Labor U-turns on one-stop government complaint shop

The news

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has U-turned on a month-old decision that a proposed government complaint body was “unviable”.

Palaszczuk said a respected legal figure would now be found to lead the one-stop complaints shop called for by Professor Peter Coaldrake in his government accountability review last year.

“Today I advised cabinet that, in relation to the Coaldrake report, that we will be implementing the clearing house,” she told journalists at a press conference after a regular meeting of her ministers on Monday.

“The department had set up a system that, of course, is working. But I think … in the public interest and being true to the intended report, cabinet has endorsed my proposal that we will set up a properly constituted clearing house body.

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“There will be a board and sitting above that board, there will be an eminent person such as, I would expect, someone like a retired judge, who would work perhaps three days a week who will be able to prioritise significant complaints, but also to make sure that complaints are dealt with in a timely manner.”

Why it matters

Last month, Palaszczuk had told News Corp such a body would be “unviable, both technologically and financially”.