Minister Mark Bailey has played down revelations he emailed a union boss "loose lips sink ships" from a private email account.
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Mr Bailey was under fire in 2017 for his use of his mangocube6@yahoo.co.uk private email address in 2017, which he deleted, following reports the then-energy minister was contacted on the account by then-Electrical Trades Union state secretary Peter Simpson.
However, the Crime and Corruption Commission confirmed it would not prosecute Mr Bailey for his use of the email account and deletion of public records because they were able to be recovered.
After a Right to Information request, The Australian has reported Mr Bailey and union bosses used the email account to discuss industrial relations matters, including a pay dispute with Energex.
In response to an email from Mr Simpson that an Energy employee had alleged the ETU had "paid off" Mr Bailey, he replied: "loose lips sink ships".
Mr Bailey also forwarded a CV, sent to him by Mr Simpson, to his chief of staff.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr Bailey denied misleading the Parliament last year when he said it was a "private email account that I used for private purposes".
"Of course not, certainly not," he said.
"This matter's been looked at thoroughly by the independent watchdog who looked into this matter, I've fully cooperated with that investigation, they found no issue with the content of my private email account in July last year.
"This is an old matter that has been well and truly dealt with by the independent watchdog."
Mr Bailey said any engagement of his office with Energex was to make sure government policy was being implemented.
"The specifics of the agreement of course was a matter for the parties themselves," he said.
"When people make submissions, engage in lobbying, that's a matter for them, when they choose to do that, I don't have any control over that whatsoever."
Mr Bailey did not explain what he meant by "loose lips sink ships".
"I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of specific emails. They've all been looked at by the CCC, the CCC has no issue to identify in terms of the content," he said.
Mr Bailey would not reveal whose CV Mr Simpson sent him, or whether that person was given a job.
"I'm not going to get into individual emails," he said.
"You can imagine how many emails does any person get on any one day."
