Border Force: Emails emerge over Roman Quaedvlieg tweet

Suspended and on leave: Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg

The Australian Border Force’s social media team denied ‘liking’ a pornographic Twitter post on the commissioner’s account, official emails have revealed. 

The government agency was gripped by scandal after the official account for commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg ‘liked’ a video of a woman performing a sex act earlier this year.

Mr Quaedvlieg was suspended from his $731,000-a-year position for an unrelated matter at the time of the ‘like’.

He denied responsibility for the tweet – and emails released under Freedom of Information Laws revealed the department’s social media team had also insisted they didn’t do it. 

‘Social has confirmed that they have never liked anything from the Commissioners (sic) account,’ a media operations staffer wrote in an email on September 20. 

Controversial 'like': Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg's official Twitter account 'liked' this pornographic tweet at some point after July 15 this year

Controversial ‘like’: Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg’s official Twitter account ‘liked’ this pornographic tweet at some point after July 15 this year

A media staffer compared the porn 'like' to US Senator Ted Cruz - who blamed a staffer for 'liking' an explicit clip 

A media staffer compared the porn ‘like’ to US Senator Ted Cruz – who blamed a staffer for ‘liking’ an explicit clip 

The commissioner's chief of staff urged media staff to get a response to media inquiries sorted quickly

The commissioner’s chief of staff urged media staff to get a response to media inquiries sorted quickly

The same media staffer compared the incident to United States Senator Ted Cruz, whose account ‘liked’ a hardcore porn video just weeks before.

The 16 emails released to Daily Mail Australia also show how the Border Force scrambled to get ahead of the social media storm.

Within minutes of a media inquiry, the commissioner’s chief of staff told media staff: ‘Can we get our response sorted quickly please’. 

A series of emails with proposed responses were sent to Cheryl-Anne Moy, the department’s First Assistant Secretary, for approval.

One staffer announced she had ‘JUST CLEARED’ a proposed response which said the Twitter post had been removed and the associated account blocked.   

Mr Quaedvlieg, the inaugural Australian Border Force commissioner, was installed in July 2015

Mr Quaedvlieg, the inaugural Australian Border Force commissioner, was installed in July 2015

 He has been suspended from his position while under investigation by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity

 He has been suspended from his position while under investigation by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity

Mr Quaedvlieg is understood to remain suspended on paid leave, close to six months after it was revealed he was under an official investigation. 

That investigation relates to allegations he acted inappropriately in a matter involving his girlfriend getting a job at Sydney Airport. He denies any impropriety. 

The Department last confirmed Mr Quaedvlieg was still suspended in late October, when officials confirmed they were still investigating at an Estimates hearing. 

The ‘liked’ tweet featured the crude caption, ‘I think your c**k likes me’. The account that posted it, Lady Mystique, described itself as ‘sinsational’.  

The Twitter accounts of Cabinet ministers Christopher Pyne and Greg Hunt have both ‘liked’ pornographic tweets in the second half of this year.

Both claimed they had been hacked.  



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk