A former Queensland archivist alleges he was “directed to mislead parliament” by the Palaszczuk government. 

Former state archivist Mike Summerell claims he was “summoned” to a meeting with the director-general of Queensland’s Department of Housing and Public Works in 2018 to discuss legal advice about the independence of his office.  

At the time, Mr Summerell oversaw record-keeping for Queensland government agencies and public authorities, including MPs.

“I was informed that the previous perceived independence of the State Archivist, which had been in place since the passing of the Public Records [Act] in 2002 was no longer valid,” he said.

“She [the Director-General] had obtained legal advice which stated I had no independence other than in disposal decisions and was subject to the direction and control of the DG and the Minister in all other areas.”

Mr Summerell said his oversight minister and department stymied his attempts to obtain Crown Law advice on his independence, including what he could put in annual reports and the investigations he undertook in relation to breaches of the Public Records Act.

Mick de Brenni was the Minister of Housing and Public Works who oversaw the Office of the State Archivist in 2018.

Mr Summerell also alleged that he was pressured by department officials to remove content from the 2017/2018 annual report that could have been turned into “bad news”, including any mention of then-energy minister Mark Bailey's email scandal.

Queensland ministers were banned from using personal email accounts and apps to discuss official business after Mr Bailey’s use and deletion of a private account sparked a Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) investigation.

“The [annual] report is a grossly misleading report on the state of record-keeping in Queensland and in particular the administration of the Act, and the distortion was deliberately created,” he said.

“My independence had been taken away and I had been directed to produce a piece of PR essentially, not a report to parliament on the administration of the Public Records Act.

“I considered this annual report a major failure of my time as State Archivist.

“I was also told to remove all reference to the poor standard of government record-keeping in general,” he told reporters.

When asked about the claim at a press conference this week, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that they were “serious issues”, but denied knowledge of them.

“He's not an independent statutory authority maker, he's an employee of the department, so those issues you will have to address with the relevant department,” she said.

“But this is the first I've heard of it.

“As I said I encourage our public servants to be frank and honest and say if they don't think something is right.”