Tough new measures to crackdown on Council corruption
LOCAL COUNCILS
A CRACKDOWN on donations and conflicts of interests amongst local Councils has been recommended in a report handed down today.
The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) has given the Queensland Government 31 recommendations as part of a bid to address integrity and corruption risk in local government.
The ‘Operation Belcarra’ report said a ban on developer donations, and strengthening procedures to deal with conflicts of interests for councillors should be adopted.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was a strong supporter of the changes.
“Let me be very clear – I fully support both those recommendations," she said.
“The CCC has made recommendations about councillors, candidates, donors and the role and powers of the Electoral Commission of Queensland.
“Queenslanders should have confidence in the transparency and integrity of all levels of government.
“I will not make rules for local councils that I am not prepared to follow myself, so any changes we make will apply to state, as well as local government.”
The premier said her team had already worked on extensive reform to restore and improve accountability at a local and state level in the last two-and-a-half years.
This included lowering the council disclosure threshold to $500 and introducing legislation to ensure council candidate bank accounts are accountable
“We have introduced real time donation reporting, which was put to use for the first time during the Ipswich Council by-election,” she said.
“We are committed to ensuring there is a modern, fair, transparent and accountable local government system in Queensland."
A submission would be made to cabinet on Monday that addresses all the implications of the latest CCC report, according to Palaszczuk.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
* Readers are encouraged to use their full details below to ensure comment legitimacy. Comments are the opinions of readers and do not represent the views of Newsport or its staff. Comments containing unlawful, obscene, defamatory or abusive material will not be published.
