Mark Bailey emails won’t be released

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk won’t release emails between stood-aside minister Mark Bailey and a union boss.

Stood-down Energy Minister Mark Bailey. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to release private emails between her stood-aside Energy Minister Mark Bailey and a union boss over a lucrative super fund merger.

In a combative press conference, Ms Palaszczuk conceded Mr Bailey’s demotion is “not a good look” for the government, but refused to accept there was a “sniff” of corruption about her Cabinet, despite an official finding there was a “reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct” by her Minister.

“I reject that purely and simply, there has been no findings of corruption,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Mr Bailey was stood aside from Cabinet — with his pay halved — after a Crime and Corrpution Commission found he had deleted a private email account containing public records in a possible breach of the Public Records Act, which — if proven — would amount to corrupt conduct.

But a defiant Ms Palaszczuk yesterday would not say which other members of her Cabinet used private email accounts for government business, despite CCC chief Alan MacSporran confirming several had done so.

In fact, the Premier refused to say whether or not she knew the identities of those ministers or had attempted to find out. She confirmed she had not asked the CCC who the Ministers were, and would not say whether she’d asked individual ministers if they used private emails for official business.

“I’m not keeping it secret, I’m cleaning it up,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The CCC probe started after it was revealed by The Australian Mr Bailey deleted his private email account after receiving a Right to Information request seeking the correspondence with union bosses. Mr Bailey claims he did not know about the RTI request when he deactivated his email.

The Australian reported last year that ETU boss Peter Simpson had secretly lobbied Mr Bailey on the private email account over the merger of two major superannuation funds.

The CCC this week said emails recovered from Mr Bailey’s deleted and then reactivated account showed no evidence of corrupt conduct in the correspondence between Mr Bailey and Mr Simpson. However, there is still the outstanding issue of the deletion of the account, which if proven is an offence that carries a $20,800 fine.

Ms Palaszczuk said she would not ask Mr Bailey to release the emails between him and Mr Simpson in the spirit of transparency.

“The matter is still under investigation so no I am not going to ask that,” she said.

Asked why she did not front the media yesterday, the day after Mr Bailey was stood down, Ms Palaszczuk said she had the flu.

“I have been quite ill all week, I fronted Estimates, I spent Sunday in bed, I spent Tuesday in bed, I’ve been working on this yesterday, I came into work to speak to Mark Bailey, as soon as I found out the CCC, and I’m here talking to you all today,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“I’m sorry the Premier can’t have a sick day.”

Ministers Yvette D’Ath, Steven Miles, Anthony Lynham and Cameron Dick have all previously been publicly confirmed as using private emails for ministerial business, with most saying it was so they could print out work material at home.

Asked whether the scandal was an embarrassing look for her government, the Premier said “it’s not a good look”.

“But there’s still an investigation that’s ongoing and we will wait for the State Archivist to continue that investigation.”

Ms Palaszczuk said after the CCC’s damning statement on Wednesday she had called Mr Bailey for a meeting and asked him to stand aside.

“The first thing I said to Mark Bailey was ‘Minister, I need you to stand down,’ that’s what I said to him and he accepted my decision,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

But she did not sack him from Cabinet, because “the matter is still under investigation” by the State Archivist, Ms Palaszczuk said.

She said she had agreed with Mr MacSporran that she needed to overhaul the guidelines about email use and social media for MPs. Ms Palaszczuk said she met with her department yesterday and it was working with the CCC to devise new rules for all ministers and MPs.

“There will be a clear line in the sand,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said the scandal so far had not tarnished Mr Bailey’s reputation and she hoped “he could return to the frontbench”.

“There has been no finding of corruption, and I reject any allegation there has been a finding,” she said.