Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) has been accused of denying public scrutiny. 

The state’s Clerk of Parliament, Neil Laurie, has warned that the “wider safeguards” against misconduct have “now been fatally weakened” by the CCC. He was referring to safeguards that existed before and after Queensland's landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry.

Mr Laurie has made an extensive submission to a parliamentary committee's review of the CCC, which says that the watchdog's increasing use of closed hearings and “secrecy restraints … means there is very little information available for public scrutiny of the CCC's investigations and actions within those investigations.”

“Any inconsistency of approach or excessive use of powers are difficult to scrutinise,” e said. 

Mr Laurie says that the CCC has sought to restrict public commentary about complaints it it handling, but these should be ignored.

Mr Laurie also took aim at the CCC's practise of effectively “outsourcing” investigations to other agencies.

“Over the past decade, there have been investigations involving serious allegations of police misconduct referred back to the Queensland Police Service (QPS) that would make people that recall the pre-Fitzgerald era scratch their heads,” he said.

Mr Laurie also said that a decline of the media, hollowed-out by social media, means there are now scant resources for investigative journalism.

“It has long been maintained that investigative journalism may uncover examples of institutional corruption, abuse, or mismanagement,” he said.

“Since the demise of [state versions of] 7.30 Report, state-based TV political coverage has largely vanished.

“This has been exasperated by the conversion of serious radio programs on the public broadcaster to light ‘magazine’ formats or otherwise rescheduling such programs to dead hours.

“The time spent on state-based political and accountability matters by the commercial broadcasters is usually incomplete, sensational and inept.

“I do not necessarily blame the journalists for this, but rather the content and editorial decision makers,” he said. 

His wide-ranging submission touched on a perceived decline in academic commentary on accountability, ethics and politics as well. 

The official report on the activities of the CCC is due next month.