Queensland’s opposition has accused the premier of lying, while Labor claims an unnamed Liberal National party member was trying to intimidate a female MP by taking a “creepy” photo of her phone inside state parliament.
Steven Miles stood in parliament on Tuesday to correct the record, admitting he was mistaken when he told the chamber in February that he had not sent a text message to Labor’s Ali King during sittings last October.
The text message – a photo of which was shown on Nine News on Monday – advised King to rise during a parliamentary sitting and apologise for telling prospective Queensland Health employees to send their resumés to her office.
After a right to information (RTI) request returned no correspondence, the opposition asked the premier in February if he had texted King during parliament, something he denied.
But the premier corrected the record on Tuesday, telling parliament he had answered to the “best of” his “recollection” at the time.
“The text message was from six months prior, and I did not recall it at the time,” he said.
The issue dominated question time, with barbs delivered from both sides of the chamber, and speculation brewing over which MP took the photo and sent it to the media. There are restrictions on taking photos in parliament, but there are no rules about sending text messages.
The LNP member for Burleigh, Michael Hart, briefly rose to say he did not accept the premier’s apology before he was asked by the speaker, Curtis Pitt, to leave the chamber.
King then stood and alleged that whichever MP took the photo of her phone was sitting behind her and said the act amounted to “intimidation”.
“I submit that the actions of the member of parliament who did this amount to a serious and deliberate contempt of this parliament and also that their actions amount to intimidation of a member of parliament,” she said.
She said the matter would be referred to parliament’s ethics committee.
“Shame on the LNP member who invaded my privacy in such a creepy way.
“As a woman in this place, I’m accustomed to the way LNP members routinely disrespect female members during debate.
“But not once did I expect even a member of the [parliament] to lean over my shoulder and take photographs and spread them around.
“Whoever that was, I call on the member to man up and ... take responsibility, to apologise.”
In response to questions from the opposition, Miles asked how many other photos the LNP had taken of women and claimed “da boyz” in the opposition were celebrating “the invasion of privacy of women”.
The minister for women, Shannon Fentiman, labelled the alleged behaviour “absolutely outrageous”.
The language used by multiple Labor politicians prompted the speaker to remind MPs to refer to members by their correct titles and not by the term “da boyz”.
The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, told parliament an RTI officer had revealed that the premier’s office had signed certifications to say they had thoroughly searched for the messages on the phone.
“Given the premier’s office would have had to consider it, sign documents and decide it was not required to be released, how does the premier explain denying its existence?” he asked.
In response, Miles said when that search was conducted “there were no documents considered in scope of the RTI”.
