Bailey's email use bounces back again

Queensland Minister Mark Bailey's use of a private email account has been brought up in parliament again, but he insists he's done nothing wrong.

Queensland Minister Mark Bailey.

Queensland Minister Mark Bailey's use of a private email account has been brought up again. (AAP)

Embattled state government minister Mark Bailey has again played down any suggestion of wrongdoing as his use of a private email account is again dredged up.

It's been revealed Mr Bailey continued to use his mangocube6@yahoo.co.uk account for official business for several days after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk publicly called for the practice to stop.

The premier issued the public directive on January 17 and brought the issue up in state cabinet on January 23.

Mr Bailey issued a brief statement to state parliament on Tuesday clarifying he had been overseas when the directive was issued, but that he stopped using the email address as soon as learned about it upon his return to Australia.

"As soon as the matter of personal email use was raised at Cabinet on the afternoon of Monday, January 23, I committed to complying with the Premier's directive," Mr Bailey told the house.

That wasn't enough explanation for the Liberal National Party opposition, who asked the premier repeatedly about the issue, and whether she would discipline Mr Bailey.

However the premier stood by the minister.

"When all of the cabinet ministers were there I issued that directive and my understanding is he has complied with that directive since then," Ms Palaszczuk said.

Emails from the account obtained by the opposition show Mr Bailey was still using the account up to January 31 to send a message to one of his ministerial staff.

He also sent a message to activist group GetUp on January 23.

Mr Bailey's use of a private email account sparked a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation after he initially deleted the account when RTI requests were made, before reactivating it.

Mr Bailey was eventually cleared by CCC of corrupt practices but was criticised for his actions, which also saw the Palaszczuk government draft new ministerial guidelines.


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Source: AAP



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