Qld politics: Deb Frecklington comes out swinging for John Sosso

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington has copped a grilling in Parliament for a controversial appointment given to a director-general.

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington in Question Time on Tuesday. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

Public servants urged Attorney-General Deb Frecklington to appoint director-general John Sosso to a body redrawing electoral boundaries, she has revealed.

Ms Frecklington copped a grilling in Parliament for formally naming Mr Sosso as a member of the Queensland Redistribution Commission “under the cover of the Easter long weekend”.

It was the first chance for Opposition Leader Steven Miles to pepper Ms Frecklington about why she dismissed the concerns of corruption-busting KC Tony Fitzgerald, The Courier-Mail and the Opposition by appointing Mr Sosso – who has historic links to the LNP – to the commission.

Ms Frecklington said Mr Sosso had more integrity “than all of you (Labor MPs) put together”.

“This member dares to question the appointment of John Sosso, a gentleman who has 41 years of experience in both Commonwealth and state jurisdictions,” she said.

“I will not be lectured by each one of those opposite on integrity.”

The Attorney-General said Mr Sosso’s appointment was recommended by Department of Justice and Attorney-General public servants soon after she was sworn in.

“One of the first briefs that was handed to me on 14 December was in relation to what we should do about the Electoral Commission,” she said.

Director-general John Sosso in 2013

“They advised me that the best three appointments were an electoral commissioner, a retired District Court judge and Mr John Sosso as the former director-general of planning.

“As to the fact that I did not have a permanent director-general of the Department of Justice, they said director-general of planning or director-general of justice, so there you go.”

Ms Frecklington also came under fire for rewriting the criteria for judicial appointments which enabled the appointment of Mr Sosso.

The Courier-Mail on Tuesday revealed Ms Frecklington appointed Mr Sosso to the secretive Judicial Appointments Advisory Panel – tasked with presenting her with a shortlist of people suitable to fill a vacancy on the Supreme, District, Land and Magistrates courts.

The Attorney-General said the decade-old appointment protocol was rewritten following a request from legal stakeholders.

“It is because the heads of jurisdiction asked me to. Not only that, but during the process I consulted with the heads of jurisdiction,” she said.

“I consulted with the Chief Justice, the Chief Judge, the Chief Magistrate, the President of the Land Court and relevant stakeholders. That is right: I also included the Bar Association, who supported the amendments, and the Law Society to ensure their views were considered.”

Originally published as Qld politics: Deb Frecklington comes out swinging for John Sosso