Tony Fitzgerald free to dig deeper, says Annastacia Palaszczuk

Annastacia Palaszczuk has resisted calls for an independent investigation into new allegations from a former top public servant that he was pressured to alter his annual reports.

Tony Fitzgerald.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has left the door open for Tony Fitzgerald to expand the scope of his inquiry to look at allegations of political interference in the public service.

The former judge will on Monday begin work on a commission of inquiry into the powers of the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission founded in the wake of his eponymous Fitzgerald ­Inquiry three decades ago.

Ms Palaszczuk has for days ­ignored pleas from the outgoing integrity commissioner, former state archivist, the opposition and crossbenchers to broaden the terms of reference to examine ­interference. “The terms of reference have been finalised and they have been gazetted,” she said.

Pressed on the issue, she said it would be “a matter for them” if Mr Fitzgerald and retired Supreme Court judge Alan Wilson wanted to probe further.

“It is wrong for me to comment on what Mr Fitzgerald may or may not do. Let the commission get on with the job, I fully support the commission,” she said.

She meanwhile resisted calls for an independent investigation into new allegations from a former top public servant that he was pressured to alter his annual ­reports.

Former state archivist Mike Summerrell has alleged he was ordered by senior officials in the Department of Housing and Public Work not to say anything in his annual reports that “could be ­embarrassing or damaging to the government”.

Mr Summerrell, who is in a deepening stoush with the Palaszczuk government, also alleges reform recommendations he made after a 2017 Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into minister Mark Bailey were buried.

Ms Palaszczuk has asked her director-general, Rachel Hunter, to “have a look at those matters”, saying she was the appropriate person to investigate his complaints because “she presides over the public service and he was an employee of the public service”.

“Any of those serious allegations he is raising, he should have forwarded immediately to the CCC,” she said.

Mr Summerrell said he raised integrity issues “constantly for four years” before eventually going to the watchdog last year.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman questioned the timing of Mr Summerrell’s revelations and said everything in his report on Mr Bailey was investigated years ago. Mr Summerrell accused Ms Fentiman of launching a ­“personal attack” on him and disputed her claims that his report had already been investigated.

Mr Bailey was stood aside in 2017 after the CCC found he had raised a “reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct” when he ­destroyed work-related material from his private email account.

The watchdog found Mr Bailey had breached the Ministerial Handbook by using his private email account for official business, but he was cleared of corrupt ­conduct.

Mr Summerrell then issued a separate report on the potential breaches of the Public Records Act and his recommendations for actions were given to minister Mick de Brenni in late 2017.

That report has never been ­released. Mr de Brenni’s office would not respond to questions about its whereabouts or whether any recommendations had been implemented. Instead he issued a two-line statement to say wrongdoings should be reported to relevant authorities.

In a second post on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Summerrell unleashed, accusing the Labor government of trying to dig up dirt on him to undermine his credibility and “paint me as some LNP zealot with a personal grudge”.

“News flash for you – I have been a Labor/Green voter my ­entire adult life,” he wrote. “I am not a politician. I have no interest in your dirty little world … I am simply someone trying to do the right thing. Come and join us, it’s wonderful for your conscience.”