Ministerial Staff

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:49): Has the Attorney-General or the Premier ever used a private email account for the purpose of conducting government business?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (14:50): I cannot really comment on what the Premier has done, but I am generally regarded by my staff as having several shortcomings, and one of them is a very poor grasp of technology. In fact, some time ago I discovered that there was a thing called 'email' and it was on the 'interweb', and I had steps taken to remove it. I thought, if people were bona fide in attempting to contact me, they would be disappointed that several years later they had not received a reply because I did not know how to do it, so I had myself taken off it on the basis that people would try another method to contact me.

I am not a user of that particular medium and, as I said, I am pretty sure the Premier does not go around sending lots of emails either. The situation is pretty clear. I think I have made it clear what our view about all this stuff is and we intend to—when I have given the Premier some advice—deal with it accordingly.

The SPEAKER: Third supplementary, deputy leader.