Queensland integrity boss Nikola Stepanov quits after laptop ‘meddling’

Queensland’s Integrity Commissioner has quit amid an investigation into her complaints of interference in her office’s probe of potentially unlawful lobbying.

Queensland Integrity Commissioner Dr Nikola Stepanov has quit. Picture: Jono Searle

Queensland’s Integrity Commissioner has quit amid an ongoing investigation into her complaints of interference into her office’s probe of potential unlawful lobbying in the state.

Nikola Stepanov, who advises state MPs and senior bureaucrats on conflicts of interest and maintains the lobbying register, tendered her resignation last Friday midway through her second three-year term as a statutory office holder.

Her resignation comes as Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission investigates allegations a laptop was taken from her office in March last year without her knowledge and wiped.

It can be revealed the laptop was seized by the Public Service Commission, after Dr Stepanov had for months sought financial approval from the PSC for an independent forensic examination of the device.

The requests for an examination of the laptop was allegedly rejected by the PSC, which has budgetary oversight of the office of the Integrity Commissioner.

Dr Stepanov was assessing allegations of unlawful political lobbying activity with Palaszczuk government ministers and believed information was leaking from her office.

In October 2020, she suspected highly sensitive material had been transferred without authorisation on to the laptop. At the time, the state election was in full swing.

In the campaign, Annastacia Palaszczuk was dogged by revelations about the close ties of her government to lobbyists, two of whom – Evan Moorhead and Cameron Milner – were running Labor’s campaign from the Premier’s riverfront city office.

Annastacia Palaszczuk was faced flak over her government’s ties to lobbyists. Picture: Dan Peled

The allegations of unlawful lobbying is unrelated to Mr Moorhead or Mr Milner.

On Sunday, Dr Stepanov declined to comment about her resignation, but in a written statement she confirmed she made a formal complaint to the CCC last year about the seizure and wiping of the laptop.

“I confirm that I sought ­approval from the PSC for a forensic examination of a laptop over a ­period of months before the laptop was removed without my knowledge or consent by the PSC,’’ she said.

“I am unable to comment on what material might have been on the laptop, given the ­contents were subsequently deleted without my knowledge or consent.”

When asked whether she had raised her request for an examination of the laptop beyond the PSC, she said she had also gone to Ms Palaszczuk’s department.

“I raised that matter with the Department of Premier and Cabinet,’’ Dr Stepanov said in the statement.

The laptop was seized soon after.

It is alleged that mobile phones were also taken from the office in Brisbane’s CBD in the ­absence of the Integrity Commissioner or her staff.

Dr Stepanov declined to detail the allegations of unlawful lobbying that sparked her initial inquires in late 2020.

In her annual report, Dr Stepanov last year also reported that her office had suffered a reduction in staff in the previous 18 months that had affected her ability to do her work.

In September last year when the seizure of the laptop was first raised in parliament, Ms Palas­zczuk would confirm only that the matters had been referred to the CCC.

“In relation to those matters, they are a matter for the Public Service Commission,” Ms Palas­zczuk said.

“I understand from my department that certain ­matters have been referred to the CCC and it would not be appropriate for me to comment any further on those matters.’’

The PSC and CCC have previously declined to comment.

The resignation of Dr Stepanov, who is expected to leave in June, comes as the head of the state’s other major integrity agency, the CCC, faces an uncertain future.

State cabinet will soon decide on the fate of CCC chair Alan MacSporran after a parliamentary inquiry report last year found that the watchdog had “failed to act independently and impartially” in relation to its charging of Logan councillors.