Top Queensland law officers have used their taxpayer-funded allowances to attend a conference at the glitzy Italian Amalfi Coast, which was organised by a Brisbane-based travel company.

Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Queensland taxpayers have spent tens of thousands of dollars sending judges to a luxurious Italian hotel to attend a conference with mostly Australian speakers that was organised by a Brisbane-based company. Of the 12 speakers at the "Europe Asia Legal Conference" held at Praiano on Italy's Amalfi Coast between June 25 and July 2 last year, nine were from Australia. Of that nine, four hailed from Queensland. The conference at the Grand Hotel Tritone was held at the peak of the Amalfi coast's tourist season. Documents obtained by Brisbane Times show three members of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, a Queensland Land Court member, a former High Court judge, a law academic from the University of Queensland, a barrister, three lecturers from New South Wales, and a psychiatrist from Victoria travelled 16,000 kilometres to attend the conference, organised by New Farm-based Continuing Professional Education Pty Ltd. Analysis of the QIRC’s latest annual report showed that, in addition to the speakers, deputy president Deirdre Swan, retired deputy president Les Kaufman and commissioner Minna Knight also billed taxpayers to attend the conference on the Amalfi Coast, known as a popular holiday destination for the rich and famous. A pre-retirement trip to Europe Three days after the Italian conference closed, Mr Kaufman travelled on to Paris for another CPE-run event, the eight-day Pan Europe Pacific Legal Conference, and was reimbursed $8435.09 from his set allowance.


Mr Kaufman retired four months after the events on December 2, 2017, shortly after turning 70. When contacted by Brisbane Times to ask if he had approval to attend the overseas events so close to his retirement, Mr Kaufman said: “I really don’t think I need to comment about this. All my attendance at conferences was approved by the President and I’ll say no more, goodbye.” Like Queensland judges, industrial commissioners are tenured and are guaranteed their job until they are 70. Under state law, the only way to remove a judicial officer is for the Governor to order the removal after a vote of Parliament for “mental or physical incapacity” or “mis­behaviour”. 'We wanted to go to Italy' The agenda paper for the Europe Asia Legal Conference shows other high-profile Queensland delegates, including former High Court Justice Ian Callinan, Queensland Land Court member Paul Smith and UQ law lecturer Vicky Comino, also attended. Despite being billed as an eight-day conference running from Sunday June 25 to Sunday July 2, 2017, delegates enjoyed four days free of formal activities.


They were offered a day trip to Capri on Wednesday, another full “networking day” on Friday, no activities on arrival day except for “welcome drinks”, and the last day in the hotel was described simply as “departure day” with no events or sessions listed. New Farm-based CPE Conferences, run by migration law specialist Lorenzo Boccabella, organised the conference. According to the document, Mr Boccabella attended and delivered two sessions. His first evening session on Monday discussed the role and liability of the ringside doctor when a boxer dies of concussion. His second session on Thursday looked at aspects of medical law, with particular reference to the psychologists who designed the advanced interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay. None of the days with formal sessions listed began before lunchtime. Brisbane Times spoke to delegate Dr Comino, who insisted that the original conference title listed in the annual report, the Europe Asia Legal and Medical Conference, was correct.


“It was definitely medical legal because my husband is a doctor and he attended,” Dr Comino said. “He attended a number of sessions so, there was definitely medical stuff. “[Mr Boccabella] does a lot of this stuff, he does cruises and all sorts of things so, and this conference just happened to be in, like we wanted to go to Italy and I thought 'Oh, this is great'.” A paper introducing the work of CPE Conferences to potential delegates, provided to Brisbane Times by Dr Comino, confirmed a selling point was the build-in of “two-three free days for networking activities” into the program. Conference programs “remain provisional” up until the first day of the conference, CPE pledged, a sentiment echoed on its website which states: “Unlike other conferences, our academic agenda remains fluid until the commencement of the conference.” Calls to Mr Boccabella’s New Farm offices to enquire about his overseas conference business model were not returned. Emails with detailed questions sent to the generic email address provided by his staff did not receive a response.


