‘Lazy or incompetent?’: Government accused of failing first integrity test

Despite repeated promises of transparency, the Crisafulli Government has neglected to release cabinet documents, as mandated by the landmark Coaldrake Review.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The Opposition has accused the government of failing its first integrity test by neglecting to release cabinet documents, as mandated by the Coaldrake Review.

Despite repeated promises of transparency, just four cabinet documents have been uploaded since the LNP’s election win in October.

None address critical policy decisions, including the contentious scrapping of the Truth Telling Inquiry, Adult Crime, Adult Time laws, the suspension of Best Industry Practice Conditions (BPIC) or the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games review.

As of Sunday, there were no records of cabinet documents for the entire month of January, and questions put to the government by the Courier-Mail on whether authority documents or other stakeholder submissions relating to Adult Crime Adult Time were put to cabinet, went unanswered.

Opposition Leader Steven Miles accused the Premier of withholding documents that negatively commented on the LNP’s signature Adult Crime Adult Time laws.

Mr Miles on Monday doubled down on his claims that the government had failed to upload cabinet documents within 30 days of cabinet decisions as mandated by the Coaldrake review.

“We know that there would have to have been other submissions,” he said.

“For example, there would have needed to be an authority to introduce submission for their crime laws that were passed in December, that’s more than 30 days ago.

“It’s hard to believe that the only matter they’ve talked about at cabinet is who’s going to chair the CBRC.”

Opposition Leader Steven Miles. Picture: Richard Walker

Mr Miles said there should be publicly available submissions from legal stakeholders as the government considered its Making Queensland Safer laws, passed on December 18, as well as a document outlining an authority to proceed with the legislation.

“They would include all of the rationale for why certain offences were included and why certain offences weren’t, it would include advice from agencies about what the actual impact on crime and victim numbers would be,” he said.

“There would be advice from agencies about possible impacts on the youth detention system.

“We know they were rushed against the advice of experts and departments, and I can only assume that that’s why they’re refusing to release those cabinet documents.”

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie earlier said the accusations that the government had failed to release cabinet papers were “laughable”.

“(The government) is abiding by what the Labor Party set up,” he said of the Coaldrake recommendation.

“We are abiding by the same standards.”

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Integrity Deb Frecklington said the government refused to be lectured by Mr Miles.

“Because his leadership is under threat, (Opposition Leader) Steven Miles just keeps lying and we will not be lectured to by the man who was the dodgiest Labor Premier in history who delivered Queenslanders an integrity crisis and the Wellcamp saga,” she said.

In a landmark Review of Culture and Accountability in the Queensland Public Sector, commonly known as the Coaldrake Review, Professor Peter Coaldrake made a pivotal recommendation concerning the transparency of Cabinet documents.

Professor Peter Coaldrake.

Mr Miles blasted the government for failing to adhere to a key recommendation of the review, which requires cabinet to release documents relating to policy submissions and decisions within 30 days.

“The LNP must immediately release its cabinet documents – as they called for when in Opposition – and reveal to Queenslanders what they are doing, and what was decided before they recklessly rammed through legislation before Christmas,” he said.

“(Premier) David Crisafulli says Queenslanders deserve transparency and accountability from their government, so begs the question, is this LNP Cabinet lazy, or simply incompetent?”

“What are the 19 members of Cabinet actually doing other than enjoying the view at 1 William St?”

Questions put to Premier David Crisafulli over whether cabinet submissions for key policies including Adult Crime Adult Time were yet to be published or whether the government had missed the 30-day deadline for any cabinet materials, went unanswered.

A spokeswoman for the government said Cabinet was releasing documents “under exactly the same framework as the former government”.

Professor Coaldrake advocated for the proactive release of Cabinet materials, including submissions, their attachments, agendas, and decision papers, within 30 days of a final decision being made by Cabinet – a significant shift from the previous practice, where documents were withheld from public access for 30 years.

The Coaldrake Review found a growing trend of overusing cabinet confidentiality provisions to shield information from public access, including unnecessarily labelling documents as “cabinet-in-confidence” when they did not meet confidentiality criteria.

The review recommending the proactive release of documents within 30 days of decisions.

The former Labor government accepted this recommendation and amended the Right to Information Act, with all cabinet materials relating to cabinet meetings post March 2024 released publicly.

Originally published as ‘Lazy or incompetent?’: Government accused of failing first integrity test