Tony Fitzgerald will be one of the chairs of a royal commission-style inquiry into the structure of Queensland's anti-corruption body, the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC), Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced today.
The bipartisan Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (PCCC), which oversees the anti-corruption watchdog, recommended such an inquiry late last year in a scathing report to parliament.
That report stemmed from an examination of the CCC's investigation and decision to charge eight Logan City councillors with fraud in 2019.
It found CCC chair Alan MacSporran did not ensure the watchdog acted independently and impartially at all times.
Mr MacSporran, resigned last week – saying his relationship with the PCCC had broken down irretrievably which saddened him deeply, and defending a decades-long career where his honesty and integrity had never been questioned.
Mr Fitzgerald conducted the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry in the 1980s, which revealed systemic corruption in Queensland and led to the creation of what is now the CCC.
Retired Supreme Court judge Alan Wilson QC will also chair the inquiry which is expected to take six months.
'Very serious allegations'
Its terms of reference include a review of the CCC's structure in regard to its investigatory and charging functions, and the role of seconded police officers at the CCC.
Ms Palaszczuk said cabinet considered the PCCC's report into the CCC "at length".
"The CCC has enormous power. The check on its power is the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee," she said.
"These are very serious allegations and the report was given very serious consideration by cabinet.
"We believe in the checks and balances that are put in place as part of our democracy."
There have been calls for a wider inquiry into integrity matters within Queensland supported by two top bureaucrats — outgoing Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov and former State Archivist Mike Summerell.
'Darkest chapter'
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the LNP would have liked to see the inquiry broadened or a separate inquiry held into integrity matters in the Queensland government.
"This afternoon the Premier has sought to release the pressure valve on the integrity crisis engulfing her government," Mr Crisafulli said.
"What Queenslanders wanted to see was a Fitzgerald Inquiry 2.0, and inquiry that would look at the way the Queensland government conducts itself, that looks at all that is wrong in Queensland at the moment.
"What we've seen in the last week has been the darkest chapter in this state's history in over three decades when it comes to integrity.
'Quite a technical review'
Griffith University public policy and law Professor AJ Brown said the CCC had an excellent track record in fighting corruption and the inquiry was an opportunity to strengthen the anti-corruption body.
"It's not a wide-ranging inquiry into every aspect of the commission [CCC] — it's specifically to look at particular powers that is has and how it exercises them to charge people with corruption-related offences," he said.
"It's quite a technical review, but it's the review that was recommended by the parliamentary committee that fielded the complaints about overreach by the CCC."
Professor Brown also urged the state government to treat other recommendations like a review of whistleblower protections just as seriously.
"That's going to be another really important outcome of this," he said.
"We've got to hope if these reviews are done properly, then this is an opportunity to make sure Queensland really does have the highest possible quality system — better than any other state would be the goal — and clearly already better than a federal level where there's no anti-corruption commission at all."
