Request to release premier's business documents denied

Documents relating to claims a company was trading insolvent under a future premier will remain secret. Queensland's Labor Party has been denied a Freedom of Information request to access hundreds of pages relating to David Crisafulli's stint as a company director almost a decade ago. The Liberal National Party leader faced renewed Labor attacks on his integrity ahead of claiming the October 26 state election. Labor had sought access to 284 pages of documents relating to Mr Crisafulli's brief stint with Melbourne-based Southern Edge Training. Mr Crisafulli was the company's director between December 2015 and April 2016. Southern Edge Training, which offered a range of courses including forklift operation, collapsed in June 2016 owing nearly $3 million. A 2019 liquidator report claimed the training organisation Mr Crisafulli briefly led before re-entering Queensland parliament had exaggerated some assets. The PwC liquidators' report claimed the company overstated the value of some assets during Mr Crisafulli's stint and "appears to have traded while insolvent" from at least December 2015. The investigation also found the company consistently could not pay creditors and had attempted to sell the business over its financial difficulties before Mr Crisafulli became director. In the lead-up to the election, Labor claimed Mr Crisafulli was unfit to run the state as a result of his company stint, accusing him of paying a $200,000 settlement. The federal Employment and Workplace Relations Department confirmed "a negotiated resolution was reached between the liquidator and Mr Crisafulli". Labor had requested the tranche of documents from the federal department, including demands from liquidators to Mr Crisafulli and communications about negotiating a settlement claim. The federal department refused the FoI request. The department said it consulted with "third parties" - including the liquidators and a former director - which "objected to the release of confidential, personal and business information relating to them". "The former director of Southern Edge Training Pty Ltd objected to the release of documents on the basis that the documents were not only confidential but without prejudice privileged," stated the document seen by AAP. As a result, a federal FoI officer refused the request on the basis the documents were confidential, could cause detriment to those involved and were not in the public interest. "Disclosure of this information could lead to embarrassment, exposure to ridicule or public criticism for the former directors," it said. Opposition Leader Steven Miles said the FoI request revealed the premier was at fault and called on Mr Crisafulli to release the documents. "Now we know there were findings against him - that he was the sole director who traded while insolvent," he said. "It is another example of him lying to Queenslanders before the election." Mr Crisafulli repeatedly dismissed the allegations when asked about his Southern Edge Training stint during the October election campaign. "The facts are, there were zero findings against him during or after his short four months at the business a decade ago and he has met all his obligations," the LNP said in a statement on Tuesday. Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said Mr Crisafulli had nothing to hide, saying it was not the premier's decision to block the FoI request. "This was an independent FoI decision, I understand by an independent officer of the federal government level, and that was their decision," he said.