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THE flood inquiry referred public officials to the Crime and Misconduct Commission last year after it was warned evidence would be covered up and fabricated, the Senate has been told.
Former chief engineer in charge of flood mitigation works in Queensland, Greg McMahon, told a Senate inquiry last month the commission had been warned of "the possibility that such actions by the water agency may occur, by reciting past and current actions by the ancestor organisations of the current water agencies".
The inquiry was alerted about "a deliberate lack of competence, used to serve another purpose such as confusing the inquiry about what happened" during the floods, the Senate heard.
But the CMC dismissed the warnings without seeking details from Mr McMahon, his submission alleges.
"The inquiry may be covering up that it and the CMC were given warnings and examples and current instances from an engineering specialist, and these bodies had ignored these warnings and disclosures," Mr McMahon wrote.
A spokesman for the inquiry said: "A submission provided by Mr McMahon made a number of allegations about Queensland Government public officials. The allegations were not about officers of the Commission of Inquiry. The commission did not inquire into the matter. The commission complied with its legislative obligations to refer the matter to the CMC."
The Senate was also told large parts of a published submission Mr McMahon made to the flood inquiry warning of a "systemic" culture of fear among civil servants, a lack of engineering expertise among managers and a section headed "perception of bias" were later removed.
The flood inquiry said it had published material included in Mr McMahon's submissions "in error ... when it in fact contained material that should have been redacted in line with the commission's usual practice".
"When this was identified in late August 2011, the material was redacted from the submissions and the submitter was advised," the spokesman said.
The Senate document also claims one of the inquiry's own experts asked for a copy of another unpublished submission by Mr McMahon, but was refused it.
Mr McMahon's submission warns of the prevalence of "purple engineering" - named after the colour of overalls worn by the Titanic's crew.
The CMC was unable to respond by deadline.
14.3.12
