Energy Minister Mark Bailey will not face criminal charges over email deletion

Annastacia Palaszczuk has given her Energy Minister his job back after he was cleared of corruption.

Labor Minister Mark Bailey is back in cabinet after being cleared of corruption. Picture: Jonathon Searle

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has returned Mark Bailey to cabinet despite the corruption watchdog slamming his deletion of a private email ­account as foolish, injudicious and a technical breach of the law.

The Crime and Corruption Commission yesterday cleared Energy Minister Mark Bailey of corruption and declared it would not charge him, ­removing a hurdle should Ms Palaszczuk decide to call an early election when she returns from leave in a week.

But CCC chairman Alan MacSporran QC said Mr Bailey’s “very foolish” deletion of his ­[e-mail] account was a clear breach of the ministerial handbook and a technical breach of the Public Records Act, which could not be punished ­because of a gap in the law.

The probe found the Energy Minister had deleted more than 600 work-related emails containing public records without proper legal authority, including a “number” of missives from union officials including Electrical Trades Union boss Peter Simpson.

Mr Bailey deleted his account 10 days after his office received a right-to-information request from The Weekend Australian seeking all correspondence between the account and union officials.

The newspaper had earlier reported leaked emails from Mr Simpson to Mr Bailey, in which Mr Simpson raised concerns about a $13 billion proposed merger of two superannuation funds.

Mr Bailey has always insisted he did not know about the RTI ­request when he deactivated his account and effectively blocked the release of the documents.

Mr MacSporran said the timeline of events suggested Mr Bailey “either knew or should have known” about the request.

The CCC chairman said ­because the content of the emails was “innocuous” and contained no evidence of corrupt or ­nefarious behaviour, the deletion did not amount to criminal ­conduct.

Mr Bailey, who was stood aside from cabinet in July after an interim report by the CCC found a “reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct”, was being investigated for a possible criminal breach of the Public Records Act.

But Mr MacSporran said even though Mr Bailey deleted more than 600 emails without authorisation under the act, it was not considered permanent disposal because Mr Bailey was forced to reactivate his account during the CCC probe and the public records were recovered.

Ms Palaszczuk yesterday defended her decision to restore Mr Bailey to cabinet, despite his “foolish” behaviour and clear breach of the ministerial handbook.

“Mark Bailey came to me this morning, I met with him, I had a discussion with him, he apologised to me, I have accepted that apology and now I want him to get on with his job,” Ms ­Palaszczuk said.

It is understood she met Mr Bailey and had already agreed to give him his job back before Mr MacSporran held his strongly worded press conference.

Mr Bailey yesterday again ­refused to release the email correspondence, suggesting journalists should lodge a fresh RTI request.

“I’d also like to say that I accept there was an error of judgment to delete my own private email ­account, and I unreservedly apologise for doing so,” Mr Bailey said.

Mr MacSporran said the parliament should consider closing loopholes in the RTI and Public Records Acts so that those who breached the spirit or technicalities of the laws could be punished.

Of Mr Bailey’s breach of the act, Mr MacSporran said: “It comes down to a technical breach, for which there is no ­remedy.’’