CCC chair Bruce Barbour recently told the parliamentary crime and corruption committee such restrictions would havestopped the release of 32 reports in the past 25 years.
Lawyers for Carne,in response to the application,said the CCC was seeking to go beyond its power and chase the “protection of parliament to denounce” a former public official with a “moral critique”.
“A corruption complaint will normally concern allegations against an individual,” they said. “If they are investigated in private,then to find no corrupt conduct is to end the question of reporting publicly about it.”
In its subsequent reply,the CCC disputed the categorisation of its work as a “moral critique”,and said there was a subtle distinction missing:the lack of a formal corruption finding did not mean a finding of no corruption.
The CCC said even if it did not have the power to report about the investigation,the result of Carne’s argument would result in a “restraint” on the parliamentary committee’s decision to publish the report.
“The application raises questions of public importance about the powers of permanent crime and corruption commissions to report to the parliament about investigations to raise standards of integrity and conduct in public administration,” it said.
This case illustrates a tension between the court and the parliament ...[and] a stark difference of opinion among judges in Queensland.
CCC’s application for High Court consideration
Carne wassuspended in 2019 over the allegations,and resigned without responding to a show cause notice one year later,after being notified no criminal proceedings were being proposed.
This also left the CCC with no prospect of disciplinary action. The legal stoush then arose after the agency told Carne it would publish a report,detailing the investigation,through the parliamentary committee.
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Former deputy premier Jackie Tradbrought a similar court challenge against the CCC to try to prevent the release of a report into her alleged role in the recruitment of a senior Treasury official.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has not commented on whether changes to the two-decade old law underpinning the CCC was needed while the appeal process was under way.
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