Tony Fitzgerald calls for new Queensland anti-corruption unit

Tony Fitzgerald’s report into the powers of the controversial CCC recommends sweeping reforms that the Premier has backed.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has welcomed Tony Fitzgerald’s review of the Crime and Corruption Commission. Picture: Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Queensland’s corruption watchdog will be forced to seek external legal advice before laying charges and rely less on seconded police officers after its botched prosecution of Logan City councillors.

The overhaul of the Crime and Corruption Commission is based on 32 recommendations by renowned corruption-buster Tony Fitzgerald and retired judge Alan Wilson following a six-month inquiry into the organisation.

In their report, released on Tuesday, they found a lack of “checks and balances” at the CCC, which favoured a “law enforcement approach” to corruption, rather than prevention.

After more than 20 failed prosecutions in the past three years, the inquiry recommended CCC officers should require approval from the Director of Public Prosecutions before laying charges.

Mr Fitzgerald, made famous by his 1989 inquiry into police and political corruption in Queensland, said the CCC’s corruption division should consist of predominantly civilian investigators, supported by seconded police.

“We came to the conclusion that elements of the CCC’s structure and organisation involving seconded police officers carried risks that manifested in the Logan Council matter,” the commissioners said.

The report will go to cabinet on Monday but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said “there is nothing here that I cannot see our government implementing”.

The inquiry was ordered after a parliamentary committee last year found the watchdog and its chair had not acted impartially when charging eight Logan councillors with fraud in 2019.

The CCC alleged the ­councillors had vengefully fired council chief executive Sharon Kelsey after she turned whistleblower against the mayor.

Evidence before the parliamentary inquiry showed the CCC had charged the councillors out of a “desire to assist Ms Kelsey” and failed to “weigh all material considerations and evidence”.

Former CCC chair Alan MacSporran resigned in January, one month after the committee’s scathing report.

Under Palaszczuk government laws, the entire council was dissolved after charges were laid. Two years later, the DPP dropped the charges over lack of evidence.

Former Logan councillor Trevina Schwarz said her life had been up-ended by the saga but welcomed the proposed oversight measures. “I am saddened the Premier did not use that opportunity to offer an apology,” she said. “I do believe (the recommendations) are a definite step in the right direction to ensure everyone is acting impartially and … without preconceived ideas.”

Asked if she sympathised with the Logan councillors, Ms Palas­zczuk said: “I am not going to have an emotional response. No one would like to see what happened to those particular councillors happen again.”

Alan MacSporran quit as CCC chairman in January. Picture: Liam Kidston

The Logan case was among several CCC prosecutions to collapse before trial, prompting calls for a separation of its investigative and prosecutorial powers.

The CCC used to routinely refer matters to the DPP before charges were laid, but Mr MacSporran in 2018 said this process was abandoned because he considered it “unnecessary” as the commission employed senior lawyers. He also indicated there were resourcing issues at the DPP.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said a new “adequately funded” team would be set up inside the DPP to review evidence collated by the CCC.

Tuesday’s report also revealed the government had not provided Legal Aid funding for people hauled before secret and coercive CCC hearings for at least a year.

Ms Fentiman claimed there has been a “miscommunication” between her department and Legal Aid, and the funding would continue. New chair Bruce Barbour said the CCC would immediately start implementing the recommendations.