"I did nothing wrong": rookie Qld MP

A QUEENSLAND MP is facing claims he used his electorate office as a secret base to direct the operations of a retail lobby group.

The Courier-Mail says Scott Driscoll installed dedicated phone lines and computer equipment in his electorate office last year.

The newspaper says staff used the equipment to conduct the business of the Queensland Retail Traders and Shopkeepers Association, which has been paying Mr Driscoll's wife's company $350,000 a year for management services.

It's the latest in a string of allegations levelled against the rookie Redcliffe MP, who has denied any wrongdoing.

He says a run of recent allegations are part of "a co-ordinated campaign" against him and his family.

He is seeking an independent assessment of claims by Integrity Commissioner David Solomon.

Mr Driscoll last month told the media he'd had "no operational involvement" in the QRTSA since he was elected to parliament.

But on Tuesday, The Courier-Mail said it had seen emails and other correspondence that show he has overseen all of the QRTSA's operations.

It said Mr Driscoll, and his former electorate officer Ben Scott, had signatory powers over the group's bank accounts until three weeks ago.

AAP has sought comment from Mr Driscoll.

On Monday, Premier Campbell Newman said Mr Driscoll should be given a "fair go" and he'd not yet seen anything that would disqualify him from parliament.

He said allegations were being looked at and it was appropriate for Mr Driscoll to talk to Dr Solomon.

The Courier-Mail has also reported Mr Driscoll had been secretly controlling a taxpayer-funded community association helping the homeless and others in need.

It claims he'd been funnelling tens of thousands of dollars in consultancy fees to his wife's company Norsefire.

But the group named in those claims, the Regional Community Association of Moreton Bay, denies consultancy fees were paid out of public money.

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Iraq, the war and how we got it wrong

The official war in Iraq may be over but the battle scars still remain, both physical and emotional, for those who served, and for their families. Lindsay Claiborn reports.

FORMER prime minister John Howard has admitted that "mistakes" were made by the US-led coalition in Iraq, but he stands by his decision a decade ago to join friend George W Bush in invading the oil-rich nation.

And his foreign affairs minister at the time, Alexander Downer, has revealed the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, virtually blamed former Australian diplomat and chief weapons inspector Richard Butler for the war.

A decade on from the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition of the willing and Australian special-forces troops and RAAF fighter jets in March 2003, Mr Howard said he had not changed his mind because Iraq was better off without Saddam Hussein.

"Post invasion, mistakes were made, most particularly the dismantling of the Iraqi Army," Mr Howard said.

He said most people believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and then Labor spokesman Kevin Rudd had even stated that it was "empirical fact".

Mr Howard denied intelligence on the matter was manufactured.

He also said the Iraq experience could have been one of the catalysts for the so-called Arab Spring.

SPECIAL REPORT: Was the Iraq War worth it?.

John Howard in 2003 following US military strikes against Iraq. Picture: Ray Strange.

However, former Defence chief and Iraq war opponent General Peter Gration said the war was "immoral, illegal and unnecessary".

He said it was also one of the dumbest strategic decisions in Australian history.

"The civilian casualties and damage have been enormous and it was the first time in history that Australia had taken offensive action against a country that had done nothing to us," General Gration said.

"We need some way to ensure that this never happens again."

Mr Downer this week said the UN had been writing reports about Iraq's weapons stockpile for years.

He said Mr Annan had said to him that he could not believe that former head of the UN weapons inspection team, Mr Butler, had been made Governor of Tasmania.

"Annan said to me, `If not for Richard Butler there would not have been an Iraq War'," Mr Downer said.

Mr Butler denied the claim.

"The substance of what Annan is alleged to have said is incorrect," he said.

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