Queensland Premier stonewalls Royal Commission into corruption
Luke Grant speaks with Fiona Simpson, Shadow Minister for Shadow Minister for Integrity in Government, who puts the case forward for a full independent inquiry into integrity in the Qld government and public service.
Explosive claims in the Sunday Mail newspaper reveal what was on the laptop at the centre of the state’s biggest political scandal in three decades.
It was a Thursday and Queensland’s first female integrity commissioner had been at International Women’s Day events in the regions as a speaker and guest. Without her knowledge, presence or consent, PSC staff entered Stepanov’s Albert St offices in March last year where access codes were changed and phones and devices were confiscated.
The laptop was wiped of records relevant to “ongoing legal proceedings” and “investigations”. The action has been described to the committee with oversight of her office as the “indelible deletion of public records of the Integrity Commission”.
Ms Simpson says for three weeks a chorus of Queenslanders have been calling for a Royal Commission and for three weeks the Premier has stonewalled.
Yesterday’s reports detail damning evidence of the Premier’s direct involvement in the greatest attack on integrity and accountability in over three decades… showing why she has refused to hold her government to account.
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