How Mines Department Senior Executive Officers escaped Investigation for Misleading Black Lung White Lies Parliamentary Select Committee, A templated, accepted and written way to circumvent and undermine the actions of Parliament?
For nearly 18 months I have been trying to find out why there was never an Investigation into the Senior Executive Officers of the then DNRME (now RSHQ) about their evidence to the Queensland Black Lung White Lies Parliamentary Committee. (55th Parliament Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Select Committee).
After 2 recent separate Right to Information requests I have obtained correspondence between the head of the Public Service Commission Mr Robert Setter, and the Clerk of the Queensland Parliament, Mr Neil Laurie in August 2017.
Mr Setter is PSC Chief Executive is the most Senior Public Servant in the State of Queensland.
He in effect answers directly to the Queensland Premier.
Other officers in the Chief Executives correspondence as being aware are Mr David Reed, Director and Corporate Counsel and Mr Joe Meagher, Principal Policy Officer, Workplace Policy and Legal.
Mr Dave Stewart the Director General, Department of Premier and Cabinet has been cc’ed into the correspondence
RTI Setter to Laurie Rec 67 10 Aug 2017
I do not profess to have any real understanding of the correct relevant processes.
It has been described to me as
- Disregard/Contempt and actively breaching the provisions of Separation of Powers.
- Potential Misconduct for a Type A Offense under the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001
- Breach of Role by Mr Setter writing to Mr Lawrie seeking legal advice.
“Type A” corrupt conduct involves conduct that affects, or could affect, a public officer (an employee of a public sector agency) so that the performance of their functions or the exercise of their powers:
- is not honest or impartial, or
- knowingly or recklessly breaches public trust, or
- involves the misuse of agency-related information or material.
It seems Public Servants can lie, obfuscate, refuse to cooperate, cover documented evidence and escape any investigation into their actions, let alone censure or discipline.
In short this is a calculated now templated, accepted and written way to circumvent and undermine the actions of Parliament and is now an institutionalised way to for Public Servants to totally disrespect the Parliament process.
A Royal Commission seems the only real way to get to the bottom of this.
I have forwarded a written submission to the Coaldrake Review on culture and accountability in the Queensland public sector.
Coaldrake Review Misleading, obsfucation Parliamentary Committee
This is the Relevant Key Finding and Recommendation from the Black Lung White Lies Report.
Key finding
The cooperation of DNRM, and some of its senior executive officers, with the work of this committee fell well below the standard required of public service officers assisting a parliamentary committee.
Despite repeated assurances from DNRM that it would work expeditiously to assist the committee in any way possible, the committee has been met with resistance and obstruction by some officers of DNRM. Documents requested have not been produced in a timely manner, requiring the issue of a summons. Key departmental witnesses, vital to understanding the failure of the health scheme, were not advised they would be required to give evidence, were then produced only under threat of summon, and were not properly prepared by DNRM prior to their appearances before the committee. Frequently senior officers of DNRM have been unprepared and unable to answer important questions relevant to the committee’s inquiry and where answers were given, often the officers were argumentative and resistant to acknowledging the wide-ranging failures of their department.
Recommendation 67
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.
This is the link to the Code of Practice
https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/committees/guidelines/Schedule8.pdf
The main reason I have been chasing this down is that the Senior Executive Officers of the then DNRME (now RSHQ) in 2016 and 2017 unless they have retired or resigned are likely still the Senior Executive Officers at the RSHQ.
They have been in charge of the Mines Inspectorate for at least a decade and decide and oversee all the Mines Inspectorate procedures, policies and operations.
The most senior Mines Department Public Servants among other actions are alleged to have refused to produce and acknowledge the documentation and information they had about coal mine workers exposure to a known deadly industrial disease going back decades.
If Public Servants can lie about a deadly known Industrial disease without consequence and get away with it, there is no accountability at all.
These same Senior Executive Officers have overseen
- Around 15 fatalities in the coal mines and quarries of Central Queensland since 2015.
- North Goonyella spontaneous combustion and methane explosions and closure in 2018.
- Grosvenor Mine spontaneous combustion and methane explosions with 5 miners suffering grievous bodily injury through burns
This started with the Public Service Commission (PSC) itself in December 2020.
This is the relevant part of the reply I received
On advice from Crown Law and the Clerk of Parliament, the PSC determined it was unable to conduct the review proposed by Recommendation 67 as it was outside PSC’s statutory functions and powers, and would be a breach of parliamentary privilege. On 21 August 2017, the PSC 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.
I have spoken to several members of the Black Lung White Lies Committee.
All state that they were never informed of the decision of the Public Service Commission, it was never raised with the Ethics Committee and the only reference to it in the State Parliament was by then Resources Minister Anthony Lynham
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 either knowingly or unknowingly misled Parliament about the status of the Recommendation.
Since the reply from PSC I have made Enquiries and Complaints to
- Crime and Corruption Commission (outside their powers)
- State Ombudsman (not interested)
- Committee of Legislative Assembly of Queensland Parliament
- Speaker of Queensland Parliament
- Clerk of Queensland Parliament
- Right to Information
The Right to Information documents I have obtained are between Mr Robert Setter (Public Service Commission Chief Executive) to Mr Neil Lawrie (Clerk of Parliament) on the 10th August 2017 and the 14th August 2017.
RTI Setter to Laurie Rec 67 10 Aug 2017
The correspondence seems to set out how the head of the Queensland Public Service and the Clerk of the Parliament have between themselves and the 2 branches of Government decided that the Public Service Commission cannot and should not be the body to investigate the matter.
This is beyond extraordinary deliberate abrogation of responsibility.
The PSC boasts on their website that it
- Manages the sector’s employment framework including legislation, directives, policies, circulars and guidelines, and the Code of Conduct for the Queensland public service.
https://www.qld.gov.au/about/how-government-works/government-structure/public-service-commission/what-we-do/our-business-areas-and-responsibilities
The PSC insist that it does not have any experience assessing conduct and applying the Code of Practice for Public Service Employees Assisting or Appearing Before Parliamentary Committees.
It also indicates that at least the Public Service Commission believes that there is no disciplinary action that can be taken against the Senior Executive Officers even if investigated and proven correct.
Mr Setter as Public Service Commissioner should have written to the Premier, and the Premier could have written to the Speaker seeking advice. One wonders whether any telephone calls were made on this matter as well and that there was collusion to undermine a genuine recommendation of the Parliamentary committee. Only a Royal Commission could assist in this matter.
It is extraordinary that the Clerk of Parliament wrote such a letter in response to the Recommendation, even suggesting the Public Service Commissioner use his draft text in response. I have not heard of this ever happening in Queensland, and furthermore the Clerk of the Parliament could have been actively undermining the Parliament and it’s Committees in this process. At the very least, it may be a breach of the Code of Conduct of the Parliamentary Services Commission, alleged corruption, or mal administration
This Post Has One Comment
I am truly sorry for our mining industry as I have, since my start in mining, Leichardt Mine Blackwater,1973. Seen such stupid and careless people in management making so many deadly decisions impacting their coal workers. I have worked at several mines in CQ and been on site for 9 industry deaths, I am retired now, because of a management short cut that has left me disabled for life. I suppose I am one of the lucky workers. I to say I really respect your efforts in this matter and I have been following you on fb. Keep up the fight please!
Regards
Robert Timms