House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-27 Daily Xml

Contents

Private Email Accounts

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Have all the emails sent by either the minister or her ministerial staff from private email accounts been made available to the minister's authorised FOI officer for discovery in relation to any FOI requests?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order, member for Morialta. I will hear the point of order from the Leader of Government Business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 97: the shadow minister is assuming a certain course of action has occurred and has inserted facts without leave of the house.

The SPEAKER: I am going to take the course of allowing the member for Morialta to rephrase the question.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Have the minister and her office at all times complied with all obligations under freedom of information laws? With your leave, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: On 7 September, the Minister for Human Services outlined a series of circumstances in which private email addresses were used by herself, and indeed members of her staff. The minister's office is subject to FOI laws. The minister has in her office an authorised FOI officer and, when FOI requests are made, that officer is entitled to seek in discovery any emails under private email addresses.

The question seeks to establish whether the minister and her office have at all times complied and made available such emails under discovery.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (14:29): It's a very long question but, from what I'm listening to, I can confirm that our obligation is to store all records pertaining to ministerial work and release them according to the FOI Act, and that is what we have done.

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson, I hear the member for Morialta calling for a supplementary. I am going to recognise the supplementary question, and then I will return to the member for Mawson.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!