Summary of Discussion
Townsville Forum
The Mercure Inn
27 August 2009
Are there sufficient measures in place?
Issues raised during discussion included:
Codes of Conduct
 There was a view that enshrining codes in legislation requires enforcement
mechanisms that can be unwieldy.
 It was suggested that the guidelines are sufficient but the interpretation is lacking.
Guidelines are often ignored in situations where there are no clear examples of how
to implement them. This needs to be addressed through training.
 There needs to accountability in terms of outcomes and results. When billion dollar
decisions which are made fail, the government needs to be accountable to the
constituency.
 The government should avoid making a knee-jerk reaction to integrity issues, as this
is not always the best reaction.
 Complying with financial accountability requirements can be problematic in situations
in which you are encouraged to spend locally but you are required to go with the
lowest tender. The latter is not necessarily good for the local economy.
Pecuniary Interests
 At a local government level, councillors are not required to disclose any pecuniary
interests in the name of their partners or other family members. This has the
potential to be abused.
 Gift registers were discussed, canvassing the arguments for more stringent controls
as well as the arguments for relaxation of controls.
Political Donations, Funding and Advertising
 It was discussed and generally agreed that local government should have the same
accountability measures as State and Federal levels, which would require a
strengthening of obligations to declare electoral donations in local government.
 There was a view that in a two party system you need political donations. Thus,
there should be no limits on donations but strict requirements that everything is
declared.
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There was a broad view that public support for wholly publicly funded elections is not
realistic at this stage.
It was suggested that in considering this issue, the cost of a publicly funded election
should be put to the public to see if we want to pay that much.
In relation to donations, it was stated that there is nothing wrong with people
donating to political parties. It’s fair that people should be able to support parties that
advocate for their views.
It was also put forward that limiting the forms of media in which parties can advertise
would be an undesirable limitation on an accessible avenue of political expression.
There was broad discussion of the idea that all political parties would benefit from a
cap on the amount of money that could be spent in an election campaign, so long as
it was set at a workable figure. It was thought that this might also encourage a better
style of campaigning.
It was put forward that any reforms aimed at making electoral process more
accountable would have to address the advantage held by incumbent parties
through their ability to employ government resources to sell their agenda prior to the
calling of an election.
Fixed Terms
 There was general agreement that fixed terms are necessary to achieve better
decision making and an electoral system of maximum accountability.
 The length of the fixed term was discussed with four years being agreed as the
desirable figure.
Lobbying
 A view was expressed that public office is there to serve the public and professional
lobbying invites corruption of this principle.
 It was suggested that people will find a way around a ban on success fees by writing
up the invoice in another way.
 There was a general exposition of an agreed view that, in a regional context, the use
of lobbyists undermines the representative system. Once a party employs people to
lobby George Street in relation to a regional concern, the ability of local members to
represent the interests of their constituents is undermined.
 This was seen as undesirable, as local members best understand the needs of the
local community and are the best advocates for its interests.
 It was further stated that if people employ Brisbane lobbyists and it results in a bad
decision being made in relation to regional Queensland, the blame for the bad
decision making will attach to the government and not the local member. It is
therefore in everybody’s interests to encourage a system where local members are
the primary advocate of local interests.
Are the mechanisms to find unacceptable behaviour sufficient?
Issues raised during discussion included:
Whole of Public Sector Accountability
 It was suggested that in situations where agencies are pursuing policies with adverse
results, there needs to be transparency measures which allow the community to call
agencies to account and address the lack of results.
Oversight Bodies
 There was a view that oversight bodies are probably doing a good job but it may be
difficult for the public to work out which body to go to. A service which would provide
assistance may help.
 Concern was expressed over the Crime and Misconduct Commission’s practice of
referring complaints back to an agency to investigate and the self-investigation this
can result in.
 It was suggested CMC should have jurisdiction over Government-owned
corporations unless it stifles their competitive nature
 There was general agreement that whistleblowing protection is essential to
democracy.
Are the sanctions sufficient?
Issues raised during discussion included:
Police Disciplinary Procedures
 There was a view that addressing the transparency of police disciplinary procedures
is very important. The Townsville region has had a lot of major incidents and there
are still a lot of unresolved questions in the community about the transparency of the
police conduct and disciplinary procedures.
 It was further agreed that police are rarely praised and any approach needs to bear
that in mind. Positive reinforcement needs to be considered in relation to any
reforms.