Proposed muzzle on CCC is ‘nonsensical’, says Mark Le Grand

One of the architects of Queensland’s anti-corruption commission has condemned proposed new laws that will ban the watchdog from criticising politicians and public servants.

Former Criminal Justice Commission chief investigator Mark Le Grand in 2009.

One of the architects of Queensland’s anti-corruption commission has condemned proposed new laws that will ban the watchdog from criticising politicians and public servants.

Mark Le Grand, who spent 10 years as chief investigator at the then-Criminal Justice Commission in the wake of the 1989 Fitzgerald inquiry, has warned the planned overhaul of the watchdog’s reporting powers would undermine transparency.

Writing in The Australian on Friday, Mr Le Grand said much of the report from the Fitzgerald inquiry into police and political corruption would have been impossible under proposed reforms.

“If Fitzgerald had faced the restrictions now proposed for the Crime and Corruption Commission, he could not have reported as he did,” he said.

“Indeed, without the public inquiry process being undertaken, without the evidence being disclosed, and without Fitzgerald’s observations and findings in his report being made public about the activities of politicians and police officers, there is every reason to believe that the momentum for reform would not have happened and Queensland would have remained mired in corruption.”

Under recommendations of former Queensland chief justice Catherine Holmes, accepted by Premier Steven Miles, the CCC would be prohibited from criticising politicians who have not been convicted of a crime.

Investigative reports into public servants would not be published unless the person had been found guilty by a court, fired or had a “disciplinary declaration” made against them under the Public Sector Act. The CCC would be permitted to publish reports on systemic corruption, but could not name those involved unless “reasonably necessary”.

Created out of the Fitzgerald inquiry, the CCC and its predecessors have routinely published reports critical of politicians and public servants without recommending criminal charges.

But a High Court decision last year gagged the watchdog from publicly reporting on most of its investigations.

Ms Holmes was appointed by the government to help frame new CCC reporting laws and delivered her findings this week. Mr Le Grand, a former deputy director of public prosecutions for the commonwealth, said the “most absurd aspect” of Ms Holmes’s review was the ban on critical commentary of politicians unless they have been convicted of a crime.

“The concept of waiting for up to several years to effectively report on a pattern of political corruption uncovered by CCC investigation until after convictions are achieved is, with respect, nonsensical,” he said.

“Action must be taken in real time otherwise the whole process is neutered and illusory. Corrupt systems will remain in place, undiscovered participants will cover their tracks, and the plundering of the public purse will continue.”

Mr Miles on Thursday repeated his support of the recommendations. “The laws that were drafted out of the Fitzgerald inquiry we now know from the findings of the High Court, did not allow the CCC to make reports like they have been making,” he said. “What we will do is legislate to allow them to make reports so that will provide more transparency than was delivered by the legislation originally drafted.”

In her report, Ms Holmes wrote that while the work of anti-corruption commissions was vital, it could be accompanied by a human toll which requires safeguards to protect individuals who may be caught up in the process.