Queensland CMC boss Ross Martin under fire for document release blunder

CAMPBELL Newman has ramped up pressure on the boss of Queensland's anti-corruption watchdog, saying Ross Martin should "consider" resigning over the Fitzgerald file debacle.

Queensland attorney general Jarrod Bleijie

CAMPBELL Newman has ramped up pressure on the boss of Queensland's anti-corruption watchdog, saying for the first time that Ross Martin should "consider" resigning over the release of secret Fitzgerald inquiry files.

Previously, state government ministers had stopped short of saying that Mr Martin should go.

The Premier said Mr Martin, chairman of the Crime and Misconduct Commission, had presided over a “pattern” of lack of openness, accountability and respect for the Queensland parliament.

“Frankly, I've had ministers that have been prepared to resign because they've actually failed the test as well,” Mr Newman told reporters in Gladstone.

“And if they've failed the test on matters that are almost trivial compared to Mr Martin's lack of good governance and accountability, then he should consider doing the same thing.”

The government does not have the power to sack Mr Martin.

Mr Newman's call follows a similar suggestion by Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie.

“I think it's not about me or anyone sacking him, it's about someone taking responsibility for this monumental stuff-up,” Mr Bleijie told ABC radio this morning.

The CMC chairman is under the gun after state parliament sat until 3.30am (AEST) to pass emergency legislation to suppress publication of intelligence files from the 1980s corruption inquiry, wrongly made public through the State Archives.

An inquiry has been ordered into the release and shredding of documents from the landmark Fitzgerald probe, including highly confidential criminal files about unsolved murders and other serious offences.

A furious Mr Bleijie said Mr Martin had ultimate responsibility for the blunder, exposed by The Australian.

It had raised concern that the identity of secret informants to the inquiry could be compromised, putting lives at risk.

The Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee will investigate why the CMC failed to report the error when it came to light in May last year.

However Mr Newman also accused the PCMC, which has oversight of the CMC, of being asleep at the wheel, prompting accusations of contempt of parliament.

The Premier said of the bipartisan committee: “The PCMC are the watchdogs and they've become a lap dog.”

“They are the ones who allowed the CMC to shred documents, to inadvertently release documents, to fail to correct the situation and then were not properly kept informed about the situation.”

MP Alex Douglas - a former PCMC chairman who quit the government last year after saying he was thrown off parliament's ethics committee - said the Premier had committed contempt.

He said the committee's current chair, fellow independent Liz Cunningham, should immediately demand a retraction from the Premier.

Parliament was told yesterday more than 7000 files meant to be kept secret until about 2055 were made publicly available at the State Archives due to an “administrative oversight”.

Dozens of the files were discovered and lawfully accessed at the State Archives by The Australian, which has not published anything that would compromise the safety of informants, protected witnesses and leading figures who were investigated at the time.

Emergency legislation passed early this morning will stop the publication or release of the files for at least 60 days.

The laws are intended to protect witnesses and informers named in the documents.

“Mr Martin has come to the government at one minute to midnight - almost literally - and demanded legislation to cover up the mistakes of him and his organisation,” Mr Newman said.

“I view this very seriously.”

Mr Newman said Mr Martin also demanded he saw draft legislation before it was put to parliament.

“My concern is we have a senior important public servant who doesn't seem to understand his responsibility or his accountability to the people of Queensland,” he said.

Mr Bliejie pledged that the government would not pursue The Australian, as it had done nothing wrong in inspecting and reviewing the documents.

However, the actions of the CMC, senior officers and Mr Martin would be closely investigated.

“(The PCMC inquiry) will get to the bottom of what went wrong, and ultimately find out who should take responsibility for those actions,” Mr Bleijie told parliament.

The CMC's delay in reporting the mistake will be a key focus of the probe. The inquiry will also look at why the CMC shredded some documents relating to the inquiry.

Ms Cunningham said Mr Martin has been unable to say how the release had happened, what documents were released, or if they had been widely viewed.

She said the CMC learned in May last year that the records had gone public but didn't act to address the matter until September.

The PCMC was informed of the error only this week.

Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk supported the government's move and said the release of the documents were alarming and unacceptable.

“I cannot emphasise enough the very real risk of harm, even of death, that some of these witnesses faced if their identity were ever known. Their courage in coming forward has changed the face of Queensland forever,” she said.

Treasurer Tim Nicholls told parliament: “We learn that the CMC themselves knew of this error in May last year and instruction was apparently issued to `fix' the situation, yet nothing had been done for three or four months.

“In fact, it was only when a journalist from The Australian newspaper asked questions that the matter actually came to light and action was necessary to be taken.”

Civil liberties advocate Terry O'Gorman said the CMC was now close to unaccountable.

But he said it was also clear some “senior members” of the Newman government had it out for the CMC.

“They would love to get payback for what the CMC has done to some of their numbers in the past, in terms of investigations and prosecuting them and jailing them,” Mr O'Gorman said.

“One has to be very careful of the agenda of certain high ranking members of this government who'd like to exert more direction control of the CMC. That's got to be resisted at all costs.”

Mr O'Gorman said lives and careers were being wrecked by “endemic” delays in CMC investigations, which could not be challenged in the courts.

Alex Douglas, a former chair of the PCMC, said Mr Bleijie had prejudged Mr Martin.

“What the Attorney-General did, by jumping three steps ahead, is to use kangaroo court justice,” he told ABC radio.

“You are proclaiming the person as guilty until found otherwise. In our justice system, you're innocent until proven guilty.”

Additional reporting: Rosanne Barrett, AAP