bluntly told the committee there was “not a massive amount of corrupt conduct” among elected officials.

“At the end of the day, there were two elected officials who were found guilty of corruption,” Mr Crandon said.

“There was this determination to nail something to the wall, and that is where that culture started.”

Eight Logan City Council councillors had charges of fraud dropped in 2021 when the Director of Public Prosecutions found there was not enough evidence to proceed with a criminal trial.

The PCCC heard the only two elected officials in that time found guilty of offences and jailed were former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale and Fraser Coast mayor Chris Loft.

Former Local Government Association of Queensland chief executive Greg Hallam said last week’s statements by the PCCC Commissioner highlighted a shameful chapter in Queensland’s history where a “wrathful watchdog” was out of control.

“I had my phone tapped for months at a time for doing my job and providing industrial advice to a member council and providing practical assistance to mayors and councillors in matters of doubt and difficulty,” Mr Hallam said.

“It was an epic stoush, fought in many places, over half a decade with all legal costs borne by the LGAQ’s own insurance trust, the Local Government Mutual.

“We did not flinch or withdraw, ever, and just stood our ground.”

Mr Hallam applauded the recent Fitzgerald 2.0 findings and recommendations, which laid out a robust operating model for the CCC moving forward.

But he said the sad chapter in history would not be closed until the victims of the “massive travesties of justice” were compensated and all CCC police officers involved in criminal behaviour were rooted out.