CMC chair takes leave over 'health'

Excerpts from a letter from Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to Crime and Misconduct Commission chair Ross Martin. Source: The Courier-Mail

CRIME and Misconduct Commission chairman Ross Martin has taken permanent leave from his post for health reasons.

At a press conference this evening, Mr Martin announced he would stand down as he continues a long battle with cystic fibrosis. "I will not be coming back, '' he said.

"I have not ever made public that I have cystic fibrosis," Mr Martin said, adding he has been hospitalised for the past 10 days.

His physician has referred him for a lung transplant, he said during an emotional statement. "My family have suffered my pursuit of a career for far too long. They are entitled to as much of my time as I can give them."

Earlier,  Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to say if she has confidence in Crime and Misconduct Commission chairman Ross Martin, following calls from the Premier and Attorney-General for him to consider resigning.

Campbell Newman told reporters in Gladstone today, Mr Martin had presided over a lack of openness, accountability and respect for the parliament, and his own Ministers had resigned over less.

Mr Martin has admitted in a letter to Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie, the CMC released sensitive Fitzgerald Inquiry documents in an "administrative oversight".

Mr Bleijie has described the "oversight" as a monumental stuff-up and urged Mr Martin to take "full responsibility".

This morning State Parliament voted unanimously to hold a public inquiry into the release of the documents, and Ms Palaszczuk said that should be allowed to run its course.

"This inquiry needs to be truly independent and the executive needs to butt out," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"If (the Premier and Attorney-General) continue to make comments over coming weeks, we can only assume that they have an alternative agenda, and we know they have been skeptics of the CMC for some time."

The parliamentary CMC chair Liz Cunningham, who will conduct the inquiry said comments by Mr Newman and Mr Bleijie were "a matter for them".

"The committee considers it premature for the committee to be discussing if Mr Martin should resign," Ms Cunningham said.

"The inquiry will look at what happened, when it happened and why, and who was responsible."

The first public hearing will be held on Wednesday.

The Cabinet can act to terminate Mr Martin's appointment with the approval of Queensland Governor Penny Wensley under the terms of the CMC chairperson's contract.

According to the CMC's own website, "the Governor-in-Council may terminate a chairperson at any time, if he or she becomes incapable of satisfactorily performing the duties of office".

He can also be removed by the Parliament acting on a bipartisan recommendation of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee.

Mr Martin was appointed by the former Labor Government in February 2012, about six weeks before the LNP swept into power at the March 24 State election.

His appointment was opposed by the LNP because of its timing.

11:49am: Confirmation that Queensland's Conservative-dominated Parliament has the ability to sack the head of the crime watchdog can be terminated under the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001.

Governor Penelope Wensley can terminate a CMC boss if the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee offers bi-partisan support to sack a chairman and if the Parliament approves the termination of the appointment.

10.25am: THE former head of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee has called for the Attorney-General to resign or be replaced, following his comments about CMC chairman Ross Martin.

Jarrod Bleijie has increased pressure on Mr Martin to "take full responsibility" for the release of some sensitive Fitzgerald Inquiry documents, saying the incident was the worst case of maladministration in Queensland for many many years.

Alex Douglas who resigned from the LNP last November to sit as an independent, said he supported a public inquiry into the documents' release.

But he accused the Attorney-General of not understanding his role, and said he had placed the chair of the PCMC in an "impossible position" by publicly seeking Mr Martin's resignation.

"Probably the PCMC Chair (Liz Cunningham) has to ask the Attorney-General to withdraw all comments against Mr Martin unreservedly and publicly, and then Mr Bleijie must go on the record to say "I was wrong, I didn't understand what my job was"," said Dr Douglas.

"You can't be a politicised part of the executive, and be the Attorney-General, you don't get that opportunity."

Dr Douglas also called on the Premier Campbell Newman to replace Mr Bleijie with Ian Walker - who was recently elevated to the Cabinet as Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts.

He said Mr Walker, a former solicitor, would understand what was required of the role of AG.

"You can't have a closed mind about these things, particularly going into a Royal Commission," Dr Douglas said.

The CMC has refused to comment on last night's marathon sitting of parliament in which legislation was passed to protect people named in sensitive documents inadvertently made available to the public at State Archives for eight months.

A public inquiry into the incident will begin next week, chaired by Ms Cunningham, the Independent Member for Gladstone.

