Another mea culpa: Premier apologises to whistleblowing public servants
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is sorry public servants “felt” ignored when they tried to blow the whistle and says she doesn’t have a problem with increasing the lobbyist watchdog’s independence.
There are currently two separate probes into alleged government misconduct and three active inquiries into Queenslandās corruption, lobbyist and local government watchdogs.
The Crime and Corruption Commission is investigating an allegation senior public servants in 2021 confiscated a laptop from Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanovās office and deleted its contents.
Dr Stepanov, who is resigning in July, says the government reduced her funding and staff and have tried to have her removed. The government stridently denies the latter claim.
A Queenās Counsel is probing former state archivist Mike Summerellās complaints about potential misconduct which may have resulted in parliament being misled, and that certain reports were altered or suppressed.
Ms Palaszczuk says sheās sorry about the situation and willing to make changes to ensure public servants are supported in raising misconduct allegations.
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āThere were some people who said that they felt that they werenāt listened to and, you know, I apologise if they feel that way,ā the premier told reporters on Wednesday.
āBut we absolutely need to make sure that we have absolute confidence and Queenslanders should have confidence in the robust checks and balances that we have.ā
Her comments come as three reviews examine the structure and functions of the Integrity Commissioner, the CCC and Office of the Independent Assessor.
Palaszczuk ordered a Commission of Inquiry into the CCC last week after a scathing parliamentary committee report in December on its botched probe into Logan Council.
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The report led to the resignation of the corruption watchdogās chair Alan MacSporran two weeks ago.
Another parliamentary committee is considering formerĀ bureaucrat Kevin Yearburyās review of the Integrity Commissioner, which has recommended the lobbyist watchdog be separated from the Public Service Commission.
Acting CCC chair Bruce Barbour told the committee he supports laws being changed to declare the Integrity Commissioner as a public official under theĀ Crime and Corruption Act.
āThis will ensure that the Integrity Commissioner has certain obligations (for example, an obligation to notify the CCC of suspected corrupt conduct) and the CCC has jurisdiction over the Office of the Integrity Commissioner,ā Mr Barbour wrote in a submission to the committee.
The premier said she has no issue with Mr Yearburyās recommendations, including splitting the Integrity Commissionerās office from the PSC, which is overseen by her own director-general Rachel Hunter.
However, she said she must wait for the committee to report back to the government on Mr Yearburyās report before acting.
āWe will we look forward to what the committee has to say about that,ā she said.
āI donāt have any problems with Kevin Newburyās recommendations in relation to the office of the Integrity Commissioner.ā
The Office of the Independent Assessor, the local government watchdog, is also under review after a number of complaints about its probes from mayors across Queensland.
That inquiry, which is sitting on Wednesday morning, has already heard the OIA is understaffed and still dealing with council misconduct complaints almost 20 months old.
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