Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has dismissed calls for the reintroduction of an upper house.

An independent MP has launched a petition to resurrect an upper house in Queensland and keep tabs on the Newman government.

The government last week sacked the entire cross-party parliamentary committee that oversees the state's crime and corruption watchdog.

It said the move was necessary because the committee was biased against Crime and Misconduct Commission chairman Ken Levy, whom it had been investigating.

Dr Levy has been accused of misleading the committee in his initial statements about what contact he had with the government before writing a newspaper article supporting the government's contentious anti-bikie laws.

He's denied any wrongdoing and says a misunderstanding was behind his failure to reveal he'd met with the government's most senior media advisor before writing the piece.

A special ethics committee is now looking at the issue.

Independent MP Peter Wellington, who sat on the sacked committee, has started an e-petition calling for a referendum on resurrecting an upper house in the parliament.

He says greater accountability is needed, given the Newman government's attacks on the committee system of checks and balances.

But Premier Campbell Newman has already dismissed the idea.

He says it's not something that came up when 70,000 Queenslanders had their say on a long-term plan for the state.

"The one thing they're not raising is the need for more politicians," Mr Newman told ABC radio.

Mr Wellington says the government sacked the committee because it "didn't want the truth to come out".

"The government won't tolerate criticism from this important committee," he told AAP on Monday.

"I'd prefer to be sacked than be a simple puppet."

He says any perception of a "buddy-buddy relationship" between the government and the CMC could deter people from coming forward with allegations.

Dr Levy last week defended his independence, saying: "I have not and will not, in discharging my responsibilities, be swayed by the views of the government of the day or indeed by political considerations more generally".

He said it was his idea to write the opinion piece for The Courier-Mail, and he alone decided on its content.

The premier also denied his government had prior knowledge of the article.