QUEENSLAND AUDIT OFFICE
- That on 29 January 1993 the Queensland Audit Office (QAO) was officially informed by me of the circumstances surrounding the ex gratia/special payment of $27,190.00 immediately after the CJC declared it legal in its 20 January 1993 findings. It was shown to then Assistant Auditor-General Mr Len Dudman that the payment's purpose and make-up were illegal being presumably designed to buy the silence of Mr Coyne over matters associated with the Heiner Inquiry, especially the shredding. The QAO was informed that Mr Coyne had no legal entitlement to the money, and that DFSAIA officials, together with QPOA officials, fraudulently concocted it while knowing that there was no legal basis for the claim and that documentation did not exist to justify the amount;
- That the QAO found that DFSAIA Minister the Hon Anne Warner MLA had breached the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977 when approving the payment outside her authorised spending limits. It described the payment as "technically unauthorised" and recoverable. DFSAIA Director-General Ms Ruth Matchett, as the accountable officer, then declared the payment as a "loss" under the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977 and wrote the money off without any attempt to recover it. It was subsequently found in October 1996 by barristers Messrs Morris QC and Howard as being "illegal" and an "open to conclude" breach of section 204 of the Criminal Code (Qld);
- That, in absence of any contrary evidence, the QAO failed to act impartially by accessing all relevant departmental documents (showing incidents of child abuse at JOYC) pursuant to the provisions of the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977 including a DFSAIA memorandum dated 18 January 1991 by Mr Gary Clarke Director of Finance and Organisational Services to his accountable officer DFSAIA Director-General Ms Ruth Matchett. The memorandum reported on the 10 January 1991 meeting at which QPOA officials threatened himself and senior Departmental official Mr Leigh Carpenter that unless money was paid "…the whole saga in relation to the John Oxley Youth Centre" would be put into the hands of the CJC (which only has jurisdiction to consider matters of suspected and/or known official misconduct, not industrial relations). Ms Ruth Matchett read the memorandum. She then participated in paying unauthorised money involving DFSAIA Minister the Hon Anne Warner MLA, while knowing about the unresolved suspected child abuse and the illegal shredding/s; and failed to comply with her legal obligation under then section 2.28 of the Criminal Justice Act 1989 to report all suspected official misconduct to the CJC;
- That on 7 January 1997 following the tabling of the Morris/Howard Report which found the payment of $27,190,00 to be illegal and "open to conclude" a breach of section 204 of Criminal Code (Qld) and sections 31 and 32 of the Criminal Justice Act 1989, then Auditor-General Mr Barrie Rollason was informed by me of the findings (reiterating that the QAO had known of the illegality since January 1993), and asked whether the QAO still stood by its initial 1993 findings;
- That on 19 February 1997 Mr Rollason accepted Ms Matchett's actions as giving effect "…to the purposes of the Deed of Settlement dated 12 February 1991 (See aforesaid Office of Crown Law section in this Petition & Points 60-64) between the Crown and Mr Coyne" and was within "…the prescriptions of the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977."