Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission

The Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) is an independent statutory body responsible for combating major crime and corruption in Queensland, Australia. It operates under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (CC Act) and is the successor to the earlier Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC), which was renamed and reconstituted following legislative reforms. Like other members of the ICAC family of Australian anti-corruption bodies, the CCC combines an investigative mandate with prevention and education functions, but its jurisdiction also extends to organised and major crime, reflecting its origins in the merger of Queensland's earlier Criminal Justice Commission and Queensland Crime Commission. The CCC is the publisher of several widely used practical guides for Queensland public sector agencies, including the Fraud and Corruption Control: Best Practice Guide, issued in March 2018 with a foreword by then Chairperson Alan MacSporran QC.^[1]

1 Statutory Role Under the Crime and Corruption Act

Under the CC Act, the CCC does not carry sole responsibility for addressing corruption in the Queensland public sector; the Act instead treats corruption reduction as core business for every public sector agency, with the CCC acting as the central receiving point for complaints, the investigator of serious or systemic matters, and the monitor of investigations it refers back to agencies to conduct themselves. Units of public administration, which include government departments, local councils, and other public authorities, are required to notify the CCC of matters that raise a reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct. Where the CCC does not investigate a matter itself, it may monitor or review the agency's own investigation, a supervisory arrangement analogous to the referral and oversight powers exercised by the federal National Anti-Corruption Commission under its own Act.^[2]

2 Mandatory CEO Reporting Duty (s.38)

Section 38 of the CC Act imposes a duty on the chief executive officer of a unit of public administration, most commonly a council CEO or department director-general, to notify the CCC where the CEO reasonably suspects that a complaint, information, or other matter involves, or may involve, corrupt conduct. In practice, this authority is frequently delegated by the CEO to a senior officer responsible for integrity or governance functions, but the statutory obligation to ensure notification occurs rests with the CEO. This mandatory notification duty is a structural feature distinguishing the Queensland model from systems that rely solely on voluntary or discretionary reporting, and it ensures the CCC retains visibility over corruption allegations across the sector even where it does not investigate every matter itself.^[2]

3 Policy for Complaints Involving the CEO (s.48A)

Section 48A of the CC Act addresses a specific structural risk: what happens when the complaint of corrupt conduct concerns the CEO or public official who would ordinarily be responsible for reporting it to the CCC. The section requires each unit of public administration to have a policy, prepared by the public official in consultation with the CCC chairperson, setting out how complaints involving that official will be handled. Such a policy typically nominates an alternative person to receive and report the complaint to the CCC, and to manage the matter on the official's behalf, closing a conflict-of-interest gap that would otherwise allow a senior official to control the reporting of allegations against themselves. The CCC publishes a template section 48A policy to assist agencies in meeting this requirement.^[3]

4 The 2018 Best Practice Guide

The Fraud and Corruption Control: Best Practice Guide, published by the CCC in March 2018 with a foreword by then Chairperson Alan MacSporran QC, sets out an integrated framework of ten key elements considered important to an effective fraud and corruption control program, intended for use by practitioners responsible for implementing or reviewing an organisation's internal controls against fraud and corruption. The guide is designed to be broadly applicable across Queensland public sector agencies and forms a companion resource to the CCC's more corruption-specific operational guidance. See Fraud and Corruption Control Framework for the general structure of such frameworks and how their component elements typically relate to one another.^[4]

5 Corruption in Focus (2016)

In 2016 the CCC published Corruption in focus: a guide to dealing with corrupt conduct in the Queensland public sector, which has since become the primary operational manual used by Queensland public sector agencies when handling suspected corrupt conduct. The guide has been periodically updated to reflect legislative amendments to the CC Act, with subsequent editions issued in 2020 and 2025, but its 2016 publication established the core operational approach still followed for assessing, notifying, and investigating corrupt conduct allegations. It works alongside the practical, step-based investigation methodology described generally at Conducting a Corruption Investigation.^[5]

6 The Corruption Prevention Advisory Series

The CCC also publishes a series of shorter Corruption Prevention Advisories addressing specific, recurring corruption risk areas encountered across the Queensland public sector. Topics in this Advisory series include post-separation employment, social media use, use of official resources, conflicts of interest, disposal of assets, lobbying, gifts and benefits, records management, information security, procurement, and sponsorship arrangements. Each advisory is intended to equip managers and supervisors with practical guidance on identifying and managing the corruption risks specific to that topic, complementing the broader control principles set out in Internal Controls Against Corruption and Public Sector Codes of Conduct.^[6]

See also: Fraud and Corruption Control Framework, ICAC Family, Conducting a Corruption Investigation.

References

1. Crime and Corruption Commission (Qld), "About the CCC" and "Our history," ccc.qld.gov.au.
2. Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (Qld), ss.38, 40.
3. Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (Qld), s.48A; Crime and Corruption Commission (Qld), "Template for section 48A policy."
4. Crime and Corruption Commission (Qld), Fraud and Corruption Control: Best Practice Guide (March 2018), foreword by Alan MacSporran QC.
5. Crime and Corruption Commission (Qld), Corruption in focus: a guide to dealing with corrupt conduct in the Queensland public sector (2016, updated 2020 and 2025).
6. Crime and Corruption Commission (Qld), "Corruption Prevention Advisories," ccc.qld.gov.au/publications/corruption-prevention-advisories.