Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney caught government officials off guard when he ordered a last-minute law change that prevented the possible prosecution of a major LNP donor for what senior bureaucrats deemed illegal river quarrying.

Emails, briefing notes and other correspondence between senior officials and Department of Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps show no discussion about a change to the law before Mr Seeney ordered the amendment to the Water Act in early April.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-04/seeney-law-change-caught-own-officials-off-guard/5935504

The chess game between Labor and the LNP over who will chair the state's corruption watchdog's oversight committee has continued, with the government suggesting the Opposition choose anyone but Jeff Seeney.

The government has committed to filling the chair position with someone from outside its ranks.  The LNP put forward Jeff Seeney's name and the two parties have been at a stale mate ever since.

The Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee chair position is one of the most powerful within the parliamentary committee system, as it carries the deciding vote.

Labor made another move in the deadlocked battle on Thursday, by asking the Opposition to put forward Toowoomba North MP Trevor Watts, who is currently serving as the PCCC acting deputy chair, as its nominee.

The federal environment department is investigating whether large-scale land clearing in Queensland will breach laws protecting threatened species, world heritage properties and Great Barrier Reef waters.

A spokesperson said the department’s compliance officers were “now looking” at whether plans to clear a total of 1,310 square kilometres of bushland – approved by the former state Liberal-National government but not referred to the commonwealth – were “likely to cause a significant impact on a nationally protected matter”.

The Wilderness Society, which claimed that land clearing would create the equivalent of nearly 2% of Australia’s annual CO2 emissions, called on either the state Labor or federal governments to halt the projects until their impact was known.

It comes as the state government is investigating what premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said was the “absolutely disgraceful” approval of the largest clearing project – a 330 sq km property in Cape York – by the LNP days before the election in January.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/08/queensland-land-clearing-plans-approved-by-lnp-under-investigation

The most cogent reason Mr Seeney should not be the chair of the PCCC is the damage his occupation of that position would do to that already fragile committee and the seriously compromised body it oversees — the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC).

The principal functions of the PCCC are to:

• monitor and review the performance of the functions and the structure of the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC or the Commission);
• report to Parliament on matters relevant to the Commission; and
• participate in the appointment of Commissioners of the Commission.

The chair of the PCCC plays an important role in ensuring these functions are performed in a manner consistent with promotion of the independence of the CCC from government and its continued effectiveness as the premier anti-corruption body in Queensland. Public confidence in both institutions hinges upon that being, and being seen to be, the case.

It has become fashionable for contemporary conservative governments in Australia to appoint individuals to lead institutions who are not just skeptical of the usefulness of such institutions, but have actually called for their abolition.

This leaves partisan supporters of the government in (usually very highly paid) key positions, undermining the usefulness and independence of the institution and severely damaging public confidence in its effectiveness.

An example is the appointment of former IPA director Tim Wilson to the position of Human Rights Commissioner, not long after the IPA had called for the HRC to be abolished. This practice is unprincipled and ought be discouraged.

Mr Seeney’s prior actions and statements demonstrate his hostility toward the anti-corruption regime in Queensland and hence his unsuitability as PCCC chair.

While many members of the LNP expressed their unhappiness, with some reason, with what they saw as an effort by the Bligh Government to use the then Crime and Misconduct Commission to dig up dirt on Campbell Newman, in the lead-up to the March 2012 election, Mr Seeney appeared particularly incensed.

Shortly after that election, Mr Seeney said he had a personal determination to speak to Mr Ross Martin, then head of the CMC, about the role the CMC had played in the election.

Mr Seeney confirmed he had had a “robust” discussion with CMC chairman Ross Martin SC, soon after the LNP's state election victory.

Mr Martin had been appointed not long before the election, with the bipartisan support of the PCMC, but against the objections of senior LNP leadership, including Mr Seeney.

Soon after the election, the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commission (PCMC) was tasked with investigating the involvement of the CMC in the March 2012 poll.

In May 2012, the PCMC reported on that investigation.

The report concluded there should not be any legislative ban imposed on the CMC to prevent it from making public comments during an election campaign, saying it would

‘... fly in the face of the independence of the CMC.' 