9.30am: ATTORNEY-General Jarrod Bleijie has stepped up pressure on the chairman of the Crime and Misconduct Commission to resign, over the release and shredding of some sensitive Fitzgerald Inquiry documents.

After a marathon sitting of parliament where legislation was rushed through to protect people named in the documents, Mr Bleijie said "ultimate responsibility" for the "unacceptable oversight" rested with the CMC chairman, Ross Martin.

"I'm going to be blunt and pretty frank about this. I think we haven't seen this sort of maladministration for many, many years in Queensland," Mr Bleijie told ABC radio.

"The CMC chair needs to take a good look at what's happend here and take full responsibility for it. When you have such a large responsibility as the head of the CMC, you ordinarily accept that there are certain consequences of actions as the head of an organisation."

Mr Martin has refused to comment, and a CMC spokeswoman indicated it was unlikely he would.

"In light of the announcement of a public inquiry this morning we're not in a position to make detailed comment," she said.

Mr Bleijie said the Parliamentary CMC committee chaired by Independent MP Liz Cunningham, would conduct a "quasi Royal Commission" into the release of the documents.

"We want the people of Queensland to know what's gone on here," he said.

The Attorney-General said Mr Martin had already conceded to him, in a letter, the CMC "did allow access to documents that they shouldn't have".

"Queenslanders have to have faith and confidence in their top crime fighting corruption body, the CMC and if this is allowed to be happening over the last eight months where people have been able to access documents that they technically shouldn't be able to because of this administrative oversight as it's been called, I think it's completely unacceptable and someone should take responsibility for it," said Mr Bleijie.

No one has been able to say how many people viewed the documents while they were available at State Archives.

The Courier-Mail would invite anyone who did, to contact us at the following email addresses robyn.ironside@news.com.au or sarah.vogler@news.com.au.

9.00am: Premier Campbell Newman believes Mr Martin should accept responsibility for the release of confidential Fitzgerald inquiry crime documents which could put informants lives at risk.

"It's a scandal," Mr Newman said this morning in Gladstone.

Mr Newman said Mr Martin was also under scrutiny over the shredding of other sensitive documents.

The Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commission has also lost confidence in Mr Martin, with PCMC chief Liz Cunningham last night highly critical of Mr Martin for failing to inform the committee about the bungled release of the Fitzgerald documents.

In an extraordinary 18-hour sitting that finished at 3.30am, State Parliament voted to place a temporary suppression order on 7000 documents that had already been released to The Australian newspaper.
A spokeswoman said Mr Martin declined to comment.

5am: The Crime and Misconduct Commission is now facing its greatest challenge since its formation following an extraordinary 24 hours in Queensland politics.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie this morning has also called for CMC Chair Ross Martin to "take responsibility" for the shredding and accidental public release of sensitive Fitzgerald Inquiry documents that were meant to remain confidential.

"The CMC chair ought to accept full responsibility for this unacceptable oversight. He should also accept the consequences that would ordinarily follow," Mr Bleijie told State Parliament during a marathon 18-hour sitting, indicating the former deputy director of public prosecutions should consider resigning.

"That is his duty, that is his role, just as it is for ministerial accountability," he said.

The Attorney-General said the bungle, which involved thousands of sensitive documents relating to the historic corruption inquiry, had compromised confidence in the CMC and he accused Mr Martin of treating the Newman Government with contempt and arrogance.

Mr Martin and the CMC are yet to comment on the early morning events.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk, however, urged Mr Bleijie to be careful with his words.

"We are not the judge and jury of the chair of the CMC," she said.

"The Attorney-General does need to be very careful in his language in this House when the public inquiry has not yet begun."

Mr Bleijie made the call around 2am as he rushed through legislation banning the publication of the information contained within the wrongfully released files for 60 days to allow for an unprecedented public Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee inquiry into the bungle to occur.

Such PCMC inquiries are normally subject to strict confidentiality but parliament this morning voted to make this one public, a first in Queensland Mr Bleijie said.

The inquiry will report back by April 5 to allow the government time to decide its next step before the non-publication requirement lapses.

Mr Bleijie said the inquiry would investigate the wrongful release of the Fitzgerald Inquiry documents along with the CMC's "failure to remedy" the problem immediately, the destruction of Fitzgerald Inquiry files, and the CMC's failure to inform the PCMC of the problem which potentially put vulnerable sources at risk.

Evidence already given to the PCMC, which has been investigating the bungle this week, will also have to be made public.

