Queensland minister’s secret email with electricity union mates

A Queensland Labor minister told union backers that ‘loose lips sink ships’ after being accused of being led by the ETU.

Minister Mark Bailey personally intervened in pay disputes with power distributor ­Energex. Picture: Annette Dew

A Queensland Labor minister told union backers in secret emails that “loose lips sink ships’’ after he heard a senior manager at the state-owned Energex power company had accused him and the government of being run by the Electrical Trades Union.

Palaszczuk cabinet minister Mark Bailey issued the warning to then-ETU state secretary Peter Simpson in response to an emailed complaint about the ­Energex manager’s alleged comments at a Brisbane bar.

The exchange is contained in 180 pages of back-channel correspondence between union bosses and Mr Bailey — a former, long-time ETU member — on the then energy minister’s private email account at the end of 2016.

Obtained after a year-long fight for access under state Right to Information laws, the emails are at odds with Mr Bailey’s claims in parliament last year that “it was a private email account that I used for private purposes”.

Covering just a seven-month period, Mr Bailey was in regular contact with ETU officials over a range of issues affecting thousands of union members working for the power companies that fell under his control as minister.

The emails reveal Mr Bailey personally intervened in pay disputes with power distributor ­Energex and generator Stanwell, with both companies bending to union demands within days, ­despite earlier stating their determination to fight

Mr Bailey and union bosses corresponded over industrial ­relations policy, a looming ministerial reshuffle and a proposed merger of an industry superannuation fund opposed by the ETU, and later abandoned.

 

At one stage, Mr Bailey forwards a CV — the details of which are redacted under the RTI ­process — to his chief of staff, Denise Spinks, that had been sent to him by Mr Simpson.

Mr Bailey quit the ETU when made energy minister after ­Integrity Commissioner Richard Bingham warned that a perceived conflict of interest with his union membership and portfolio could expose the government to legal challenges and allegations he would “not bring an open mind to the decision-making process’’.

The correspondence will further fuel allegations that Queensland’s industrial unions have too much influence over the ­Palas­zczuk government, re-elected in November.

It is an allegation that was aired in an email exchange ­between Mr Simpson and Energex chief executive Terry Effeney — and copied to Mr Bailey — in September 2016.

In the email, Mr Simpson said a friend had texted him about being in a Brisbane bar and meeting an Energex employee — whose name has been redacted under the RTI process, but is known to be a senior manager.

“Anyway, unprompted, he started telling me that he locks heads with the ETU and you (Mr Simpson) are running the govt via the Labor left and you paid Mark Bailey off,’’ the person reported to Mr Simpson.

Mr Bailey later replied to Mr Simpson and fellow ETU official Stuart Trail: “Loose lips sink ships.”

Mr Bailey had previously ­refused to publicly release correspondence on his email account (mangocube6­@yahoo.co.uk) and last year deleted the account after his office received an RTI request by The Australian.

The move sparked a probe by the Crime and Corruption Commission, and Mr Bailey temporarily stood down from cabinet.

The CCC cleared him of corruption in September.

Mr Bailey has declined to comment about the emails, which indicate his direct involvement in a dispute between the ETU and power company bosses over pay for employees of contractors.

Mr Bailey is copied in on emails between ETU officials and initially with Energex bosses, with Mr Simpson asking for the minister’s intervention.

“ENERGEX’s IR team has engaged Barristers too (sic) give ­advice that the clause isn’t ­enforceable and have further gone to ergon and Powerlink ­advocating that they back the ENERGEX position,’’ Mr Simpson says in an email to Mr Bailey on September 11, 2016, before warning of industrial action.

Mr Bailey then sends the email to his chief of staff, saying: “Just in from Simmo. looks like a few minnions (sic) at play while Terry E is away. Let’s discuss and get Energex to front up on it?’’

Mr Bailey tells Mr Simpson: “We’re on it Simmo. Denise is on their tail. More news as we have it. M.’’

Over the next two days, emails flow between the ETU, Mr Bailey and his staff and later involve the office of Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace before ­Energex backs down.

Mr Simpson then emails Mr Bailey and fellow Labor MP Shane King, an ETU member, saying: “Energex have capitulated Comrades, thanks for your ­assistance.’’

The then-ETU state secretary, who has since stood down ­because of ill health, later writes another email to Mr Bailey about a similar issue at power generating company Stanwell.

“I must admit, she (Spinks) sorted this one with ENERGEX mate, hadn’t seen that before with her, that’s why I was jumping up and down, didn’t want it left in the sock drawer to blow up,’’ he said.

“Possibly the biggest issue I’ve annoyed you with since you went in there … huge potential for bad outcomes.’’