Queensland CCC: ‘Key files deleted from state laptop’

Documents relating to alleged unlawful lobbying by Labor figure Jim Soorley are among those suspected of being wiped from a government laptop.

Former Brisbane lord mayor Jim Soorley. Picture: Darren England

Documents relating to alleged unlawful lobbying of then deputy premier Jackie Trad and state Transport Minister Mark Bailey by Labor figure Jim Soorley are among those suspected of being wiped from a government laptop.

Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission is investigating a complaint by the state’s Integrity Commissioner, Nikola Stepanov, about the seizure of the laptop from her office last year, which she has alleged was then wiped of its contents.

Dr Stepanov, who regulates lobbying and advises state MPs on conflicts of interest, had been assessing a complaint about Mr Soorley, a former Brisbane lord mayor, when she suspected a leak in her office. The Integrity Commissioner on Sunday confirmed she had then sought approval from the Public Service Commission, which has budgetary oversight of her office, to order an independent forensic examination of the device.

Instead, Dr Stepanov said in a statement that the PSC and, later, the Department of Premier and Cabinet, rejected her request and the laptop was then seized by the PSC and wiped in March last year.

Dr Stepanov, who last week tendered her resignation midway through her second three-year term in the statutory role, said she was unable to comment on what material was on the laptop “given the contents were subsequently deleted without my knowledge or consent”.

But it can be revealed documents relating to Mr Soorley were on the laptop and that, at the time, Dr Stepanov was delving into a complaint that he had been involved in unlawful lobbying.

The allegations were made ahead of the October 2020 state election as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was being dogged by revelations Labor-aligned lobbyists were running her campaign from the Premier’s office.

In August and September, 2020, then restaurant owner Neil Jedid made complaints to the CCC and Dr Stepanov, and took legal action, alleging he had paid Mr Soorley to lobby for a renewal of the government lease on premises of his Wilson’s Boathouse restaurant in the Brisbane bayside suburb of Manly.

Mr Jedid said he had paid Mr Soorley – who had stepped away as a registered lobbyist in 2015 after being appointed chair of state-owned CS Energy – $2500 in cash in a carpark in 2018 after he allegedly promised to lobby Mr Bailey and Ms Trad.

The matter is still before the CCC and the Brisbane Magistrates Court, where Mr Jedid is seeking the return of the $2500.

On Monday, Mr Soorley denied he had engaged in lobbying and had, instead, used his contacts in the Palaszczuk government to determine if the lease was going to be renewed for Mr Jedid.

“It’s bullshit, my job was to find out whether the government was going to renew his licence and it became very clear from many sources that (it) wasn’t,’’ he said.

Mr Bailey has previously confirmed Mr Soorley “asked” him about the issue, but said he told him it was a matter between Mr Jedid and his department. Ms Trad, who lost her seat at the state election, said she was “not lobbied on this matter by anyone”.

Mr Jedid, who believed Mr Soorley was a registered lobbyist when he paid him, said the government notified him it would not renew the lease about week after he made complaints about the former mayor.

State Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the latest revelations about Dr Stepanov’s treatment were “a very serious development in this state”.

Ms Palaszczuk said the shock resignation of the state’s Integrity Commissioner was “not a problem at all”. Asked if she was aware Dr Stepanov had raised her request for a forensic examination of the laptop with the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Ms Palaszczuk was unsure.