Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about that most important of principles, the burden of proof. You should be innocent until proven guilty, and the world of people, democracy itself, should not be able to be overturned simply because of baseless allegations. Yet that is what is happening in my native Queensland under the auspices of the Corruption and Crime Commission, referred to as the CCC, and its current chairman, Alan MacSporran. As a former councillor—I spent almost a decade as an elected councillor in the Brisbane City Council—I know better than most just how democratically damaging the recent behaviour of MacSporran and the CCC has been. Before I proceed, I want to make it very clear: every person who holds an elective or public service office in Queensland needs to act with absolute integrity, and if you're found guilty of misconduct you should expect to feel the full force of those consequences. But just because the CCC is there to investigate misconduct, it itself cannot be above criticism or reasonable concerns about its behaviour. To have an accusation levelled against you by the CCC has dire consequences: after all, it can lead to you losing your role and the respect of your peers, your friends and your family. MacSporran should ensure his investigations are of the highest calibre, but that is not the case currently.

The recent example of this, the case of the Logan City Council, has been the most profound. In 2019, seven Logan city councillors were charged with criminal offences by the CCC. The CCC under MacSporran had weighed in to what was essentially an industrial dispute and levelled criminal charges at the councillors, despite the charges never being properly tested in court. At the time the fraud charges were laid by the CCC, independent legal advice from multiple senior counsel all advised that criminal charges had no chance of success. This was all presented to the Queensland government of the time, but despite all that the democratically elected council was dismissed. What had happened to innocent until proven guilty? Track forward to 14 April 2021. Those fraud charges were withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. Why? Because of a lack of evidence. But what did that mean for the councillors? They were unfairly sacked. For two years they had a false claim hanging over their heads, no doubt affecting their mental wellbeing, certainly affecting their financial position—their employability, their careers—not to mention affecting their personal relationships. They get no justice, no compensation. In this time, a new election for the city of Logan had taken place and these councillors were denied the opportunity to recontest.

This is an unelected body, the CCC, essentially achieving the overturning of a democratic election all on the basis of charges laid when it knew there was no prospect of them being proven in a court of law. This sort of behaviour should frighten and terrify anyone who believes in the sanctity of our democratic process. The dismissal of elected representatives and barring them from running in elections due to unproven and ultimately baseless allegations and charges is the type of thing you would expect to see in a tin-pot dictatorship, not in my beloved state of Queensland. Yet this is the situation that MacSporran's actions have created. The Local Government Association of Queensland has rightly called this a travesty of justice, and of course it is. I back their asking for an independent inquiry into this matter to occur as a matter of urgency. The Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee has recently confirmed that it will hold an inquiry, and chairman Jon Krause has said his committee intends to publish the allegations against the CCC made in a submission by the LGAQ. I understand the behaviour of the CCC will rightly be scrutinised as part of this inquiry, not just the Logan case but also other behaviour, including the difference of approach when it comes to state public servants, where the CCC often refers allegations back to the same departments the claims are made against, versus the star chamber-style investigations it runs against elected officials.

Also deserving of scrutiny is their involvement in the regular political weaponisation of CCC investigations by Labor, like we saw against Campbell Newman when he was running for Premier and like we saw against Lord Mayor Graham Quirk at the 2016 Brisbane City Council election. It is my strong view that MacSporran should at the very least stand aside today while the inquiry occurs. That is the level of accountability he would expect of elected officials and he should hold himself to the same standard. I believe that the sheer overreach of the CCC under the leadership of Alan MacSporran means that good hardworking elected leaders are now so worried about this new paradigm that it is preventing them from doing the best job for those they represent. I am not alone. I join other eminent Queenslanders in their criticism of the CCC, including the clerk of parliament Neil Laurie, former Premier Campbell Newman, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, former police commissioner Ian Stewart, state MP Michael Hart and of course the LGAQ. Congratulations to the LGAQ for sticking to their guns to shine the disinfectant of sunlight on the behaviour of the CCC. As a former councillor and a current federal MP, I support their efforts wholeheartedly.

House adjourned at 20:00