Dr Bryce Edwards: Integrity Briefing: Why Erica Stanford’s Gmail use matters

It’s very difficult to hold power to account when they don’t keep proper records of what they are doing. That’s the essence of the problem when Cabinet Ministers like Erica Stanford “go off the grid” and use private communications channels like Gmail for their official government business. Whether intentionally or not, such politicians create “accountability holes” that prevent them from being fully scrutinised. Such sidestepping of the rules, which hides government activity from the public, is dangerous for democracy.