Former Queensland Health lawyer Alex Stewart has spoken out against Queensland Health legal team

A former Queensland Health lawyer has claimed the department has a “toxic cover-up culture” in shocking new allegations in the wake of a damning coroner’s report into the death of Brendon Luxton.

A former lawyer for Queensland Health claims it has a “toxic cover-up culture” and “form” in pressuring witnesses in coronial matters.

Alex Stewart quit the Metro North Hospital and Health Services legal team over what he describes as its failure to address “unethical witness handling” by government officials.

“I am extremely concerned about the standards of dealing with witnesses, I’ve been there and can attest to it being highly problematic,” said Mr Stewart, who joined Metro North in 2013 and was part of a seven-person legal team until he left in 2019.

“Hospital and health services are where people die and if proper evidence is not presented to subsequent coronial reports, then there is a real breakdown in the system of justice.”

Alex Stewart resigned from the Metro North Hospital and Health Services legal team in 2019. Picture: David Clark

Mr Stewart is speaking out after the Sunday Mail exclusively revealed a damning coroner’s report into the July 2020 death of Brendan Luxton, a childhood friend of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

In the December 5 report, an army officer accused Metro North of pressuring her to give false evidence to the coroner after a hotel quarantine fiasco, which ended in the suicide of Mr Luxton, 51.

Coroner Christine Clements said the army officer – with “no medical training” and brought in to assist a struggling quarantine system – claimed she “felt pressure from Metro North Public Health Unit to respond to the request for information from the Coroners Court with a suggested response of, I do not recall”.

Brendan Luxton lost his life earlier this year after returning to Australia from New Zealand. Picture: Supplied

Mr Stewart, now senior research counsel at QUT, said the coroner’s report into Mr Luxton’s death was not the first time the government had been “pinged for seeking to pressure a witness”.

“I note they have form in this practice following the matter of Marcia Maynard, though that matter remains ‘under investigation’ by Metro North,” he said.

At the 2018 inquest into the death of Mrs Maynard, the coroner heard the 63-year-old prison nurse believed someone was “gunning for her”, and she intentionally overdosed on insulin after becoming anxious about giving evidence in a mandatory Death in Custody inquest.

Mr Stewart subsequently filed a public interest disclosure with Metro North over its handling of Mrs Maynard as a witness “in respect of them gunning for her”.

The matter is yet to be finalised, four years later.

Marita Corbett holds a photo of her and her brothers Derek Luxton (left) and Brendan Luxton (right) who committed suicide after he was locked in hotel quarantine. Picture: Zak Simmonds

In the case of Mr Luxton, on day two of his mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine, sister Marita Corbett requested an exemption for her desperately ill brother to quarantine at home but it, and at least eight follow-up attempts to Queensland Health, were spectacularly ignored.

Mrs Corbett is demanding a commission of inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic, and has been seeking a face-to-face meeting with the Premier since August 2020.

When contacted by this newspaper on December 9, four days after the coroner’s report, a spokesperson for Ms Palaszczuk said: “The Premier has said she is happy to meet with Mr Luxton’s sister once the court has finished its investigation”.

Mrs Corbett said on Saturday she had still not received any contact from the Premier or her department.

Annastacia Palaszczuk and Brendan Luxton, both in Year 10, with Bob Hawke in 1984. Picture: Supplied

On December 10, Queensland Health said Metro North Hospital and Health Service would commission an internal investigation into “the statement that a seconded army officer felt pressured to give a certain response to the coronial investigation”.

When asked on Friday if the investigation had commenced, who would be leading it and how long it was expected to take, a department spokesperson said: “We can confirm Queensland Health has begun preliminary inquiries to better understand the nature and context of the allegations. It would be inappropriate to comment further until an investigation is finalised.”