Premier grilled over the use of a personal email address

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to say whether she used her private email account for government business before she banned the practice in 2018.

During a budget estimates hearing on Monday, Ms Palaszczuk confirmed she had a private email account, [e-mail], but would not say whether it was used for ministerial purposes.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office would not say whether the Premier had used her stacia1 BigPond account to discuss government business.Credit: Getty Images

In 2018, the Premier banned her ministers from using personal email accounts and apps such as Snapchat to discuss official business, following a corruption investigation into Transport Minister Mark Bailey.

Mr Bailey, who was energy minister at the time, was temporarily stood aside over his use of the [e-mail] email account, which he subsequently deleted.

An email tabled to Queensland Parliament during the estimates hearings on Monday suggests Mr Bailey had emailed the Premier about a hiring decision.

Mr Bailey’s office would not confirm whether the email was authentic and referred questions to the Premier’s office.

Ms Palaszczuk’s office would not say whether the Premier had used her BigPond account to discuss government business.

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

Although she had previously denied using her private email account for work, the Premier would not rule it out when questioned by opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson on Monday.

Asked if the account had been used for government business, Ms Palaszczuk said “not since the code has been updated [in 2018]”.

“I have said previously that I have had a private email account, I have said that publicly,” she said.

The Premier was also grilled about the overlap of two high-profile lobbyists and her October election campaign.

Cameron Milner is a former state secretary of the Labor Party. Credit: Angela Wylie

Evan Moorhead and Cameron Milner, both former Queensland ALP state secretaries-turned-lobbyists, worked behind the scenes on the ALP campaign that propelled the Premier into power for a third term.

Evan Moorhead.

Ms Palaszczuk said neither man was given access to government resources, but Mr Milner was “seated next to a couple of staff members” at the state’s executive building, 1 William Street, during the campaign.

“My understanding is they were not paid by the taxpayers at any stage during the election campaign,” she said.

Last month, The Australian reported the two men were running strategy for the Labor campaign and gave directions to government staff throughout the election period.

Ms Palaszczuk denied either man was “in charge” and said they were not given staff parking spots at 1 William Street.

Dave Stewart, who heads up Ms Palaszczuk’s department, told the hearing his predecessor wrote to Mr Moorhead last year “reminding him very clearly of his obligations and I have done the same”.

“I’m aware that both those gentlemen were on our floor but I’m not aware of how they were accessing the building," he said.

“I can’t see their names or their company names anywhere on the contract disclosure that we make, so they weren’t employed by the Department of Premier and Cabinet in relation to any contracting or consulting services.”