The powerful parliamentary committee probing the 2018 investigation into the Logan City Council by Queensland’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) is set to hold its first public hearings next month.
The Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (PCCC) , an all-party committee which oversees the CCC operations and activities and deals with complaints about the CCC, launched the inquiry in response to a complaint.
The CCC investigation led to the council being sacked and seven councillors and former mayor Luke Smith facing fraud charges. Last month, fraud charges against the seven councillors and Mr Smith were dropped, with the prosecution saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed.
The committee has released wide ranging terms of reference for the hearing and set midday July 26 as the cut-off date for submissions.
Under the terms of reference the committee will examine and report on:
- the decision and considerations of the CCC to charge these former councillors;
- the evidence and submissions and other documentation provided to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by the CCC in support of these charges;
- communications, from the DPP to the CCC with respect to these charges;
- the CCC’s involvement in related civil matters including those which were brought before the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission and Queensland Industrial Court, including the CCC’s interaction with former councillors, the former CEO of Logan City Council and any other relevant officers of Logan City Council at relevant times;
- the CCC’s use of coercive powers and matters relating to the dissemination of information obtained under coercion to parties in non-criminal proceedings;
- the process by which the CCC considers and determines whether to refer matters to the DPP;
- the CCC’s interaction with the DPP more broadly, including existing information sharing and other processes that facilitate interaction, and whether the current processes and guidelines are appropriate;
- whether current provisions enabling the CCC to report on an investigation to particular entities under section 49 of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 is appropriate and sufficient;
- and the CCC’s role in charging persons with an offence arising from its investigations.
The first public hearings into the investigation and sacking are scheduled to be held from 16 August 2021 and the committee has agreed to report by November 30.
Those interested in making a submission have been urged to ensure they focus on the terms of reference for the inquiry, and not on individual complaint matters.
There is a separate process for making a complaint to the CCC or the committee.
The committee will consider a submission’s relevance and content, and will decide whether to accept it, and whether to publish it.
Guidelines for making a submission to a parliamentary committee are available here: Guide to making a submission.
