Qld cops in firing line as Fitzgerald hands down report into CCC

Corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald QC has handed down 32 recommendations to fix systemic issues within the Crime and Corruption Commission, including the need for investigators to seek legal advice before laying charges, and strategies to reduce the “risks” of having police officers seconded to CCC cases.

Under the recommendations, handed down by Fitzgerald and fellow former judge Alan Wilson QC following a commission of inquiry into the state’s corruption watchdog, CCC officers would need to seek advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions before pressing charges.

Tony Fitzgerald, with fellow former judge Alan Wilson QC, handed down a report following their commission of inquiry into Queensland’s corruption watchdog. Credit: Tamara Voninski

The number of civilians on the watchdog’s team would also be boosted to combat police officers potentially influencing cases.

About 23 per cent of the CCC’s workforce are seconded police officers. The report said their “close and substantial involvement is not universally supported”, but a number of submissions to the inquiry advocated that officers be included.

As of May this year, the Corruption Operations unit, which is responsible for actual investigations, included 18 seconded police officers and 11 civilian staff with policing backgrounds.

Fitzgerald and Wilson said the current staffing arrangements did not give the CCC “appropriate flexibility over the mix of job positions, skills and experience contained within the group of police officers seconded to it”.

Qld police within the CCC v other states

The percentage of police making up the CCC’s workforce in Queensland (23 per cent) contrasts starkly with the maximum number who may be seconded to South Australia’s ICAC (11.99 per cent), and the ACT’s Integrity Commission (5.56 per cent). Even with dual crime and corruption functions, seconded police in WA’s CCC comprise just 1.6 per cent of its workforce. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission includes just 2.51 per cent of seconded police. 

“Apart from one junior investigations assistant role, all investigator positions within the Corruption Operations unit were occupied by a serving or former police or law enforcement officer,” the report found.

The commission of inquiry, with the powers of a royal commission, was announced as part of the Palaszczuk government’s response to a damning report into the CCC’s handling of the Logan council case.

The inquiry was set up to consider the structure of the CCC – which the report from the 1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry helped establish – and the power such a body should have.

“We came to the conclusion that elements of the CCC’s structure and organisation involving seconded police officers carried risks that manifested in the Logan council matter,” the report said.

It said there were risks concerning an “undue focus upon what might be called a ‘law enforcement’ approach in corruption matters” and what seemed to be “uncertainty and ambiguity around the duties and responsibilities of seconded officers”.

“The CCC lacks, in our view, both internal and external checks and balances that appropriately addressed these risks,” the report said.

The CCC has come under increased scrutiny, with several of the corruption watchdog’s cases having been thrown out of court. It has also been accused of straying too far from Fitzgerald’s original intent.

The commission of inquiry received 87 submissions and made 32 recommendations to the state government, including that the CCC report regularly to the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee about the implementation of the recommendations.

The report, released on Tuesday, also recommended the creation of a Corruption Strategy and Prevention unit within the CCC’s Corruption Division.

“The CCC must remain an independent, fair and impartial body, trusted by the public to achieve its important statutory functions.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday told reporters she could not see any reason why the 32 recommendations would not be accepted by her government.

But when asked whether the Logan councillors deserved an apology or compensation for the CCC ordeal, Palaszczuk said she would not have an emotional response.

“I’m just commenting on the report. The report is very clear here that there needs to be better checks and balances, and what we want to avoid are like the circumstances we saw with Logan,” she said.

“I think that report is very clear about a clear path forward ... so we will probably not see the likes of that happening again. That is my expectation.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the latest Fitzgerald report is very clear – “there needs to be better checks and balances” at the CCC.Credit: Matt Dennien

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the report outlined that there were a “number of risks when you have seconded police officers working at the CCC”.

“They say there are two risks that occur when you have seconded police officers: the first is the risk of influence by police officers at the CCC to influence the culture; and the second is the risk of corruption in investigations, adopting a law enforcement or police approach,” she said.

Two former CCC chairmen used their submissions to warn against any political interference in the agency’s work, something they said was a constant threat.

Immediate past-chairman Alan MacSporran QC said that since the Fitzgerald Inquiry, bipartisan support for the CCC had faded, and “there have been periods of sustained attack upon the agency”.

“In essence, there have been attempts to wind these reforms back from the time the reforms were implemented following the Fitzgerald report. These attempts have taken various forms and have, to varying degrees, sapped resources from the agency, caused stress to staff, and undermined public trust in the work of the agency,” MacSporran wrote.

Former chairman Ross Martin QC said that during his tenure, a politician’s views on being investigated by the CCC were “given the benefit of a two-page spread in The Courier-Mail, complete with mocking cartoon”.

“Thus, the loss of a trial is an existential threat to the CCC in a way that it is not for other institutions,” Martin wrote.

“To complain about this is pointless – it would be to ignore reality. But it has consequences. This is amplified when it is recognised that there have been a number of attempts to review the CCC, the results of which – or the processes of which – were capable of rational criticism.”

The CCC said it would immediately implement the recommendations.