CODE 2, VOL 32, NO 4 : 23 february 2018

Amendments to Queensland’s corruption legislation

The UFUQ will make a submission to the ‘Crime and Corruption and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018’ which was tabled in Queensland parliament on 15 February 2018.

In summary, your union supports the amendments that have been proposed in the Bill.

The amendment bill makes some changes to the Fire and Rescue Act, principally to allow for easier exchange of information when corruption is being investigated, including a simplification of information exchange between government agencies.

The definition of corruption is being broadened as well and it’s this point your union will focus on in our submission to the Queensland parliament Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (the LACSC).

I am sure I speak for all members when I say that no one in the UFUQ considers any form of corruption ought to be allowed to exist in fire and rescue.  Your union is supportive of all efforts to identify and resolve any issue relating to corrupt or potential corrupt conduct.

In our submission to the LACSC we will focus particularly on a change to the definition of corruption, so that corruption now includes conduct that involves fraudulently obtaining or retaining an appointment.  We have heard your concerns about decisions that have been and continue to be made regarding career progression processes within fire and rescue and also other parts of QFES.  As stated in a recent Code 2, we intend to address these issues along with recruitment in 2018.

Given the amount of discussion around all regions by members relating to potential examples of nepotism, cronyism and in particular greenlighting, your union’s submissions will say we support this extension of the definition as it will potentially allow for the UFUQ to make complaints about internal appointments and have them investigated by the CCC.

Nepotism –
‘where an employee of a UPA favours relatives or friends, especially in employment appointments’.
Cronyism –
‘where an employee of a UPA appoints a friend or a colleague or associate to a position, without proper regard to due process or their qualifications’.
Greenlighting –
‘where an employee of a UPA makes an official decision that improperly favours a person, group or organisation or company, or disadvantages another’.
(The QFES is a Queensland Unit of Public Administration (UPA).

I will provide a copy of our submission to the LACSC once it has been received and acknowledged by the committee.

John Oliver - General Secretary