Integrity blitz on Queensland’s lobbyists

Unregistered lobbying will become a crime in Queensland and state public service chiefs will be employed for fixed five-year terms under new laws introduced by Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in question time on Friday. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Unregistered lobbying will become a crime in Queensland and state public service chiefs will be employed for fixed five-year terms under new laws introduced by Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Stemming from three separate integrity reviews, the first tranche of Ms Palaszczuk’s legislation will require an incoming government to keep on key bureaucrats appointed by the previous administration.

The potential “landmine” provision, put forward by public administration expert Peter Coaldrake, aims to ensure public service appointments are unaligned to the electoral cycle.

Supported by both major parties, it could bind new governments to the previous director-general of the premier’s department and the under-treasurer.

New reforms will also require public service chiefs to undertake annual diversity audits, which will be made public, and make unregistered lobbying an offence, carrying a $28,750 fine.

Dogged by a series of integrity scandals earlier this year, Ms Palaszczuk asked Professor Coaldrake to review the inner workings of her government, three decades after he overhauled the public service for former Labor premier Wayne Goss.

In his scathing July review, Professor Coaldrake described a culture entrenched in Queensland’s public service that is tolerant of bullying, dominated by short-term political thinking and unwilling to give life to unfashionable points of view.

Ms Palaszczuk has already blacklisted three lobbyists on Professor Coaldrake’s recommendation, a nod to the uproar created by The Australian’s revelations that Labor-aligned lobbyists had run the Premier’s 2020 re-election campaign.

Other extraordinary recommendations from Professor Coaldrake’s benchmark review, including the release of secret cabinet documents within 30 days, will be introduced in future legislation.

Ms Palaszczuk said the reforms would ensure Queensland would have the “most responsive, consistent and reliable public service possible”.

“As I said when Professor Coaldrake handed down his report, we embrace it, we’re going to implement it and we’ve hit the ground running,” she told parliament on Friday.

“Queenslanders quite rightly expect their government to provide public services that demand transparent and accountable decision-making. My government is committed to strengthening our integrity and oversight framework so it is contemporary and maintains and improves a culture of accountability.”

Ms Palaszczuk also announced a new Integrity Commissioner on Friday, nine months after Nikola Stepanov sensationally resigned midway through her second three-year term. Dr Stepanov will be replaced by federal Merit Protection Commissioner Linda Waugh, who reviews employment decisions in the federal public service.