Ministers should have disclosed early affair after election, guide says

Two ministers facing scrutiny over a previously secret affair should have sought state integrity watchdog advice when sworn into their roles, guidance from the Queensland agency says.

The documentation from the Office of the Queensland Integrity Commissioner can be revealed as Premier David Crisafulli doubled down on his support for Tim Mander and Amanda Camm, telling a heated media conference on Thursday that the pair had made all appropriate declarations.

While they refuse to say if they sought advice when appointed as ministers, insisting they were not together at the time, the guidance notes say even recently ended relationships can cause conflicts.

“The nature of past relationships is such that emotion can impede objectivity for some time, and there are few discernible rules about when that impact ceases,” the document said.

Mander, the Olympics Minister, and Camm, Minister for Families, separately fronted media late on Wednesday as pressure mounted, with Crisafulli also facing questions.

The pair denied wrongdoing and insisted there was no conflict as their then year-long affair stopped between May 2024 and June 2025, during which time Mander left his wife.

While releasing conflict of interest plans drawn up after the pair “reconnected” last year, they have refused to say if they disclosed the relationship to the integrity watchdog on becoming ministers.

Mander also revealed Crisafulli and some other shadow cabinet colleagues had been aware of the affair while the LNP was in opposition, and that he told Crisafulli when it ended in early 2024.

The matter has been thrust into public debate after the pair disclosed a joint property purchase to cabinet colleagues.

This was followed by reports that Mander’s former sister-in-law raised concerns in a letter to Crisafulli last June, including about the use of public funds by the pair across at least two years.

Further reports about projects in the pair’s electorates by their respective departments – which they denied any discussion or involvement in – forced them to front media.

In the case of a spouse (or long-term partner), parent or sibling, these relationships are perceived to be so strong that a ‘reasonable apprehension’ of bias will naturally be said to always exist.

Queensland Ministerial Code of Conduct

Among its other roles, the Office of the Queensland Integrity Commissioner advises officials about conflicts of interest and helps draw up plans – signed by an official and their boss – to manage them.

All ministers are required to meet with the commissioner on being sworn into office to determine any conflicts and enact such management plans with the premier of the day.

One of a number of public-facing resources for ministers on the agency’s website is a 2021 document authored by then-integrity commissioner Nikola Stepanov.

Titled “Identifying, disclosing, and managing potential conflicts of interests involving close relationships”, it notes individuals are not best placed to assess and manage such issues, meaning advice should be sought.

“Expectedly, the more significant and personal the relationship between a Minister and an intimate party or close party, the more likely a fair-minded member of the community might have an apprehension of bias,” the document says.

But the balancing of various factors to determine such risks also extends to “past close relationships”, with few concrete rules about how to manage any influence these may have.

Because of this, the guidance notes as a general proposition that the potential timeframe a recently ended relationship may reasonably continue to influence an official could be set at 12 months.

As a first step, ministers are advised to inform the premier and seek advice from the commission on any matter where a close personal relationship may overlap with their duties.

“The IC [Integrity Commissioner] can then consider the scenario from the perspective of a fair-minded member of the community, and whether, having regard to the decision-maker’s political role, responsibility and accountability, the community member would reasonably apprehend that the decision might be biased,” the guidance says.

“Where there is a nexus between an official duty of a Minister or an Assistant Minister, and an intimate or close party, and there is the realistic ability for the official duty to affect either the Minister or Assistant Minister in a way that is more than trivial and not widely shared, a conflict of interest will be said to have arisen.”

In Thursday’s heated media conference at Victoria Park, Crisafulli dodged questions about whether he spoke to the pair or Integrity Commissioner about the matter after winning government in October 2024.

He said he was assured by the pair that they sought advice from the Integrity Commissioner and declared their relationship at the “appropriate time” in mid-2025.

“If you believe that isn’t the case, come forward to either the authorities, or to me personally, and I assure you, I will act on it,” Crisafulli said.

Asked what action he took after the letter from Mander’s former sister-in-law, who asked him to investigate but not tell Mander of the correspondence, Crisafulli said only: “I respected her privacy.”

Crisafulli was also asked if he sought advice from the Integrity Commissioner after the election on whether Mander and Camm’s past relationship was of relevance to the new cabinet.

“You’re asking me to hold two people to a standard that no one’s been held [to] before, that’s what you’re asking me,” Crisafulli said.

Further questions have been put to Crisafulli’s office regarding the guidelines. Mander and Camm have also been contacted for comment.

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