QBCC: Dick Williams’ private email address used for official business

In the wake of the “mangocube” scandal it has been revealed another private email account has been used for the official business of the building industry watchdog.

Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni’s senior staff have been conducting official QBCC business with the private email account of Queensland Building and Construction Commission chair Dick Williams, according to newly released Right to Information (RTI) documents.

The emails have been provided under one of three separate LNP Right to Information requests that highlight Mr Williams’ “fondness” for using his private email address, despite having an official QBCC account.

LNP backbencher Michael Hart said he was “absolutely shocked” when the QBCC notified him that an initial search alone for emails between Mr Williams, a former state ALP president, and the commission between December 2019 and Mach 2022 had uncovered “more than 21,000 documents”.

“I had to narrow the scope because there were so many documents,” Mr Hart said.

“Mr Williams has been around for a long time, so why can’t he just use his official email to conduct QBCC-related business?”

Apart from communications with the QBCC, Mr Hart’s two other RTI requests reveal Mr Williams corresponded on his private address with Mr de Brenni’s department and office.

Mr de Brenni was one of the senior government figures named for using their private email to conduct official business by former state archivist Mike Summerell’s initial 2017 report into Mark Bailey’s use and subsequent deletion of the private email account [e-mail].

Mr Summerell’s view was that Mr Bailey’s actions may have resulted in multiple breaches of the Public Records Act, however the CCC found “no evidence” to suggest he wanted to “conceal corrupt conduct”.

The saga forced Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in 2018 to introduce new ministerial guidelines banning the use of private email accounts for ministerial business.

QBCC chair Dick Williams

The RTI response to Mr Hart shows Mr de Brenni’s office – including his then chief-of-staff – used official accounts to liaise with Mr William’s private email on issues including arranging meetings with the Minister, a Caucus “pack” of information for Labor MPs; a “proposed approach for electrical mechanics under the fire protection framework” and the commission’s Covid Regulatory guidelines.

When Mr de Brenni’s COS noted in an email in April last year to Mr Williams that he did not have “a QBCC email for your position as Chair on the QBC board”, he replied: “Yes as discussed I’ve tried and rejected a QBCC email address due some technical issues accordingly I now use my personal address”.

However, the documents show Mr Williams – who was appointed by Mr de Brenni in 2016 – was using his private email as far back as March, 2020.

Mr Hart said: “Mr de Brenni should be acutely aware of the importance of why private email accounts shouldn’t be used for official purposes, given he was the Minister responsible for the Public Records Act following the mangocube affair.”

The RTI also reveals Mr Williams’s private account contained emails from the QBCC regarding meetings between Mr Williams, then Commissioner Brett Bassett and Labor-aligned Anacta Strategies’ Evan Moorhead in April 2020.

The QBCC later paid Anacta and Mr Moorhead $8800 for a month’s work, advising the statutory body on how to “deal” with Mr de Brenni.

Mr Hart is now calling on the Government to look at specifically targeting government appointees to boards such as the QBC during its recently announced review of the Public Records Act.

“There’s currently nothing stopping board members using their private email accounts to conduct official business,” Mr Hart said.

“While there would be processes in place to ensure emails relevant to the Board are being moved into their official system, the volume and nature of the emails uncovered through these RTIs, and the fact the chair also could have used his official account, could be seen as potential red flags.

“The government’s review – supported by the CCC as far back as 2017 – could consider whether emails being sent between two private emails for example, are also being managed appropriately for the public record.”

Originally published as QBCC: Dick Williams’ private email address used for official business