Education minister Brittany Lauga faces corruption probe over leak of secret info

Brittany Lauga faces a corruption investigation over allegations she leaked information about a Rockhampton aged-care nurse who contracted the coronavirus.

It’s understood that the a complaint against MP brittany Lauga has satisified the threshold for ‘misuse of information’ by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

A Queensland Labor front­bencher is facing an official corruption investigation over allegations she leaked confidential information about a Rockhampton aged-care nurse who contracted the coronavirus.

Assistant Education Minister Brittany Lauga, who holds the marginal central Queensland seat of Keppel, was the subject of a complaint to the Crime and Corruption Commission by the nurse’s union, which alleged that information she was given by COVID trackers appeared in local newspapers.

The CCC has assessed the complaint and is understood to have determined the allegation against Ms Lauga had satisfied the threshold for corrupt conduct relating to “misuse of information” obtained in her work.

The nurse, who has never been identified, had been interviewed by Queensland Health workers after miner Nathan Turner, from Blackwater, died in May. Tests initially indicated he had contracted coronavirus, the first case in the mining town. It was later determined he did not have the virus.

It then emerged that Queensland Health authorities established that the nurse travelled the 167km from Rockhampton to Blackwater before she was diagnosed with the virus and Turner had died.

At the time, Ms Lauga was quoted in a Queensland newspaper as saying the nurse had told contact tracers she’d driven to Blackwater to see a sunset. She said she wanted to see the woman fined for breaking travel restrictions for non-essential travel. “It’s irresponsible. It’s against the law,” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense to anyone I’ve spoken to who lives in this region why you wouldn’t get out of the car, go to the loo or anything, and we rely on people being honest with their contact tracing.”

The organisation representing her, the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland, said it was unable to comment.

On Sunday, Ms Lauga said she was unaware of the CCC’s initial findings and had not been contacted by the corruption watchdog since the NPAQ made the complaint. She denied she had gleaned information about the nurse in briefings with Queensland Health or its COVID trackers.

“They did not provide me with that level of information,’’ she told The Australian. “It is what I read in the media.

“ I found out about her trip the same way as most other people.

“I have not been interviewed by the CCC but will fully co-operate with any investigation.’’

The nurse had also been referred to the CCC for a possible investigation into an alleged breach of public health directions after working in the Rockhampton ­facility while she had COVID symptoms and was waiting on test results.

The nurse has told investi­gators she sought advice from the aged-care facility and had been cleared to go work.

More than 200 residents and staff at the facility tested negative to COVID-19.

It is understood the CCC is no longer investigating the nurse and has referred the matter back to Queensland Health.

Queensland Health officials initially deemed Turner, 30, as Australia’s youngest COVID-19 fatality after a test just after his death returned a positive result for the virus.

The state’s Chief Medical Officer, Jeannette Young, later said tests conducted during the ­autopsy found he did not have the virus.

His family is waiting for further tests results to determine the cause of his death.