“I have obligations to refer matters under the Act and I take those matters extremely seriously,” she told reporters on the Gold Coast,referring to the Integrity Act under which the outgoing Dr Stepanov operates.
But details about the nature of the referral,and the reasons for it,remain largely unclear.
Both Dr Stepanov,who will depart part-way through her second three-year term in July after accepting another job offer in November,and Howard Whitton,who wrote the original act,told theBrisbane Times they understood the only power Ms Palaszczuk had to make a referral was under section 82,which deals with the process of removing a person in the role from office.
Ms Palaszczuk has this week denied referring such a motion to the committee,after it was suggested by Dr Stepanov in a News Corp report linking it to formal complaints she had raised with the Public Service Commission in late 2020 about “suspicious” conduct within the government,then escalated by her to the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Beyond the Integrity Act,which Dr Stepanov and Mr Whitton both also understood not to grant the regulators’ oversight committee the power to launch investigations or inquiries,parliamentary committees in general do have such self-referral powers for matters deemed fit or raised with them.
Responding to further questions,a spokesman for the Premier referred to her earlier comments that she was “obliged to take particular action under the Act”.