While NSW's ICAC hoses out the Augean Stables, in Queensland the Newmanites are extracting teeth from the Crime and Misconduct Commission ... The ethically compromised parliamentary ethics committee ... Redacted submission ... The Levy clause ... Barrister Alex McKean reports
Gibson MP: Mr Ethics
THE spectre of corruption continues to haunt the Newman government, like the ghost of Banquo.
There have been claims that the chair of the Queensland parliament's select committee on ethics, David Gibson, Member for Gympie, has been involved stealing thousands of dollars during his time in the Australian army.
This is in addition to the fact he was sacked as Police Minister less than a fortnight into the job, after it was revealed he had been driving whilst disqualified.
But why is this important?
Gibson is heading the ethics committee tasked with investigating allegations against the acting chair of the Crime and Misconduct Commission, Dr Ken Levy.
Those allegations are very serious, involving possibly misleading parliament by failing to disclose discussions with senior people in the Newman government, prior to publishing an article in October, supportive of the government's law and order agenda.
Premier Newman sacked the entire membership of the parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee, which had oversight of the CMC.
He did so before the allegations against Dr Levy could be investigated in that forum.
It should be noted that the PCMC, at the time, was headed by the independent Member for Gladstone and did not contain a majority of LNP members.
The continuing investigation of Dr Levy was then referred to the select committee on ethics, chaired by Gibson.
That was in November last year. Since then, the select committee has appeared to be concerned with delaying the investigation and ensuring the process is entirely lacking in transparency.
Levy: the government's favourite corruption watchdog
Up until January 2014, the website for the select committee said that public hearings would be held in the week beginning January 20, 2014, if required.
After I contacted the select committee staff to get further information about public hearings and making submissions, this information was removed from the website.
On January 23, Gibson issued a press release, referring to the need to afford procedural fairness to "all persons involved" and the need to consider a "large volume of material".
On March 11, I contacted the select committee staff again, seeking clarification of some of the comments in the media statement.
Specifically, I asked how many individuals needed to be afforded natural justice and what documents were being considered by the committee, beyond the transcripts of hearings before the PCMC on November 1, 13 and 18, 2013.
On March 18, Gibson replied with a letter that did not answer my questions.
He said that the select Committee had ...
"sought additional information from relevant persons but has determined that it will not be seeking additional submissions from interested members of the public, as it is considered unlikely that persons who had no direct involvement with the matter would be in a position to add value to the Committee's deliberations."
Since then, the government has tabled the Crime and Misconduct and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 (Qld).
That Bill contains two provisions that would legislatively extend the appointment of Dr Levy beyond the current deadline next month.
The Bill is being considered by the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee, which is due to report back to Parliament today (April 30).
The Bar Association of Queensland, in it's submission to the LACSC, described the provisions as the Dr Levy clause, and said they should be deleted from the Bill, adding that "since certain aspects of Dr Levy's conduct while in office, including his evidence to the parliamentary committee, are under scrutiny, this legislative appointment guarantee is inappropriate".
My submission to the LACSC, which dealt exclusively with what the Bar Association termed the Dr Levy clause, had most of the text redacted prior to its late publication on the LACSC website.
When I questioned LACSC staff about this, I was informed the LACSC had resolved to redact my submission on the basis of 'irrelevance'. The text that was redacted by the LACSC can be seen here.
When I attended the hearing of the LACSC on April 16 it was clear the committee, which comprises five LNP members, including the chair, one ALP member and the independent Peter Willington, was not going to entertain enquiries into the Dr Levy clause.
This is despite those provisions being in black and white on the face of the Bill under consideration by the LACSC.
Levy has now been referred to the Police Commissioner for investigation of his evidence before the PCMC in November last year.
Soon after this became public, Gibson issued another press release, which noted the upcoming debate on the Bill and said the ethics committee wished to ensure all Members could engage in full and open deliberation about the Bill.
It is difficult to conclude otherwise than that the government will stop at nothing to exert control over the CMC.
Sacking the PCMC was an act of political thuggery.
The subsequent placement of the continuing investigation of Levy into the hands of Gibson, and the delay and obscurantism of that investigation, call the government's motives into question.
Of more concern is the effect the Bill will have if it becomes law.
The new Crime and Corruption Commission will be a creature entirely under the heel of the government, entrenching the current lack of independence and further degrading the public confidence in a vital part of Queensland democracy.
See also: Petition from the Law & Justice Institute of Queensland. Do not make us relive history - save the independence of the CMC
Justinian