This found that $567,000 of public funds had been invested in direct breach of the Terms of Trade it was channelled through. Further, the donation would provide a clear party political benefit to the ruling Liberal National Party, at both local and federal level. It also identified serious ambiguities regarding the response of Queensland’s police agencies and judiciary, which had been repeatedly notified of the situation.
This was comprehensively documented, inclusive of incontrovertible evidential material. The 54 page report was published online, and can be viewed on this web page: The Misappropriation Report.
THE SENATE INQUIRY
On September 30th 2014, the Senate in Canberra voted to establish a federal inquiry into the conduct of the Queensland Government:
Submissions from the public were duly invited.
The terms of reference for the inquiry were very clear, and included:
-
“whether any Commonwealth funds have been used by the State of Queensland for state government advertising or party political purposes”
“the administration of the Queensland courts and judicial system insofar as it relates to cross vesting arrangements, with particular reference to judicial independence and separation of powers”
As this embraced and directly included the matters documented by the Misappropriation Report, significant numbers of the public submitted it to the inquiry. One submission alone was made on behalf of over 1,000 signatories.
Some of the submissions explained specifically that the report evidenced and demonstrated that “Commonwealth funds have been used by the State of Queensland for state government advertising or party political purposes.”
THE SENATE RESPONSE
The response of the secretariat, on behalf of the committee, directly contradicted the remit of the inquiry itself. It rejected the submissions, on the basis that they were: “not sufficiently related to the terms of reference”:
Given that the submissions were unambiguously and self-evidently covered by the terms of reference, the reason provided for the rejection was clearly false.
The submission of a report which evidenced that “funds have been used by the State of Queensland for state government advertising or party political purposes” could not have been genuinely rejected for not being “sufficiently related to” the terms of reference of an inquiry which was mandated to examine “whether any Commonwealth funds have been used by the State of Queensland for state government advertising or party political purposes”.
When asked how it could possibly justify a decision which directly contradicted its own terms of reference, its response was stark. There was to be no public accountability or transparency at all:
The decision, patently, had nothing whatsoever to do with the terms of reference, as there is no scope for any doubt that the submissions fell within them.
However, the genuine reason for rejection was not difficult to establish.
THE CANBERRA CONNECTION
Whilst the Misappropriation Report reveals the misuse of public funds by the Queensland Government, it also identifies why those funds were diverted. They were misused for the benefit of named politicians in Canberra: to prevent misconduct at federal level from being exposed to public scrutiny.
It was, therefore, apparent that the fallout from this scandal would not be limited to Queensland, but would embrace the political hierarchy at national level. In other words, the report threatened to expose corruption, and create serious issues, in the backyard of the inquiry itself.
A completely untenable excuse was therefore manufactured to prevent this occurring.
Once again, the ranks were tightly closed, with integrity, transparency and the public interest on the outside.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS & SECRETARIAT
MEMBERS
Senator Glenn Lazarus, Chair, IND, QLD
Senator the Hon Joseph Ludwig, Deputy Chair, ALP, QLD
Senator Christopher (Chris) Ketter, ALP, QLD
Senator the Hon Ian Macdonald, LP, QLD
Senator Larissa Waters, AG, QLD
PARTICIPATING MEMBERS
Senator Chris Back, LP, WA (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Cory Bernardi, LP, SA (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Catryna Bilyk, ALP, TAS (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Carol Brown, ALP, TAS (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Joseph (Joe) Bullock, ALP, WA, (from 17 November 2014)
Senator David Bushby, LP, TAS (from 1 October 2014)
Senator the Hon Douglas (Doug) Cameron, ALP, NSW (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Matthew Canavan, NP, QLD (from 1 October 2014)
Senator the Hon Kim Carr, ALP, VIC (from 17 November 2014)
Senator the Hon Jacinta Collins, ALP, VIC (from 17 November 2014)
Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy, ALP, VIC (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Sam Dastyari, ALP, NSW (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Sean Edwards, LP, SA (from 1 October 2014)
Senator the Hon John Faulkner, ALP, NSW
(from 17 November 2014 to 6 February 2015)
Senator David Fawcett, LP, SA (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Alexander (Alex) Gallacher, ALP, SA (from 17 November 2014)
Senator the Hon William (Bill) Heffernan, LP, NSW (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Jacqui Lambie, IND, TAS (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Sue Lines, ALP, WA (from 17 November 2014)
Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, ALP, ACT (from 17 November 2014 to 24 March 2015)
Senator Gavin Marshall, ALP, VIC (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Anne McEwen, ALP, SA (from 17 November 2014)
Senator James McGrath, LP, QLD (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Bridget McKenzie, NP, VIC (from 1 October 2014)
Senator the Hon Jan McLucas, ALP, QLD (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Claire Moore, ALP, QLD (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Deborah O'Neill, ALP, NSW (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Barry O'Sullivan, NP, QLD (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Nova Peris OAM, ALP, NT (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Helen Polley, ALP, TAS (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Linda Reynolds, LP, WA (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Anne Ruston, LP, SA (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Zdenko (Zed) Seselja, LP, ACT (from 1 October 2014)
Senator the Hon Lisa Singh, ALP, TAS (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Dean Smith, ALP, WA (from 1 October 2014)
Senator Glenn Sterle, ALP, WA (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Anne Urquhart, ALP, TAS (from 17 November 2014)
Senator Zhenya Wang, PUP, WA (from 17 November 2014)
Senator John Williams, NP, NSW (from 1 October 2014)
Senator the Hon Penny Wong, ALP, SA (from 17 November 2014)
SECRETARIAT
Ms Julia Agostino, Secretary
Ms Natasha Rusjakovski, Acting Principal Research Officer
Ms Jessica Strout, Acting Senior Research Officer
Ms Elise Williamson, Research Officer (until 2 February 2015)
Ms Chiara Edwards, Research Officer (from 2 February 2015)
Ms Sophie Wolfer, Administrative Officer
.