Queensland's Palaszczuk government has banned approaches from three Labor-linked lobbyists after following a scathing report into public sector culture and accountability.
The report called for a ban on people who worked on party election campaigns and then attempting to influence decision-making.
The cabinet decision came as a long-awaited Crime and Corruption Commission probe into what had been described as a "raid" on the office of former lobbying watchdog Nikola Stepanov found no wrongdoing - but reiterated the need for an overhaul of the office and its independence.
Professor Peter Coaldrake's Let the Sunshine In report, published last week, found the appearance of helping a political party to office one week and then advocating for a decision in favour of a client the next "naturally raises suspicion" that is difficult to stamp out.
Ultimately, Coaldrake recommended an "explicit prohibition" on the practice - also raised recently by the CCC, through a ban on the individuals involved. "They can either lobby or provide professional political advice but cannot do both," he wrote.
Premier Annastacia told reporters on Monday afternoon that, after "lengthy discussion" among cabinet members earlier in the day, her government would cease dealing with three Labor-linked lobbyists for the rest of this term: Evan Moorhead, David Nelson and Cameron Milner.
The ban will not extend to the firms operated by the trio. Anacta Strategies - launched by former state Labor secretary and Palaszczuk strategist Moorhead, and Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman's ex-husband Nelson - has quickly emerged as the most prolific operator in the sector since its launch in 2019.
Co-owned by former Labor state secretary Milner and Howard government staffer David Moore, Next Level Strategic Services is also among the three most-prolific Labor-linked firms, which also donate to the party.
Separately on Monday, the CCC released a public report into its Operation Workshop investigation, citing a need to "correct the confusion and misinformation" around matters raised by Stepanov.
After allegations of leaks from the office and potentially problematic behaviour from the Public Service Commission, the CCC found that the laptops in question had been retrieved in "entirely ordinary" circumstances following staffing changes.
Suggestions some data had been improperly access or leaked from the office stemmed from a handover between a departing executive officer who had been "struggling to keep up with the workload" and had taken to copying emails to a separate official email address to manage.
She left in November 2020 and later raised a bullying complaint, the subject of ongoing investigation by the Public Service Commission, about how she was treated by Stepanov and a director seconded to the office from the PSC.
The director was reassigned to a position outside the integrity office in March of 2021. The two laptops were then "collected" for, respectively, the ongoing investigation and to provide to a replacement staff member.
"The Integrity Commissioner [along with the office administrator] stayed away from the office on that day to avoid contact, in light of the ongoing investigation," the report stated.
The hard drive on the executive officer's laptop was then cleared so it could be handed to the new staff member, but had already been backed up, a process the CCC described as "wholly unremarkable".
The CCC's report found that while some information security arrangements in the office had been around since it was created, there was no evidence to suggest these had led to any improper data access and a yet-to-be-finalised structural review of the office could address the situation.
"In light of the above conclusions, the CCC considered a public report was appropriate so as to provide an accurate picture of what the evidence suggests actually occurred," the report said. "A failure to correct the confusion and misinformation around these events may continue to erode public confidence."
"Further, in light of the current review of the Integrity Commissioner's functions, this matter highlights some of the practical and structural difficulties which arise from the current arrangements."
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