Claims of fraud relating to local government reforms ridiculous

Local Government Minister Warren Pitt today challenged Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney over claims of a fraudulent process relating to the recent review of local councils in Queensland.

Mr Pitt was responding to a claim that the government had drafted legislation to enact the recommendations of the Local Government Reform Commission’s review of local councils before receiving the commission’s report in late July.

“This ridiculous claim belongs right up there on the top shelf of wild conspiracy theories,” he said.

“There is not one iota of truth to it.

“Not only is it absurdly untrue, it is also a disgraceful slur on the integrity of each and every member of the Local Government Reform Commission.

“This claim is premised on the notion of some kind of conspiracy between the government and the commission.

“The so-called Friends of Noosa and Mr Seeney are alleging that the commission colluded with the government, and the government started drafting the legislation to enact the commission’s findings before receiving its report.

“The Friends of Noosa have managed to convince themselves, and also to convince Mr Seeney and his shadow Local Government Minister Howard Hobbs they have evidence that the ‘whole process was fraudulent’.

“They point to a draft of the Local Government Reform Implementation Bill dated 25 May 2007.

“Their so-called ‘smoking gun’, however, is no such thing. It’s more like a clown’s water pistol.

“There’s a perfectly simple and perfectly legitimate explanation of why the government commenced drafting legislation dealing with local government reforms ahead of receiving the commission’s report.

“The government announced its commitment to wide-ranging local government reform in April, and the reforms covered areas other than those being considered by the commission.”

Mr Pitt said he was disappointed that a newspaper article promoting the claims of a fraudulent process and a perversion of democracy had omitted important and relevant information.

“The article omitted the single most salient piece of information, and that is that the draft Bill clearly shows that it is a version dated 7 August – in other words, well after the government received the commission’s report,” he said.

“The May 25 date on the draft legislation does not, as the article asserts, mean that the Bill was created two months before the government received the commission’s report.

“The May 25 date means this was when the particular document was created. The more important date is the document’s version date, and this is shown clearly as 7 August – well after the government received the commission’s report.

“The Bill wasn’t created in its entirety on 25 May. As happens all the time, the Bill was created progressively over a period of months.

“The other important information omitted from the article was how the draft legislation dealt with a range of matters other than those considered by the Local Government Reform Commission, thus explaining why there was nothing at all untoward about a start to drafting of legislation relating to those matters.

“There were discussions at the State Transition Committee of these matters at the time involving the Local Government Association of Queensland and the Local Government Managers Australia body.

“Those discussions were for the purpose of informing the drafting of legislation, and this all was happening ahead of the commission’s report.

“Are the Friends of Noosa and Mr Seeney suggesting that the LGAQ was also mixed up in something improper and fraudulent?

“If Mr Seeney believes there has been any wrongdoing and wants to have any credibility, he will formally refer this matter to the Crime and Misconduct Commission for investigation.

“I challenge Mr Seeney to take his claims to the CMC. I doubt that he will because he knows he will get short shrift and will be told by the CMC to stop wasting its time.”

Media contact: Minister Pitt’s Office 3227 8819