The PCMC was then chaired by then LNP MP Dr Alex Douglas and was composed of MP’s from across the political spectrum, with a majority of members from the LNP.

But the then Deputy Premier Seeney appears to have been unwilling to accept the verdict even of his own party.

By September 2012, he was saying the LNP Government would look at legislation to prevent the CMC from becoming involved in the political process. This statement was made in response to the CMC publicly confirming it was investigating a public servant, who turned out to be Mr Ben Gommers, son of then Arts Minister Ros Bates.

It had been revealed Mr Gommers had scored a job at A08 level, being paid up to $103,000.00 per annum, along with an exclusive carpark at Mineral House, despite Premier Newman earlier decreeing a freeze on public service permanent and temporary appointments.

Mr Seeney said the CMC had once again “allowed itself to be used in the political debate”, adding that the developer donation claims were part of Labor's “horrendous campaign” against Mr Newman in the run-up to the election.

Mr Seeney called on the CMC to “immediately dismiss complaints that are obviously part of the political argument” and flagged potential legislative changes if the CMC did not change its approach.

During his tenure as deputy premier, Mr Seeney was not above using the CMC for his own political purposes.

On 27 September 2012, Mr Seeney said:

“The genuine complainant would not use the fact that they have made a complaint in the political argument. Anyone who is genuinely concerned about something can make a complaint to the CMC and not broadcast it to the world.”

With breathtaking hypocrisy, Mr Seeney went on in June 2014 to broadcast to the world the fact that he had referred documents allegedly given to him by Clive Palmer to the CMC.

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/jeff-seeneys-lying-and-rudeness-not-why-he-shouldnt-chair-pccc,7683

Queensland chief justice Tim Carmody quietly arranged for a fellow judge to be kept out of the loop on any legal challenges from the state election in a controversial attempt to assert control of who would possibly decide government.

Documents obtained under Right to Information (RTI) laws reveal that Carmody blindsided his colleagues with a public statement that he would decide who sat in the court of disputed returns (CDR) during a cliffhanger election result in February.

They reveal that days after judge David Boddice told court staff the chief justice had appointed him to the task, Carmody intervened by directly overriding Boddice’s instructions to the same staff.

The first that other judges knew of his plan to contest the appointment of Boddice – who had been nominated two months earlier under a 20-year protocol – was a public statement the next day that it was “a matter for the chief justice under the electoral act”.

Carmody did not finally allow Boddice’s appointment until the same day the electoral commission of Queensland announced it would not refer the crucial seat of Ferny Grove to the court.

Court memos detail exchanges between judges as they rallied behind senior judge administrator John Byrne, who was sacked by Carmody after a confrontation over his intervention, during which Byrne recorded him purportedly calling his colleagues collectively “scum” and one a “fat fuck”.

The exchange was one of the key incidents in Carmody’s falling out with his colleagues, which has led to his offer to resign to end an “untenable” situation. He remains on sick leave from court duties.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/06/queensland-chief-justice-state-election-maneuvering-revealed-in-documents

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So it somewhat defies reason why Deb Frecklington, the diffusion-label “LNP” Liberal leader in Queensland, would choose this fire-fronted Christmas holiday to double down on her party’s blooming reputation for callousness.

In an interview with the Sunday Mail, she laid into Queensland’s Labor premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, for both how she looks and her lack of children. “All the makeup, the designer labels, it’s too much,” said Frecklington, “thank goodness that I am nowhere near like her.” The Australian explained: “Ms Frecklington said she was more “grounded” because – unlike the premier – “she had to deal with her children at the end of a tough day”.

Memes have since travelled the internet exposing the designer value of Frecklington’s own wardrobe, showcased – no less – at the polo. Wry these may be, but they miss the point. In this cynical era of politics without candour, Frecklington’s dog whistling the premier as less a leader than an unnaturally overgrown girl – a gendered stereotype in which the maturity of responsible motherhood has been eschewed for teen-like frippery. “Princess Palaszczuk” roared the Mail’s headline, in case the sledgehammer hit too soft.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2019/dec/31/childlessne...

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Frecklington, like our Scumscuddingson, creates her own legend — this time with a polo stick and a face like Hera, a goddess who hated (and tried to kill) her brother/husband's "other" children...