The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, says he has never sent a text message to his chief of staff that relates to government business.
Unlike the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, it appears Dutton is unlikely to have dallied with emojis. Roflcopters, lols and other LMAO also appear to be right out.
Guardian Australia requested access to Dutton’s text and imessages with his chief of staff between January and March 2015.
Under Australia’s freedom of information laws, any communication that is held by a minister or a government agency that relates to official business is generally accessible under the laws. The use of private messaging services for government business has been an increasingly common means of communicating for government ministers around the world.
But Dutton’s office denied the request on the grounds that no documents – which means no texts or messages – existed.
Alexander Dalgleish, the minister’s FOI decision-maker, wrote in his decision letter: “The office has undertaken reasonable searches in relation to your request. As a result of these attempts, I am satisfied that the minister and the chief of staff do not hold any documents within the scope of your request.
“As no documents have been identified within the possession of the office, the office has no records to produce.”
But questions remain over the accuracy of the response from the minister’s office. In September 2015, the head of the immigration department’s freedom of information unit strongly indicated Dutton’s chief of staff did text the minister relating to the minister’s duties after she spoke to Dutton’s current chief of staff.
The department’s chief FOI officer wrote in an email: “Minister Dutton has had two chiefs of staff during the period in question. The first has since left the office and their messages can no longer be accessed. The current has advised that work matters other than something such as ‘I’ll be there in 15 mins’ are not discussed by text.”
It is unclear why correspondence from the earlier chief of staff could not be retrieved from Dutton’s phone. The minister’s office did not respond to questions about whether there was indeed any correspondence between the minister and his chief of staff.
The use of private devices that are potentially out of reach of freedom of information laws in Australia and abroad has been an increasingly prominent theme across government.
In October it was revealed that the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had been using a private email server that contained some correspondence relating to official business.
Turnbull’s department said it would not release emails from his private email servers because it “does not have access to or provide administrative support” for personal email servers.
The use of private email servers by public officials had previously raised concerns after it was revealed that former United States secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, had been operating a private server. Many of her emails are now being periodically released.
