Queensland’s corruption watchdog has cleared the state police minister Jo-Ann Miller of any wrongdoing over her phone call to a man who made criminal allegations against her fellow Labor MP Rick Williams.
The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC), acting on a complaint by Miller’s opposition counterpart Jarrod Bleijie, said it had not identified “any criminal offences that may have been committed by the minister for police as a result of the phone call”.
Miller contacted Bruce McLean, a mutual friend and former employee of Williams, after the Courier-Mail reported allegations including that Williams had forged documents when he ran a financial planning business.
Miller told parliament on 4 June that she had phoned McLean to “inquire after his welfare and offer support”.
Bleijie wrote to the CCC the same day asking it to consider if Miller had broken any laws.
Police began investigating the allegations against Williams after the Courier-Mail provided sworn statements from witnesses including McLean hours after Miller made the phone call. McLean told the newspaper that Miller had cautioned him about speaking to the media.
The CCC said its assessment after interviewing McLean was that “the purpose and subject of the phone call from the Minister for Police was consistent with what the Minister outlined to Parliament on 4 June 2015”.
“The CCC’s interview (with McLean) and subsequent assessment did not identify any criminal offences that may have been committed by the Minister for Police as a result of the phone call,” it said.
“The CCC will therefore not commence an investigation and will take no further action in relation to this matter.”
The agency said its “jurisdiction with respect to elected officials is limited to where the allegations are about conduct that, if proven, would be a criminal offence”.
Williams was stood down by premier Annastacia Palaszczuk a fortnight ago from the legal affairs and community safety parliamentary committee while police examined allegations against him.
They include that he tried to hire someone to have his ex-wife’s boyfriend “done over” and that he sexually harassed a teenage employee in the years before he was elected to parliament. Williams has denied any wrongdoing.
Palaszczuk has described Miller’s phone call to McLean as “error in judgment, it won’t happen again”.
The investigation of Williams came as the Labor party had a slender hold on the state parliament. It retains a governing majority only with the support of independents Peter Wellington and Billy Gordon – the latter having been forced to quit Labor in April amid allegations of domestic violence which are also being investigated by police but which the MP denies.
