Mark Bailey returns as Queensland energy minister

PRESS RELEASE

Based on the clear finding of Commissioner Alan MacSporran, Mark Bailey is returning to duty as Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports and Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply, effective today.

Commissioner MacSporran stated that “there was no basis to pursue criminal conduct against Mr Bailey for disposal of public records.”

I met with Mark Bailey this morning and I have discussed my priorities for him including:

• Continuing to apply pressure on the Turnbull Government to rewrite of the national electricity market rules, because they are outdated and unfair. These rules currently allow other states to privatise electricity assets and impact on Queensland power prices;
• Delivering our $1.16 billion Powering Queensland Plan to continue to put maximum downward pressure on electricity prices, maintain the lowest electricity prices in Australia, and protecting our electricity generation, transmission and distribution businesses from a revival of the LNP plans to privatise the businesses; and
• Rolling out our increased Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program (QTRIP) investment of $21 billion between 2017-18 to 2020-21 to deliver improved transport, it will also support nearly 17,000 direct jobs over the life of the four year program.

I would like to thank Treasurer Curtis Pitt and Minister Steven Miles for managing Mark Bailey’s responsibilities since July.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet has been working with the State Archivist to develop revised guidelines for management of public documents.  The State Archivist in consultation with the CCC has advised that the new guidelines will not available until after the CCC has concluded its investigation.

Now the investigation has been concluded, I have asked my Department to work towards the soonest practical release of these guidelines.

Background 

Commissioner MacSporran told the Parliamentary Estimates Hearing on 20 July:

“The most serious allegation, as I am sure you are aware, against Minister Bailey was that he had used a private email account to conceal secret negotiations with the ETU over a range of issues. Having recovered the emails with the assistance of Minister Bailey, those were assessed and a report was given to us by Crown Law—the department I think it was.  We assessed that there was no evidence to suggest that Minister Bailey had conducted those secret negotiations with the ETU. We had the emails. We looked at them. They did not bear out the allegation that he had attempted to use a private email account to cover up what had been discussed between himself and the ETU.”