Qld police officer takes force to court

Alleged Queensland police whistleblower Rick Flori has taken his employer to the state's highest court over claims it leaked his private information to the media.

The Gold Coast sergeant has been suspended without pay after he was charged with misconduct in public office last June.

Sgt Flori is accused of leaking CCTV footage of 22-year-old Noa Begic being beaten by fellow officers while handcuffed after an arrest at the Surfers Paradise police station in 2012.

He launched legal action against the QPS after a document containing his private information was leaked to the media during the investigation.

Flori's legal team fronted the Queensland Court of Appeal on Thursday seeking special leave to appeal an earlier decision which found the QPS had not breached the Information Privacy Act because the leaked document was excluded under the legislation.

Walter Sofronoff QC told the court private material uncovered during a search of his client's home was put into an "executive briefing note" and distributed to a "limited number of people" within the QPS.

"That information found its way into an article that was in the newspaper," he said.

Mr Sofronoff submitted the QPS was bound by the Act and had an obligation to protect against the "disclosure or loss" of Flori's personal information.

But Jonathan Horton QC, representing the QPS, said material collected during the course of an investigation by the Crime and Misconduct Commission was exempt under the Act.

Mr Horton QC said even though the QPS may execute the "actual investigation", the CMC, which became the Crime and Corruption Commission in 2014, had the capacity to take over at any stage.

"The commissioner of police is under the Crime and Misconduct Commission's monitoring," he said.

Mr Sofronoff claimed the CMC referred the Flori investigation back to the QPS and so the information obtained during the search should be covered under the Act.

Flori first launched legal action about the QPS leak in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal last year.

Mr Sofronoff QC said the tribunal found the QPS failed to take "reasonable safeguards" to protect Flori's private information.

However, QCAT dismissed the claim because it found the executive briefing note was excluded under the Act.

Flori will appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on Friday for a committal hearing into allegations he leaked the CCTV footage of a 2012 police beating.

His legal team indicated in March they would argue he had no case to answer over the single count of misconduct in public office.