Annual report shows travel to high-end destinations Figures provided by the QIRC revealed eight commissioners racked up a total of $238,366 on the public purse jetting to international conferences at other glitzy locations including Las Vegas, Cape Cod, Paris, London, Rome and Amsterdam. Four of the 10 overseas events they travelled to were organised by CPE Conferences. Analysis of the data revealed the QIRC’s biggest spender on international conferences was vice president Dianne Linnane. Ms Linnane claimed allowances of $43,784.84 for 17 days in Europe - eight days in Paris attending the Pan Europe Pacific Legal Conference and nine days in Amsterdam attending the Europe Oceania Legal Conference. Both events were organised by CPE Conferences. According to the latest judicial salary and allowances table for Queensland’s judicial officers, Ms Linnane’s claim saw her exceed the yearly allowance limit set by the Queensland government by $13,000.


Meanwhile, her colleague commissioner Gary Black claimed $12,445.09 for eight days in Amsterdam to attend another CPE-run event, the East West Legal Conference. Mr Black racked up a further $11,391.68 for a two-day visit to the London School of Mediation and another $8880.67 for two days attending a conference in London. Commissioner Glenys Fisher claimed $8100.93 for three days at a conference in Las Vegas, and another $11,917.44 attending a CPE-run event in Rome, the eight-day Pan Europe Pacific Legal and Medical Conference. Deputy president Deirdre Swan spent eight days on Italy's Amalfi coast at the "Europe Asia Legal and Medical Conference" alongside Ms Linnane, and spent another eight days in Paris the following week at the "Pan Europe Pacific Legal Conference" - both of which were organised by CPE Conferences. The luxurious Grand Tritone Hotel on Italy's Amalfi coast where three industrial commissioners attended the eight-day event. Credit:TripAdvisor Ms Swan claimed $16,075.97 in allowances for attending the two events, and claimed another $8515.20 for a five-day stay in Lisbon, Portugal at another law conference. The total overseas spend appeared to put her in breach of the Queensland government rules, pushing her allowance claim $6264.50 over her set limit. Also at the Italian conference was commissioner Minna Knight, who racked up a massive $25,796.88 for her eight-day stay, putting her $7470.21 over her set expense limits. But a third industrial commissioner who was at the Italian event, former deputy president Les Kaufman, sought much less in reimbursement for his eight-day stay, lodging a claim of $7900.50. Magistrate Christine Roney, who served as an acting industrial commissioner for just nine months in 2017, squeezed in a trip to Portugal in her penultimate month claiming allowances of $4080.18 for two days’ attendance at a law conference before she vacated the role on December 22. Figures also revealed commissioner John Thompson claimed $13,146.43 to spend four days in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the USA to attend a SEAK annual conference. In sharp contrast, the only commissioner who did not claim allowances for attendances at overseas conferences was deputy president Adrian Bloomfield, who claimed $2465 in reimbursement for two conferences he attended on the Gold Coast. 'Approved by the president' In response to questions from Brisbane Times, a staff member from the Industrial Court registry revealed the overseas trips were organised by individuals, not the court, and added members had to submit claims to be reimbursed from their set educational allowance. She confirmed the allowances were not entitlements and were “only payable for expenses actually incurred” for the purposes of the allowance. “Expenditure of the Education & Conference Allowance for a particular conference or educational purpose is approved by the president,” she said. Asked to explain the process of obtaining approval to travel and clarification of how Industrial Court president Justice Glenn Martin satisfies himself of the bona fides of a particular conference, she said: “The president relies on the members’ request when seeking approval.” After the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission provided Fairfax Media with the agenda for the conference at the June-July 2017 conference at the Grand Hotel Tritone, a request for similar agendas or reports of other conferences was rejected. "There is no provision or requirement for the president or court to retain those documents," another QIRC registry staff member said. CPE Travel and Conferences headquarters at New Farm, Brisbane. Credit:Cameron Atfield The single document provided was said to be the agenda for CPE-run conference, the Europe Asia Legal and Medical Conference in Italy listed in the annual report. But when Brisbane Times was unable to find any record of a conference by that title being held near Positano on the dates provided, the registry staff member said the conference was “incorrectly titled” in the annual report, and instead provided an agenda for a “Europe Asia Legal Conference.” Under parliamentary rules, errors in annual reports can be corrected by providing an appendix, known as an erratum, and tabled in the Queensland Parliament. However, the QIRC told Brisbane Times it would not make an erratum because "the error is not a material one and it is at the discretion of the president as to whether an erratum is made."