After Tuesday’s regular meeting of the watchdog’s oversight body — the parliamentary crime and corruption committee — was postponed,none of the four Labor government members appeared at the rescheduled time on Thursday morning.
After suspending the meeting for 15 minutes to wait for Labor MPs Jonty Bush,Jennifer Howard,Don Brown and Jess Pugh,and still without a quorum,LNP committee chair Jon Krause was forced to adjourn.
The public agenda featured an item relating to a question on notice from May,relating to the CCC’s costs in the secretive court action by Trad,which Labor MPs at the last public meeting.
“Look,it’s an extraordinary move and shows,obviously,the lengths that they will go to to avoid disclosing information that obviously is embarrassing for the government,” Krause told reporters outside the abandoned meeting just before 9am.
“The CCC’s indicated in no way that this information should be kept from the public. It was a question on notice,asked in public. It should be answered in public.
“I’m trying to enhance the committee process and having information held up in committee,which government departments — or the CCC in this case — have clearly said should be public,could be considered an abuse of process and abuse of the government’s majority on committees.”
Questioned on the absence by reporters on parliament grounds 30 minutes later,before the start of the sitting day,Bush said Labor members had other appointments and “that was made known last night”.
“It is a really busy week for us,regrettably,as you would understand,” the member for Cooper said,referring to the and four-day sitting week.
“[We’re] very happy to work with the committee of course and work with them on getting some future dates up and keep the work progressing.”
Howard,the member for Ipswich,was also approached by reporters. Mount Ommaney MP Pugh and Brown,the member for Capalaba and government whip,were present for the opening of parliament at 9.30am.
The CCC has written to the parliamentary body,made up of four Labor MPs and three LNP members,with an already redacted letter responding to questions taken on notice at an earlier meeting about the anti-corruption body’s court costs in the case with Trad.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed in March that Trad was covered by an indemnity scheme enabling the former minister to in the,regarding a so-far unpublished report into the recruitment of a senior Treasury official.
The committee system is,with no upper house in the state and most of the 12 parliamentary committees now comprising three government and three non-government MPs. All are chaired by a Labor member who holds the casting vote for any tie.
With an opposition chair,the PCCC is an exception,though the government majority still allows the government to block any action by the opposition. Committee members receive a $24,000 boost to their base parliamentary salaries of $159,000.
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