Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's former chief of staff has been cleared of corruption allegations, but the state's watchdog says he should have declared his conflicts of interest.
The opposition referred David Barbagallo to the Crime and Corruption Commission in 2019 after his company was awarded $267,500 in government funding to develop an app to track personal journeys on cruise ships.
Mr Barbagallo was working for Ms Palaszczuk and as the chairman of Fortress Capstone in August 2017 when his firm was approved for funding from the Advance Queensland Business Development Fund.
CCC chairperson Alan MacSporran's probe found that Mr Barbagallo had no involvement in the application or vetting process by a Queensland Investment Corporation panel.
"The investigation did not find any evidence that the decision to award co-investment funding to Fortress Capstone was the result of any improper influence," he wrote in the report, released on Wednesday.
"The investigation found that there was no evidence Barbagallo misused his position as Chief of Staff to obtain funding from the AQBD Fund through Fortress Capstone.
"There are no grounds for consideration of prosecution proceedings against Barbagallo for the offence of misconduct in relation to public office."
However, Mr Barbagallo failed to declare his interests to the premier, including his positions as chairman, director and shareholder of Fortress Capstone.
He claimed those omissions were "innocent oversights", but Mr McSporran said the government's declaration of interests form clearly sets out areas that must be flagged.
"If uncertain about what interests to declare and when, Barbagallo should have sought advice, which he did not," Mr McSporran said.
The report said Mr Barbagallo's failure to declare his roles at Fortress Capstone would have resulted in disciplinary action if he hadn't already resigned from the premier's department in September 2019.
Mr McSporran said episode highlighted the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest wherever possible.
"Conflicts of interest can, if not identified, disclosed and managed appropriately, cause public officials to put their private interests above the public interest (or create a perception that this has been done), contrary to what the Queensland public expects," the report said.
The CCC recommended that a person be appointed to oversee all declaration of interests forms and that a standardised conflict of interest form be drawn up for ministerial staff members.
The watchdog called for the QIC to issue a standardised document to record actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest raised by a panel members and funding applicants.
Mr McSporran said individual QIC panel members should also record their reasons for short-listing pitches for funding, and government staffers should be obliged to disclose any advice they receive from the Integrity Commissioner about real or perceived conflicts of interest to their supervisors.
