Queensland citizens draws to the attention of the House, that the Legal Services Commission (LSC) is the sole body empowered under the Legal Profession Act 2007 (the Act) to initiate and prosecute disciplinary proceedings against lawyers and law practice employees. Decisions to initiate a discipline matter are subject to the LSC’s Discipline Application Guidelines, which are weighted to minimal action against the legal profession, and state: “The Commission recognises that there are sometimes equally effective but more cost-efficient ways to protect the interests of the public and the reputation of the profession than by disciplining an errant practitioner in the expectation the practitioner will be punished for his or her conduct.”

The common law duty of a regulatory authority is to provide publicly available reasons for their decisions, the Legal Services Commission has failed to provide to the public proper reasoning for its decisions when deciding not to investigate matters against their members. The LSC is run by persons who have a conflict when it comes to prosecuting complaints against its members. The LSC has failed in its obligations to protect the public from the conduct of members of the legal profession.

Queensland citizens call on the Government and Minister to:

1.       take the responsibility of administration of the Legal Profession Act 2007 off The Legal Services Commission,

2.       establish an Independent Corruption Commission (ICC) entity similar to the Crime and Corruption Commission to handle complaints against members of the legal profession.