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Call for Submissions

Submissions closed on Friday, 11 April 2014.

Objective of the Bill

The policy objectives of the Bill are to:

1. reform the upper governance structure of the CMC (which will be renamed the Crime and Corruption Commission and generally referred to from this point in the Explanatory Notes as the commission);
2. change the definition of ‘official misconduct’ in the CM Act to raise the threshold for what matters are captured within that definition and rename the defined conduct as ‘corrupt conduct’;
3. rename the ‘misconduct function’ in the CM Act to ‘corruption function’; which will result in the following new titles: ‘Crime and Corruption Act 2001’; ‘Crime and Corruption Commission’; ‘Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee’ and ‘Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commissioner’;
4. improve the complaints management system of the commission to refocus it on more serious cases of corruption and reduce the number of complaints the commission is to deal with and investigate;
5. remove the commission’s responsibilities for the ‘prevention’ of corruption in units of public administration’
6. ensure the commission’s research function is more focussed and relevant to its functions;
7. strengthen the transparency and accountability of the commission by expanding the role of the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commissioner (parliamentary commissioner) in his oversight of the commission, and requiring meetings between the commission and the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (the parliamentary committee) to be held in public as much as possible’
8. clarify the grounds for discipline and what disciplinary action may be taken by the commission in relation to conduct of commission officers’
9. make transitional arrangements to continue the current acting chairperson’s appointment and certain other appointments; and provide transitional arrangements for the ending of other appointments;
10. implement recent recommendations of public reports about the commissioner’s investigation of alleged official misconduct at the University of Queensland and to make other unrelated minor amendments to the CM Act;
11. improve the management of personal conduct and work performance of Queensland public service employees; and
12. make consequential amendments to the CM Act, the Public Service Act 2008 (PS Act) and other Queensland legislation and regulations to support the above policy objectives.

Other Information

The Crime and Misconduct and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 and Explanatory Notes are available from the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel at www.legislation.qld.gov.au.

The Hansard transcript for the explanatory speech for the Bill can be accessed here.

Public Hearing

The Committee held a public hearing on this Bill with invited witnesses at Parliament House, Brisbane on Wednesday, 16 April 2014.  The hearing was broadcast live on the Queensland Parliament website.

A copy of the schedule can be accessed here.

Copies of the transcript can be accessed at Related Publications.

Reasons for the Bill

On 3 July 2013, the Queensland Government tabled its response in the Legislative Assembly to the two recent reviews of the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC): the review by the Independent Advisory Panel (constituted by the Honourable Ian Callinan AC and Professor Nicholas Aroney (Callinan/Aroney)) of the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 (CM Act) and related matters; and the inquiry by the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee into the CMC’s release and destruction of Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry documents.

An Implementation Panel (the Panel) comprising: the Director-General, Department of Justice and Attorney-General (DJAG) (Chair); Director-General, Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC); Commission Chief Executive (CCE), Public Service Commission (PSC); and Acting Chairperson, CMC was established to oversee and direct the consideration and implementation of the accepted recommendations in the Government Response.

The Panel has met on a regular basis and provided reports to the Premier and the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice on the progress of implementing the recommendations, including advice on how the recommendations’ intentions are best achieved.  Legislative amendments are required to give effect to the accepted recommendations.

Referral

On 19 March 2014 the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the Hon Jarrod Bleijie MP, introduced the Crime and Misconduct and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 into the Queensland Parliament.  In accordance with Standing Order 131 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, the Bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (the Committee) for detailed consideration.

By motion of the House, the Committee is required to report to the Parliament by 30 April 2014.

Report

On 30 April 2014, the Committee tabled its Report No. 62, Crime and Misconduct and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014. A copy of the report is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Government tabled its response to the Committee's report on 7 May 2014. A copy of the Government Response is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Crime and Misconduct and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 was passed, with amendment, by the Legislative Assembly on 7 May 2014.