8th March 2007Ashley McKay has notched an early win in his quest for accountability within the Queensland Government for its failed pursuit of him over tree clearing charges.
The Crime and Misconduct Commission last month referred a complaint by Mr McKay, Torres Park, Augathella, Qld, back to the Department of Natural Resources and Water (NRW) and Crown Law for internal investigation of the actions of six staff involved in the five-year and seven-hearing courtroom saga.
The CMC found there was sufficient evidence for further investigation of Mr McKay’s allegations of false and fabricated evidence, biased investigations, and a dishonest representation of the case to the courts.
While welcoming the CMC directive, Mr McKay expressed concern in last week’s Queensland Country Life at the prospect of a “Caesar judging Caesar” situation in which the departments in question would investigate their workmates.
But in a surprise move this week, the Department of Natural Resources and Water has announced it would be appointing an independent investigator to the task of investigating the four NRW staff involved.
NRW director-general, Scott Spencer, said it was in the “best interests of all concerned to commission an independent inquiry, without any involvement by departmental staff.
“As a result, an investigator is expected to be appointed to the case later this week.
“This approach has been adopted to maintain transparency and objectivity in the process.”
Mr McKay immediately welcomed the move, but questioned whether the Crown Law would be following suit in its investigation of its two staff that the CMC has found have questions to answer.
“It’s very welcome that they’ve done that for NRW, but there’s been dead silence from Crown Law, for whom exactly the same thing should apply,” Mr McKay said.
