The Liberal National Party have responded to our request for comment on matters of anti corruption prior to the Queensland state election.
They have addressed three matters of accountability and integrity. The full response from the State Director of the LNP, Brad Henderson, can be read here. A summary is as follows.
Crime and Corruption Commission
The LNP correspondence refers to matters on which it has already legislated, namely that it has implemented recommendations arising from three independent reports that identified issues with the CMC’s “internal structure, administration, culture and the complaints handling process”. Of these they mention only their requirement that a complaint be accompanied by a statutory declaration, and that they have amended the definition of ‘corrupt conduct’ so that “the CMC fulfills its role as the body that deals with serious crime and corruption in Queensland”.
No new election promises for future policy change to strengthen the Crime and Corruption Commission were made.
Electoral Reform to Donations
In office, after reviewing the Electoral Act 1992, the QLD Government decided to tie the disclosure threshold for donations to that of the Commonwealth government. Here too, no new election promises were made.
Right to Information
The LNP has legislated to;
- publicly release the diaries of all Ministers
- legislated to make lying to Parliament an offence
- put independent public servants in charge of RTI decisions
It has also committed to adhering to the Ministerial Code of Conduct. They add, however, that, “The Newman LNP Government has no current plans to amend the right to information legislation in Queensland as you suggest” (ie by removing the exemption for parliament).
Although none of these commitments is to any new policy or legislation concerning the strengthening of accountability and transparency, they note that they will, over the coming days before the election, be “making new policy announcements to enhance the LNP’s strong plan for Queensland”.