A QUT criminologist and justice expert believes the Senate inquiry into the Newman Government will not be independent.
Associate Professor Mark Lauchs said the move, which successfully passed through the Senate late yesterday, would be unlike any other Senate inquiry ever held in Australia.
"Whereas other Senate inquiries have been generated usually as a result of community concern over an issue, this inquiry appears to be generated out of political concern," Professor Lauchs said.
"The bad blood between Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and Clive Palmer is well documented and sparked from the Queensland government's failure to enable Mr Palmer to build a 500km railway line from the Galilee Basin in central Queensland to the Abbot Point coal port.
"It is inappropriate for members of Clive Palmer's party to run an inquiry when his own party is the instigator of that inquiry.
"Here we have a case where accuser, the Palmer United Party, will be accuser, investigator and judge, and I think most people would consider the outcome is already known.
"It is legitimate to claim there is a problem but any inquiry should be run by an independent body. The other similar inquiries such as the Home Insulation Plan and the Dams inquiry in Queensland have been conducted independent of the political parties."
Labor and the Greens joined with the Palmer United Party to enable the motion, moved by Palmer United Party Senate leader Glenn Lazarus to pass through the Senate.
The inquiry, the Select Committee on Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration, will look at Queensland's use of commonwealth funds, whether any money has been used for state government advertising or party-political purposes, the administration of the Queensland courts and the judicial system, and the approval processes for development projects to export resources.
Media contact: Rose Trapnell, QUT media team leader, 07 3138 2361 or 0407 585 901 rose.trapnell@qut.edu.au