"The public can't have confidence in these processes if they don't know what's going on," Mr Bleijie said.

"The CMC has an important function. Queenslanders need to be able to have confidence in the administration of the duties and functions of the CMC."

Both the legislation and the move for a public inquiry received support from the Opposition.

Relations between the Newman Government and the CMC have been strained since the LNP came to government with Mr Bleijie last year ordering a review of the watchdog which is due to be handed down next week.

But tensions came to a head this week following revelations the Fitzgerald Inquiry documents, which were to be confidential for at least another 42 years, were made accessible to the public.

Yesterday afternoon PCMC chair Liz Cunningham told State Parliament the committee was unhappy with Mr Martin's explanation of how the files were made public and his admission some Fitzgerald Inquiry-related files were also shredded.

Ms Cunningham also lashed Mr Martin for not informing the PCMC of the issues before they became public this week, telling the house the CMC knew about the accidental release in May last year but no action was taken for four months.

"The committee is not satisfied with the response of the chairperson that he advised CMC officers to quote "fix it" end quote in May 2012 as there seems to have been no follow up action to ensure that the fix by the CMC was appropriate to the circumstances," she said.

"The CMC did not act to address this matter until September 2012."

Two hours later, Mr Martin wrote to Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie about 5.45pm, formally requesting new laws be drafted to protect the information within the files.

About two hours later, at 8pm, Mr Bleijie entered the parliamentary chamber after an extended dinner break and demanded Mr Martin give a better explanation for why the laws were needed before a 10pm deadline.

Mr Bleijie accused him of asking the government to cover up for the CMC's mistakes and described a request by Mr Martin to view a draft of the legislation before its introduction as "abhorrent".

Mr Martin wrote back, saying the laws were requested by Parliament's Crime and Misconduct Committee, which oversees the CMC.

The CMC chair stated he had last night spoken with staff from both Mr Bleijie's office and the Department of Justice on the legislation which he said was well under way when he arrived at the parliamentary draftsperson's office.

"While in the middle of that process, staff of the Department of Justice, acting apparently on instructions, indicated that the preparation was to occur without any assistance from the CMC," Mr Martin wrote.

"You make assertions about when the CMC became aware of the problem. Given the deadline, now is not the place to engage in debate on that point."

Parliament finally adjourned at 3.30am.

Reporting by Sarah Vogler, Steven Wardill, Des Houghton, Robyn Ironside

OVERNIGHT, The Courier-Mail reported the Newman Government took aim at Crime and Misconduct Commission chair Ross Martin accusing him of requesting a legislative "cover up" following the breach which saw hundreds of documents either accidentally released and shredded.

Mr Martin yesterday afternoon wrote to the Government asking for new laws to prevent the republication of the CMC's Fitzgerald Inquiry documents, a move Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie described as a request aimed at "covering up" the CMC's"inability to properly perform its functions".

Mr Bleijie was last night poised to introduce the legislation, expected to be called the CMC Administrative Negligence Rectification Bill, but gave Mr Martin until 10pm to provide an adequate reason for doing so.

He lashed the embattled CMC chair for requesting the government change the law to fix the mistake and for requesting he see a copy of the new laws before their introduction, describing that request as abhorrent.

"The government has been placed by the negligence of the CMC and by an extraordinary request made at the very last moment, in a very unsatisfactory situation," Mr Bleijie wrote in a letter demanding Mr Martin provide more information.

The unfolding drama was expected to see parliament sit until the early hours.

Premier Campbell Newman told The Courier-Mail he was deeply concerned by the situation including the failure of the CMC to disclose the mistake before it was made public this week.

"I am therefore very disturbed when I receive a request at one minute to midnight for legislation to aid the CMC in rectifying their negligence," he said.

It follows revelations the CMC not only accidentally released some documents and shredded others, but that the crime watchdog failed to alert the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commission to the issue.

PCMC chair Liz Cunningham told State Parliament yesterday afternoon the CMC knew about the accidental release in May last year but no action was taken for four months.

"The committee is not satisfied with the response of the chairperson that he advised CMC officers to quote 'fix it' end quote in May 2012 as there seems to have been no follow up action to ensure that the fix by the CMC was appropriate to the circumstances," she said.

"The CMC did not act to address this matter until September 2012."

Mr Bleijie told State Parliament both the CMC and the PCMC needed to be overhauled.

"The continual battle that we have with the secretive nature of the crime-fighting body ... we must address these issues," he said.

"We may be in for a late night."

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