Qld integrity crisis: Mike Summerell on fallout from email report

In his own words, the former bureaucrat who sparked the Queensland Government’s integrity crisis describes how “every effort” was made to stop him doing his job.

Mike Summerell was the Queensland state archivist who investigated minister Mark Bailey’s use of private email for government business. This is an edited version of a statement he made on Saturday.

The report that the CCC released earlier this week I suppose allows people to judge for themselves on some of these matters, and I really have no desire to enter into the debate around individual emails or actions.

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I undertook my role in all this as far as I was concerned independently, impartially and objectively with the public interest paramount … as I was required to do.

However I feel my stance and conclusions forever changed how I was treated by ministers and senior officials.

I felt that from late 2017 onwards every effort was made to try and stop me doing my job effectively in regard to my statutory functions if it related to the integrity of the public record and there was any hint of political “inconvenience”.

Sadly the integrity of the public record was seen as something that was fine to sacrifice to avoid political inconvenience.

My career in the Queensland Government was ruined by this investigation … and it was ruined because I tried to do my job impartially and objectively.

I have no doubt personally that my efforts to try to ensure the integrity of the public record ultimately led to the non-renewal of my contract in 2021.

Former state archivist Mike Summerell

The only time I could really operate with true impartiality and objectivity was when I was working “under the protective wing” of the CCC … but I kept on trying and I think I paid the price in the end.

It is so sad and perverse that those who speak up and act firmly to protect the public interest are the ones who are punished.

Anyone who speaks up in the public sector effectively becomes a pariah for life ... yet those who turn a blind eye or enable the acts against the public interest continue, and in some cases are rewarded.

I have raised many issues recently, but essentially they really all relate to one thing ... attempts to undermine the integrity of public record – lobbying through private email accounts, unauthorised disposal of records, pressure to change reports and letters, interference in investigations et cetera ... all really ultimately relate to the same thing.

Key requirements in any democracy are transparency, accountability and integrity.

A key element in ensuring this is a full and accurate public record open to the scrutiny of the public. If the integrity of the public record is compromised so is democracy.

The Premier seemingly admitting that lobbying ministers through private emails was or is a normal part of government is significant.

The extent of the lobbying of Minister Bailey through his private email account certainly struck me as standard practice.

The lobbying itself wasn’t my major concern ... lobbying is indeed a normal part of government, unions should be allowed to lobby for the interests of their members; my concern was, and your concern should be, that this lobbying was not in the public record.

At no time did Minister Bailey or his staff seek to direct union officials or others to use official channels to communicate with him, no attempt was ever made in over two years of correspondence to bring these 1200 records into the public record.

Minister Mark Bailey faces the media last week. Picture: Tara Croser

The only action Minister Bailey took was to try to destroy them and then recover them when he was “found out”.

Without the efforts of the CCC none of these records would now be in the public record.

If the CCC and Minister Bailey had waited 15 days longer to recover the records after the deletion/deactivation of the email account it would have been impossible to recover the records at all.

Post this investigation, how much more of this “standard” lobbying was not in the public record was my biggest concern.

The fact that I was stopped by DHPW officials in 2018 from reviewing the processes of other ministers in regard to how they managed public records received in or sent from their private email accounts was very significant.

I knew for a fact that other ministers were being lobbied in the same way as Minister Bailey because the same emails sent to Minister Bailey were on occasion sent to them as well.

I could literally see that.

The fact I was not allowed to even look at the practices of other ministers was to me perhaps the most disappointing direction I was ever given.

The lobbying itself wasn’t the issue for me as state archivist, it was the fact that the lobbying was not in the public record.

People can make their own minds up on the “lobbying” itself.

When the integrity of the public record is being deliberately undermined by the same public officials it is intended to monitor that is a fundamental attack on democracy ... don’t let anyone tell you differently … if they do you should be asking yourself why.

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