Expert advisory panel to review the CMC

Published Thursday, 11 October, 2012 at 06:00 AM

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice
The Honourable Jarrod Bleijie

The Newman Government has today announced the appointment of an expert advisory panel to review the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Jarrod Bleijie said the review of the legislation would focus on how the CMC could continue to do its job without being drawn into political debates.

“As it stands now, the CMC is able to investigate any complaint at all and this is certainly not something we want to change,” Mr Bleijie said.

“The problem in the past has been that just referring a matter to the CMC becomes part of the political debate and that is not why the Commission is there.

“It should not be used as a political football as it was by the Labor Government, which made an art-form out of referring matters to the CMC for its own political gain.”

Mr Bleijie said the review would be headed up by former High Court Judge Mr Ian Callinan AC and University of Queensland Professor Nicholas Aroney.

“Mr Callinan is widely respected within the state’s legal community and has honorary memberships of the Bar Associations of Australia, Queensland and New South Wales,” he said.

“Mr Aroney has a great deal of collective experience in constitutional law, federalism and human rights law. 

“This review is about depoliticising the operation of the CMC and I am confident an independent panel is best equipped to investigate.

“This is not a Commission of Inquiry as an inquiry of that size and cost is unnecessary.

“The public will have the ability to make submissions based on the Terms of Reference set out by the panel."

Further information regarding the submission process will be available in the coming weeks.

Media contact: Lisa O’Donnell – 0400 986 432