Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to speak about a report showing public servants made more than 1550 disclosures about corrupt conduct in a year.
The Ombudsman’s Public Interest Disclosures Oversight Report shows public sector workers made 1766 disclosures, with 1552 of those, or 87 per cent, in relation to “corrupt conduct”.
The report comes amid months of allegations of misconduct and malpractice involving public servants and the government, and with a number of inquiries into government integrity and accountability underway.
Ms Palaszczuk refused to answer a journalist’s question about the Ombudsman’s report at a press conference on Wednesday.
“I’m just dealing with the Olympics today. Happy to answer any further questions tomorrow,” the premier said.
One of the her advisers then announced it was “time to go”, and journalists started asking rapid questions.
“See you all tomorrow,” she said.
The report showed the 1552 public servant disclosures about corrupt conduct in 2020/21 was almost double the 826 made in 2018/19.
Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli said the figures were alarming and integrity issues were likely impeding public servants trying to do their jobs.
“This is real, and for those sorts of increases to be registered … it shows you that it’s a cry for help from the public service,” he told reporters.
“They think something is rotten, and I think that rot is coming from the cabinet.”
Last week the government rejected calls for a royal commission-style inquiry after a review, led by Professor Peter Coaldrake, found that lobbying was widespread, escalating and lacked proper regulation.
“The lobbyist register is not doing the job which was intended,” he wrote in his interim report, released on Wednesday.
The Coaldrake report also revealed strong evidence of politicisation in the public service and ministerial staffer “overreach”.
Meanwhile, there are ongoing inquiries into the Office of Integrity Commissioner, the Office of the Independent Assessor and a formal Commission of Inquiry into the Crime and Corruption Commission led by Tony Fitzgerald QC.
