MPs given ‘unlimited’ funds for taxpayer-funded burner phones for use with social media apps such as TikTok

Queensland MPs have been given “unlimited” amount of taxpayer funds to buy burner phones so they can use social media apps more safely in the face of cybersecurity risks.

• Explained: TikTok global bans

Queensland MPs have been told to use taxpayer funds to buy a burner phone so they can safely use social media apps such as TikTok amid privacy and security breach concerns.

But the state is yet to follow in the footsteps of the US, Britain or New Zealand in banning TikTok on government-issued devices, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk indicating she is waiting for the Commonwealth to pull the trigger first.

And it’s uncertain how many state MPs have heeded the strong advice of the Parliament’s Clerk not to use their main phone for work-related social media content.

Queensland’s Parliamentary Services, in emails to MPs in recent months, confirmed it had changed the rules so electorate allowances can be used to buy a secondary mobile strictly for social media use “in response to recent cyber security risks”.

The burner phone – a colloquial term to describe a disposable second phone – must be for “social media use only”, with “no dollar limit” on the price of the phone, though only one device can be purchased every two years.

A spokesman for the Speaker’s office noted other jurisdictions had already advised MPs to use a second smartphone for social media to “eliminate the risk of information on the main phone from being potentially accessed by malicious apps”.

Queensland MPs have been told to use a taxpayer-funded burner phone strictly for social media app (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

The Commonwealth government in late 2022 ordered a review into privacy and security risks around the use of social media platforms on official phones amid national security concerns about the harvesting of personal data by platforms such as TikTok.

The report is now in the hands of Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil but it is understood there isn’t yet a firm deadline on when she will publicly respond to it or take its recommendations to cabinet.

A state government spokesman signalled it would “consider any advice” from the federal government on social media use on official phones, but said it was up to individual Labor MPs whether or not to pick up a burner device under the Clerk’s recommendation.

The phones would still be subject to Right to Information laws.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli’s office confirmed they had switched to a social media phone while other LNP MPs are also “transitioning to secondary devices”.

Katter’s Australian Party MP Nick Dametto, who will be getting a social media burner phone, raised the alarm on TikTok in a speech to parliament this week and urged people to “do their best to protect themselves”.

TikTok has been banned from government phones in the US, Britain and New Zealand. Picture: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

A spokesman for Greens MPs Michael Berkman and Amy MacMahon confirmed the pair would not be purchasing a secondary phone after weighing the need to support constituents doing it tough with their “incredibly limited electorate budgets”.

It’s understood Ms MacMahon ceased using TikTok in April 2022 while Mr Berkman made an account in recent weeks for the sole purpose of putting parental controls on his child’s TikTok use.

Griffith University cybersecurity expert Dr David Tuffley said the Clerk’s advice to get a burner phone was a “prudent step to take” considering privacy concerns.

But cybersecurity expert Nigel Phair believed the issue may be “overcooked”, saying a risk assessment should be done to determine the true threat level to MPs’ data security from social media apps.