On 29 January 1999, the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) approved an application under section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act 1989 (Act) by the Director of the Official Misconduct Division that it conduct an investigative hearing in respect of an investigation being conducted by the Official Misconduct Division.
It was determined that the Chairperson, Mr B J Butler SC, should constitute the CJC for the purposes of the hearing, and that, pursuant to section 91(b) of the Act, Mr C E K Hampson QC be engaged to assist in the conduct of the hearing.
The subject matter of the investigative hearing concerned allegations relating to the Children’s Commissioner of Queensland, Mr Norman Alford, and an Administration Officer (Classification AO3) employed within the Office of the Children’s Commission of Queensland, Mr Michael Birnie. This is a report by the CJC under section 26 of the Act in respect of that hearing.
From Report page 4-5:
"It is inappropriate at this point to publish a detailed account of the evidence gathered to date. If proceedings for official misconduct eventuate, then the Misconduct Tribunal will be the appropriate forum for the evidence to be canvassed and tested by Mr Alford. It would be unfair to Mr Alford if details of the evidence were made public at this time.
For these reasons, pursuant to section 27(3) of the Act, the CJC is of the opinion that such matters should, for the time being, remain confidential. Accordingly, the CJC has prepared a second part to this report which contains details of the evidence. That second part — labelled Part B — will remain confidential. Part B is to be provided in accordance with the Act to the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee and to the Premier, as the responsible Minister under the Act."
