The second Fitzgerald Report into aspects of Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) has been completed with a total of 32 recommendations made.
The inquiry was the result of a recommendation of the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (PCCC) following an investigation into complaints surrounding the dismissal of Councillors from the Logan City Council.
Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk thanked the authors, Tony Fitzgerald and retired judge, Alan Wilson.
“Queensland is fortunate that the man who had done so much to rid the State of corruption in the past has, with Justice Wilson, designed a blueprint to guide us into the future,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Included in the recommendation are the introduction of checks and balances in charging practices, including requiring the CCC to seek advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions before corruption charges are laid, and the adoption of a more holistic approach to address corruption.
In the report, the authors stress they were not asked to consider questions involving the CCC’s existence, its purpose or its continuity.
“Rather, we were charged with examining and reporting upon quite specific aspects of its operations,” they said.
“Our report is not then (as some have urged) ‘Fitzgerald 2.0’,” they said.
“Nor does it revisit or re‐examine the events which led to the PCCC Logan Council Inquiry, its findings and recommendations.”
They said however, they were conscious of and had considered (where possible, and relevant) the implications of other concurrent investigations and inquiries that might have had some bearing upon the CCC’s methods of operation.
“For example, its extensive use of police officers … in circumstances where it may be involved in investigating police conduct,” they said.
“Our terms of reference direct attention to specific aspects of the CCC’s structure and operations.
“They also signal that, despite the passage of over 30 years since its first embodiment as the Criminal Justice Commission, the current‐day CCC remains an important part of our institutions of governance.”
The Premier said the Government will consider the recommendations and respond at the appropriate time.
The 220-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
