Queensland cabinet push to muzzle Crime and Corruption Commission

Queensland’s corruption watchdog could be stripped of its powers to lay charges under sweeping changes the Palaszczuk cabinet will consider next week.

Outgoing CCC chair Alan MacSporran. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland’s corruption watchdog could be stripped of its powers to lay charges under sweeping changes the Palaszczuk cabinet will consider next week.

There is growing support in the senior ranks of the Labor government to look at separating ­investigative powers and prosecutorial decisions of the Crime and Corruption Commission, after more than 20 cases brought by the watchdog failed in the past three years.

CCC chair Alan MacSporran QC resigned on Tuesday in the face of mounting pressure over a parliamentary report, released in early December, criticising him over the organisation’s decision to charge eight Logan City councillors with fraud in 2019.

Mr MacSporran’s fate was to be discussed at next Monday’s cabinet meeting, along with the recommendation of the parliamentary crime and corruption committee report to instigate a commission of inquiry to consider whether to strip the CCC of its involvement in charging and prosecution.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she had read the report over the weekend but had not forced the resignation. She confirmed the question of the CCC’s power to lay charges would be discussed by cabinet. “This is a serious matter, it’s a serious decision,” she said.

Mr MacSporran’s resignation came just days after that of Queensland’s Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov midway through her second three-year term. On Wednesday, Dr Step­anov said the timing was ­coincidental.

But she called for ­reforms of her statutory office, which regulates lobbying and ­advises state MPs on potential conflicts of interest. In a statement, Dr Stepanov backed calls for a probe of the Public Service Commission and for it to no longer have budgetary authority over the office of the ­Integrity Commissioner.

It was revealed in The Australian on Monday that a CCC investigation was ongoing into her complaint the PSC had seized and deleted the contents of a laptop last year from her office. Dr Stepanov was assessing ­allegations of unlawful political lobbying activity and other complaints at the time and had sought PSC approval for a forensic examination of the laptop before it was seized.

“I understand from media reports (Tuesday) that there have been calls for a formal review or investigation into the way that the PSC has discharged their functions and responsibilities in relation to the office of the Integrity Commissioner in recent times,’’ Dr Stepanov said. “I support that call.”

Lawyers for the former Logan City councillors, who lost their jobs before the charges were withdrawn by crown prosecutors, have also expressed support for the CCC losing its power to lay charges, as is the case with the NSW ICAC. “In circumstances where the CCC has demonstrated such grave misjudgment as occurred in the current case, the power should be expressly removed from it,’’ the councillors’ lawyers said in a submission to parliament.

Griffith University professor of public policy and law AJ Brown said the CCC should seek advice from the DPP on complex issues, but referring to it every case would be inefficient.

“I think the committee has gone as far as it needs to on that issue,” he said. “It is a big problem in most jurisdictions if corruption bodies need to rely on the DPP to authorise every charge because it slows down the whole process and public confidence can be eroded when there is a big delay.”

Allowing police at the CCC to lay corruption charges was a recommendation of the 1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry. Changes to those powers would require a review by an independent inquiry of commission, the PCCC said.