Queensland parliament updates: LNP backs ban on ‘high-profile man’ question

Greens MP Michael Berkman has raised probity/due process concerns in the decision to back a ruling by the Speaker blocking a question about legal costs incurred by police to protect the identity of a high-profile man.

The veil of secrecy drawn over the extortion case playing out in a Cairns court , in which the man only able to be referred to as MM is not facing any charges himself, has sparked a civil challenge from media and charges for one member of the public who has named him.

Parliament debated the matter after 7.30pm last night, which the Labor opposition had flagged it would raise after opposition MP Leeanne Enoch asked Police Minister Dan Purdie in June if he would release the legal costs for police to maintain the gag order.

Speaker and Condamine LNP MP Pat Weir had ruled that out of order, blocking Purdie from the need to answer it, after Berkman had just two days earlier asked Attorney-General Deb Frecklington if she signed off on police paying fees above a daily cap for barristers.