A day after introducing laws that would ban journalists from reporting corruption allegations during elections, the State Government has withdrawn the proposal in a spectacular backflip.
Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath proposed changes to the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) Act in state parliament yesterday that would carry a six-month jail term for people who published CCC allegations about political candidates during an election period.
But this morning, Ms D'Ath released a statement announcing the laws would be withdrawn.
"The Government respects the recommendations of the CCC," she said in a statement.
"However, given the limited time for the parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee to consider the law changes the CCC seeks, the CCC Bill introduced yesterday in state parliament is withdrawn."
The proposed laws came under fire from journalists and transparency advocates, who argued the laws would stifle free speech.
But Ms D'Ath argued it would improve the integrity of the state's election process by not allowing the publication of potentially baseless allegations.
Under the failed changes, any complaints made to the CCC would have been shielded from the public until they became a fully fledged investigation.
The only exception would be if the CCC had been notified of the allegations and at least three months had elapsed.
The bill would have also allowed a candidate or the corruption watchdog to seek an injunction to restrain any further publication of allegations during the relevant election period.
'Only 6pc of allegations substantiated'
Local Government Association of Queensland, which represents 77 councils, said the bill should be amended to protect journalists and then passed to discourage the malicious use of the watchdog.
"The focus of the bill should be on providing a disincentive to those who make baseless complaints to the CCC during election campaigns in order to denigrate their political opponents," chief executive Greg Hallam said.
"The CCC's figures show complaints regularly spike in the months leading up to the council elections.
"[Complaints are] jumping from an average of 12 per month to 27 per month the 12 months leading up to polling day, with just 6 per cent of those allegations substantiated.
"By the time the CCC is able to assess and dismiss the baseless allegations, the damage to the elected members who were the subject of those complaints — and the institution of local government — has already been done."
Ms D'Ath had argued that any public perception that the CCC was being used to score political points eroded the public's trust in the corruption watchdog.
"The offences contained in this bill are designed to ensure that public debate in an election period is not hijacked by the publication of baseless allegations and complaints that are politically motivated and designed to do nothing more than inflict reputational damage on political opponents," she said.
Shadow attorney-general David Janetzki argued the amendments eroded public transparency and accountability.
"This is another attempt to cover up the Government's appalling integrity record and silence whistleblowers," Mr Janetzki said.
Michelle Rae, from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said the proposed changes were designed to reduce accountability.
"It's a process of what feels like battening down the hatches in a pre-election period," Ms Rae said.
