Nuttall Conviction Highlights Reforms Needed to Ensure Ministerial Accountability

Ex Queensland Minister Gordon Nuttall’s criminal conviction is one of a number of probity issues faced by the current Labor government during its 11 years in office. Particularly as we mark the 20th anniversary of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, it inevitably calls into focusthe effectiveness of government probity measures in this state.

Sadly, we have to conclude that the measures in place are not adequate. The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties calls upon the government to convert ministerial probity standards into law to be overseen by a statutory body with strong enforcement powers.

Whilst it is true the Premier has shown exemplary commitment to government accountability in the area of freedom of information her actions on ministerial accountability are inadequate because they lack teeth.

The Bligh government has also created a Register of Lobbyists and instituted a ban on Ministerial staffers and senior public servants from lobbying the government for at least 2 years.

The Council points to the standard set by President Barack Obama in implementing a series of stringent rules to ensure probity in his administration as one to which the Premier might aspire.

In our view an even more useful model is the extremely comprehensive set of reforms introduced by the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2006.

Experience in Canada, the UK and the US suggests Queensland is in need of the following Ministerial accountability measures:

1. The standards for Ministerial accountability and ethics should be enshrined in legislation;

2. The Integrity Commissioner or the CMC should be empowered to review compliance with those standards and on complaint or by their own initiative to investigate complaints of the breach of the standards;

3. The register of lobbyists should be administered by the Integrity Commissioner or the CMC with strong investigative powers and a mandate to enforce compliance;

4. Ministerial staffers and senior public servants should be prohibited from registering and lobbying the government for at least one term of office, i.e. 3 years, after leaving office. It is interesting to compare the US where the new President has decreed that anyone who leaves the Obama administration will not be able to lobby his administration;

5. Like President Obama the government should ban gifts by lobbyists to members of the government;

6. There should be a ban on any payment or other benefit contingent on the outcome of a lobbyist’s activity and the legislation should require all government contracts to state such payments will not be made;

7. Lobbyists who take jobs with the government should not be able to work on matters they lobbied on for two years, or in the agencies they lobbied during the previous two years;

8. Either the Integrity Commissioner or the CMC should be designated a specific place for whistle blowers to report wrongdoing in the workplace including having the power to deal with reprisal complaints, conducting investigations and conciliate disputes between parties; and

9. The Commissioner or the CMC should be authorised to provide access to free legal advice for any person making a complaint.

The major differences between these proposals and the government’s changes so far are that: (1) the rules are written in legislation and (2) there is a body with the mandate and powers to proactively audit for and enforce compliance with the rules. Whilst the CMC, as shown by the Nuttall case, has some of these powers its role is very much after the horse has bolted.

In the Council’s view these types of institutional changes are necessary to avoid the sort of meltdown in public confidence that has occurred in the UK.

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. It is appropriate that the citizens of this state take the opportunity to review the reforms that were implemented following that inquiry and to make sure that accountability mechanisms are in place to address the issues that have arisen since that inquiry. Issues which need addressing apart from those discussed here include Electoral Finance Reform, the role of the CMC in investigating police complaints and a Human Rights Act for Queensland.

Dangerous Liaisons

The release of the CMC’s Dangerous Liaisons report brings back memories of the pre Fitzgerald days. The Council has repeatedly expressed its concern that the CMC has taken its eyes off the ball by its policy of referring all complaints back to the police service to be handled internally. The QCCL has received numerous complaints from members of the public dissatisfied with this approach. The Dangerous Liaisons report vindicates those concerns. That report shows that the cultural transformation demanded by Fitzgerald is breaking down. As Professor Homel has argued The Commissioner needs to take urgent action to stop the rot at the level of Sergeant and Senior Sergeant. But in addition the CMC must take a hands-on role in investigations to ensure misconduct is investigated properly and punished appropriately.

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Prepared on behalf of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties by Michael Cope, President

Brisbane, 24 July 2009

[A version of this opinion was published in the Brisbane Times on 24 July 2009]