Mark Bailey rejects accusations of union influence on decisions

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey has rejected suggestions he acted on undue influence from his former union boss in the early days of the Palaszczuk government.

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey has rejected suggestions he acted on undue influence from his former union boss in the early days of the Palaszczuk government.

The claims were raised in a report from former State Archivist Mike Summerell into the mangocube scandal in 2017 regarding Mr Bailey’s alleged attempt to delete public records kept in his personal email account after questions were asked by The Australian.

In his report to the Crime and Corruption Commission, kept secret since 2017, Mr Summerell raised concerns about the regular correspondence about portfolio matters between Mr Bailey, who was energy minister, and former Electrical Trades Union boss Peter Simpson.

Mr Bailey was a member of the ETU before his election in 2015 but resigned in March 2015 to limit perceptions of undue influence in his role as shareholding minister of government-owned energy corporations.

Mr Simpson appeared to have inside knowledge of upcoming confidential cabinet votes and instructed Mr Bailey on how he should vote.

Mr Bailey and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk were grilled over the report in parliament on Thursday but both said it had been resolved in 2017 when the CCC declined to lay charges.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Mr Bailey said he had already been cleared. “I apologised for this matter sincerely and fully at the time in September 2017,” he said.

Mr Bailey said he had “no idea” how Mr Simpson knew about the substance of an upcoming cabinet vote or why he instructed Mr Bailey which way he should vote.

“I always make my own assessments about any submissions to cabinet and of course it’s a collective process that involved 17 other people,” Mr Bailey said.

Politicians were lobbied “all the time” by “stakeholders, peak bodies, all kinds of people”, he said. “I think that’s a normal part of the political process …” he said.

Mr Bailey said Mr Simpson, who had worked on his election campaign, was offering advice with “the best intentions” but Mr Bailey did not necessarily agree with all of them.

“The ETU have been supportive of me in terms of running for office,” he said. “That’s not exactly unusual. Unions and the Labor Party have had a relationship for 130 years, that’s not a surprise to anybody.”

Among the emails released was a list of Queensland public servants who supposedly favoured the Liberal National Party.

The list was compiled by a unionist and sent to former deputy premier Jackie Trad and then Mr Bailey.

The email chain from 2015 shows Ms Trad was warned about the “big risk” to the new Labor government from mid-level and senior bureaucrats with ­supposed allegiances to the LNP government. Former premier Campbell Newman came to the defence of former Queensland Rail chief executive Helen Gluer, who was described in the list as being a “loyal and willing implementer of the LNP agenda”.

Ms Gluer, who worked on the Brisbane City Council under both Jim Soorley and Mr Newman, stood down as QR boss in 2016 over the “rail fail” debacle that led to hundreds of train service cancellations. She declined to comment on Thursday.

“I never saw her as anything other than an independent, strong public servant who gave frank and fearless advice,” Mr Newman said.

“The idea that she should be on a hit list as an LNP supporter is ludicrous and outrageous.”

Mr Bailey denied the government had acted against any of the bureaucrats identified in the list.

He also said his experience was that staff working within his department were apolitical.

“I didn’t agree with the contents of that email,” he said.