Five Queensland government officials stood down before legislation came into effect

THE Queensland government has landed itself in hot water after announcing the suspension of five officials — before the laws had even come into effect.

THE Queensland government is under fire after a blunder that saw it suspend four mayors and a councillor under new laws that hadn’t been signed off.

The government had to scramble on Monday to get the governor to formally sign off on the laws — after it announced the suspensions of mayors from Ipswich, Hope Vale, Doomadgee and Logan, along with one Logan councillor.

The state opposition says Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe should be embarrassed and it’s appalling that Logan Mayor Luke Smith learned of his suspension via Twitter.

“I feel for anyone that hears of their fate via Twitter,” LNP leader Deb Frecklington has told ABC radio.

“The minister in this case should have had the common decency to make sure the legislation had passed before he announced it.”

Opposition leader Deb Frecklington slammed the government. Picture: Glenn Hunt

The mayors and councillor were suspended under new laws that give Mr Hinchliffe authority to move against local government officials charged with corruption or integrity offences.

It’s understood Mr Hinchliffe’s office was under the mistaken belief that the laws had been signed off by Governor Paul de Jersey when it issued a statement about the suspensions on Monday afternoon.

But that wasn’t the case, leaving officials scrambling to get the paper work done.

Mr Smith has raged against his treatment, issuing a statement saying he’s being denied natural justice under laws that give him no power to appeal the minister’s decision to suspend him.

“I know these changes have been on the state government’s agenda for some time, but it seems their intent to strengthen local government has now come at the expense of natural justice and democracy,” he said.

“The community should be deeply concerned that their democratically-elected representatives can be removed from office while still under the presumption of innocence.”