Question to Committee of Legislative Assembly Queensland Parliament. Recommendation 67 “Black Lung White Lies” Parliamentary Committee Report. Disappeared into the Mines Department Veil of Secrecy/Black Hole
I have sent an email to the Queensland Ombudsman the 29th of June lodging a formal complaint about the Mines Inspectorate now known as RSHQ on a number of grounds
I have also requested the Ombudsman conduct an Inquiry as a follow up to
Report of the Queensland Ombudsman June 2008
The Regulation of Mine Safety in Queensland
A review of the Queensland Mines Inspectorate.
One of the grounds being Recommendation 67 of the Black Lung White Lies Report
In May 2017 the 55th Parliament Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Select Committee delivered Report No. 2,
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/TabledPapers/2017/5517T815.pdf
Recommendation 67 deals with the whether any public servants mislead or breached the relevant Code of Practice for Public Service Employees Assisting or Appearing before Parliamentary Committee.
The committee recommends that the Public Service Commissioner review the transcripts of public and private hearings of the committee involving Queensland public servants and consider the extent to which those officers cooperated with and assisted the committee, including whether or not any public servant misled the committee or otherwise breached the Code of Practice for Public Service Employees Assisting or Appearing Before Parliamentary Committees.
Recommendation 67 does not appear to have been dealt with by the Public Service Commission, Queensland Audit Office, Parliamentary Ethics Committee, or the Committee of the Legislative Assembly.
On 21 August 2017, the Public Service Commission issued a formal response to the Committee, “advising that the Committee is best placed to identify and assess whether there are sufficient grounds to recommend that matters be referred to the Assembly’s Ethics Committee as a possible contempt of the Parliament.“
The Minister in a Statement to Parliament on 17th September tabled the Queensland Government response to Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Select Committee report no. 2—Inquiry into the re-identification of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis in Queensland.
It states that Recommendation 67 had been Actioned.
This by referral to Public Service Commission
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/TabledPapers/2017/5517T815.pdf
It appears from the information, that the Minister has misled Parliament about the status of the Recommendation.
The matter had been referred back to the Parliament nearly a full Calendar month beforehand.
The Queensland Audit office on 5 December 2019 provided C Pitt MP Speaker of the Legislative Assembly a report titled
Addressing mine dust lung disease Report 9: 2019–20
https://www.qao.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-12/Addressing%20mine%20dust%20lung%20disease%20%28Report%209%E2%80%942019%E2%80%9320%29_0.pdf
Recommendation 67 is dealt with on Page 108 of the Report (112 of 150).
PSC has:
Sought advice from Crown Law and the Clerk of Parliament about the ability of the Public Service Commission to conduct this review.
On the basis of this advice, PSC were unable to conduct this review as it was outside PSC’s statutory functions and powers, and would be a breach of parliamentary privilege.
On 21 August 2017, issued a formal response to the Committee, advising that the Committee is best placed to identify and assess whether there are sufficient grounds to recommend that matters be referred to the Assembly’s Ethics Committee as a possible contempt of the Parliament.
PSC still needs to:
No Action Required
On page 133 (136 of 150) there is a further analysis of Recommendation 67
Government response:
Actioned Queensland Government response tabled 8 September 2017
Government reported status
Actioned / Implemented DNRME progress tracker provided to QAO March 2019
QAO assessment
Fully Implemented
I cannot really understand the finding of the Queensland Audit Office.
It is correct that the PSC is not required to take any further action.
But the Queensland Audit Office makes no mention of the fact that the actual statement of the Minister and the formal Government response does not mention the advice from the PSC.
There is no mention if the actual matter that led to the Recommendation 67 being investigated at all.
I then wrote to the Committee of the Legislative Assembly members asking the following
“Dear Committee of Legislative Assembly Members;
I wish to draw your attention to recommendation 67 of the 55th Parliamentary Coal Worker Pneumoconiosis Select Committee which I have copied below.
The then Minister Lynham informed the Parliament that the PSC was dealing with the matter.
The correspondence from the PSC states that it has not and cannot and has referred the matter back to the Committee of the Legislative Assembly.
Can you please inform me if the Committee of the Legislative Committee has taken any action and if so what?
Yours in Safety”
I have been informed by the Office of a non Government member of the CLA that my query has been listed for their next meeting CLA in late August.
Let me be clear.
The same officials who led to Recommendation 67 are likely still in Senior Positions within the Public Service, Mines Department, RSHQ and the Mines Inspectorate.
Nothing indicates that their evidence and actions to the Parliamentary Committee have ever been examined.
The Minister has put the public servants who have been running the Mines Inspectorate for the last 6 or so years in charge of Reviewing and Implementing the deliberately hamstrung Grosvenor Inquiry and Report.
Are these the same people mentioned in the Black Lung White Lies Parliamentary Committee Report in 2017.
What a farce this has become. This is literally leaving the Sly and Secretive Fox still in charge of the chicken coop.
This is the email chain
Recommendation 67 Inquiry Request
I will post my full complaint to the Ombudsman in a separate post
