“That’s a matter for him,obviously,” Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman told 4BC Radio on Tuesday. “If he believes there does need to be further investigation – I mean,it’s Tony Fitzgerald – I don’t think he’ll hold back.”
The new commission of inquiry under Mr Fitzgerald and Alan Wilson QC,with the powers of a royal commission,willconsider the structure of the now-Crime and Corruption Commission – which his 1989 report helped form – and the power he believes such a body should have.
This will include the secondment of police officers to the agency and whether it should require sign-off from the Director of Public Prosecution to lay charges after investigations – the recommendations of a bipartisan parliamentary committee’s own recent probe into the Logan council saga.
But the new Fitzgerald inquiry,expected to report by early August with a budget of $5 million,has been launched amid a cloud of several other recent allegations of interference by government in the work of integrity officials,includingoutgoing Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov andformer State Archivist Mike Summerell.
A five-yearly review of Dr Stepanov’s role,which has recommended greater independence for her office,closed for submissions this week ahead of expected parliamentary committee hearings and recommendations.
Cases raised by Dr Stepanov are currently before the CCC. These include concerns involving the Public Service Commission – which has budgetary oversight of her office – confiscating and wiping a laptop last year linked to potentially unlawful lobbying activity. The watchdog has declined to comment on that case’s progress.