Qld police minister to be grilled

The Opposition says Queenslanders have been left in the dark because the Police Minister did not answer questions about her future in budget estimates hearings.

A letter to Speaker Peter Wellington from the PCCC stated she also be referred for signing an incorrect statement relating to the destruction of documents tendered to the PCCC “and was prima facie deliberately misleading”.

The referral effectively blocks the opposition from questioning Ms Miller about the allegations during the Estimates hearings.

The first adjournment followed Ms Smith’s motion that the committee express no confidence in Ms Miller.

Leahy triggered the investigation by writing to the PCCC with “serious concerns”, saying: “Disturbingly, when I opened the safe it had not been emptied and contained 85 pages of documents that it can be reasonably ascertained pertain to the PCCC’s deliberations”.

But it was taken to a new level on Thursday, when the LNP finally got its chance to question Ms Miller, who has been referred to the Ethics Committee for making a false declaration to the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee, subbing in her shadow bench counterpart Jarrod Bleijie to lead the Opposition questioning.

“The Premier of this state has articulated her position in relation to Jo-Ann Miller and this, quite frankly, is not going to be a circus where everybody standing up is going to comment on whether or not they have confidence in the Police Minister”, she said.

But questions about Ms Miller have dominated all proceedings.

“This is the Police Minister who contacted a witness in a police investigation, directed her department to send out political material and tried to close a communication centre without any consultation”.

“I’m afraid Mr Chair that if we continue down this basis, with two sets of rulings, then this will be seen as a protection racket by the Queensland public for the Minister of Police”.

“The police minister has been hiding for weeks now”, he said later.

Oppositions often use the hearings as an opportunity to pin down ministers on government scandals, while government MPs on the committees do their best to shut down any uncomfortable lines of questioning.