The state development and regional industries committee,which has oversight of the Office of the Independent Assessor and to which those comments were made,called Ms Florian and two other members of the agency in for a private briefing this monthin the wake of the newspaper case.
Committee chair and Bancroft Labor MP Chris Whiting said the October 11 meeting related to the assessor’s annual report but “a range of matters were addressed”. Examination of the annual report is a regular function of the committee.
But after thehigh-profile August case involving theFassifern Guardian and Tribune,which mounted a legal defence to successfully avoid the requests to hand over notes and recordings of its editor and journalist,other concerns of frivolous complaints and allegations of overreach have emerged.
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One outback Queensland council figure,Barcaldine mayor Sean Dillon,has described as “farcical” the fact he was investigated for alleged potential misconduct after voicing concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout for his community in a council meeting.
In correspondence published by the committee in May,Ms Florian said an inability to dismiss lower level misconduct complaints under the current laws created an “all or nothing” situation and would “benefit from legislative change” to allow this.
The watchdog’s 2020-21 annual report noted the third annual increase in complaints,to a total of 1074 – a figure almost ten times higher than anticipated when the office was established to probe councillor conduct amid Belcarra sector reforms in 2018.