Annastacia Palaszczuk questioned over private email account

Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to say whether she used a private email account for work.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to say whether she used her private email account for work purposes after she warned her ministers against it in the wake of Mark Bailey’s ‘mangocube’ saga.

It’s today been revealed the Premier had a private account, ‘[e-mail]’, which she said she hasn’t used since the Cabinet handbook was amended in 2018.

Mr Bailey, who was energy minister at the time, was cleared of corrupt conduct by the Crime and Corruption Commission in 2017 over the use and temporary ­deletion of his private account, which was found to contain hundreds of public records.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during Estimates at Parliament House. Picture: Josh Woning

However the watchdog found the use of private email for ministerial purposes was a breach of both the Queensland Ministerial Handbook and the Ministerial Information Security Policy.

Ms Palaszczuk warned her ministers not to use private accounts for work purposes in the wake of the saga, and in 2017 kept secret which ministers had been using their private emails.

The Cabinet handbook was officially amended in 2018, banning the use of private emails for ministerial purposes.

During Monday’s Budget Estimates hearing, Ms Palaszczuk was asked by the Opposition whether she had a Bigpond account.

“I don’t recall having a bigpond account, I may have, I would have to check,” she said.

Asked whether she had ever had a ‘[e-mail]’ account, the Premier said yes.

The LNP tabled an alleged email between the Premier and Mr Bailey dated April 22, 2015.

The document suggests Mr Bailey’s ‘mango cube’ address had emailed the Premier’s private account about a position.

When asked by the Opposition if the document was authentic, Ms Palaszczuk said, “I don’t know, it’s dark, I would have to check.”

When then asked whether she wanted it read to her, the Premier said no.

Ms Palaszczuk told Estimates she had publicly said before that she had used a private account.

Asked whether she had used a private email account for work purposes, Ms Palaszczuk said, “Not since the code has been updated.”

The Premier’s office on Monday afternoon refused to say whether the purported email from 2015 had been received and whether she had replied to it.

“Unsurprisingly the premier has no recollection of an email from five years ago,” a spokesman said.

“The CCC investigated emails from the mangocube account and found no illegality.

“The Cabinet handbook was amended in 2018.”

Mr Bailey’s office would not say whether the purported email was legitimate, instead referring The Courier-Mail to the statement given by the Premier’s office.