The MP, Assistant Minister Ali King, has referred the photo to the ethics committee, accusing a “creepy” LNP member of invading her privacy.

Premier Steven Miles apologised to parliament on Tuesday after the October picture emerged of Ms King’s phone showing he had sent a text to the Pumicestone MP.

Mr Miles initially claimed in question time in February he had not sent the text while in parliament telling Ms King to address accusations she told constituents to send Queensland Health job applications to her office.

Mr Miles cited the photo before apologising on Tuesday, saying at the time he had answered to the best of his recollection.

“The text message was from six months prior, and I did not recall it at the time,” he said.

“I therefore wish to correct the record and apologise for the error.”

Deputy opposition leader Jarrod Bleijie said deliberately misleading the house was the most serious allegation that could be raised against an individual MP.

“The misleader would have us believe today that he is just as forgetful as Joe Biden,” Mr Bleijie said.

Ms King said on Tuesday she was appalled that a photo had been taken of her phone while the house was sitting.

The Nine Network on Monday night broadcast the photo indicating Mr Miles had sent a text to Ms King in October.

“Not once did I expect even a member of the LNP to leer over my shoulder and take nonconsensual photographs, then spread them around as click bait,” Ms King said.

“On behalf of my daughter and all women of Queensland who might ever aspire to public life, I’m offended. I’m troubled. I’m appalled.

“Shame on the LNP member who invaded my privacy in such a creepy way.”

Mr Miles described the photo as an “invasion of privacy of a woman at work”.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said it was “absolutely outrageous” that photos were taken of a woman at a workplace without their consent.

Shannon Fentiman
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman also spoke out against the photo being taken without consent. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)
“I wonder who it was that told them that they should get the voyeurs in their caucus to leer over the shoulders of women in this place and take photos of them without their consent,” she said.

Meanwhile, debate has begun on coercive control and affirmative consent laws.

The test for double jeopardy in Queensland is also set to be reformed under a bill before the parliament.

The laws, when passed, will introduce an affirmative model of consent and criminalise the tampering or removing of a condom without consent – called stealthing – to bring Queensland in line with other jurisdictions, barring the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

They will make coercive control, a form of abuse where perpetrators display a pattern of manipulative behaviour designed to intimidate and isolate the victim, an offence under law.

It will carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail when passed.

The LNP will support the laws, opposition attorney-general Tim Nicholls said, but will move one amendment to the Penalties and Sentences Act.

The LNP does not want provisions in sentencing guidelines included that refer to systemic disadvantage and intergenerational trauma if the offender is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

“We will be taking issue on this change as we believe it substantially impedes on the foundational principle of individual justice in our criminal justice system,” Mr Nicholls said.