Tony Fitzgerald

The Queensland Commission of Inquiry relating to the Crime and Corruption Commission 200+ page report has been published.

‘There were some people who said they felt that they weren’t listened to, and I apologise if they feel that way,’ Palaszczuk said.

A former judge who oversaw the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry in the 1980s will oversee a new inquiry into the QCCC he helped create. 

The Morrison government’s proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission might struggle for credibility. It has opponents lining up inside and outside federal parliament, including many senior members of the legal profession, some of which are actively campaigning for a stronger model. Those critics do not appear ready to let it go.

“We must never go back to the pre-Fitzgerald days,” says Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission chair Alan MacSporran, marking the 30-year anniversary of the major inquiry into police corruption that left an indelible legacy throughout the state’s public institutions.

The two territories are catching up to the states and establishing independent corruption commissions to investigate and expose public sector corruption, in their own ways. The Commonwealth looks increasingly isolated while the relentless campaign for a federal ICAC rumbles on.

The specific weaknesses of the federal integrity framework mean NSW’s ICAC model, although popular, isn’t necessarily the best option. Whichever the model, it’s likely APS matters would dominate, not politicians.