In December 2015, Madden stepped down from Parliament's ethics committee after taking responsibility for a suspected leak.[11] Ethics committee members were prohibited from revealing information about their deliberations.[12] He thought his comments to a Queensland Times journalist were "innocuous" but admitted he "should not have spoken to him at all."[11] He said this mistake was due to his inexperience as a "relatively new member of Parliament and the ethics committee."[11] He received no further punishment for his role in the leak.[12]