"I've made those views very clear to the director-general ... in very harsh terms," she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said Dave Stewart's wife Pauline Bourke, working for a PR company, of which she recently became a director, was awarded contracts by the current government and former LNP government, but none for her husband's department.

"I personally was not aware that her company was receiving contracts, he [Mr Stewart] has assured me that he has sought the integrity commissioner's advice every step along the way," she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said the senior bureaucrat listed his wife's position and role on his pecuniary interests register.

"I was not personally advised that in her capacity working for that company she was receiving state government contracts," she said.

Mr Stewart had been directed by the CCC to work with the State Archivist to review more than 30,000 emails from a private account held by Energy Minister Mark Bailey.

Mr Bailey was under fire for deleting a private email account via which he was contacted by a union official. He has since reactivated the account.

Mr Stewart and the State Archivist were directed to determine if any of Mr Bailey's emails constituted a public record, and if so, whether the records were dealt with correctly.

On Tuesday morning, it was revealed Mr Stewart had referred himself to the CCC over allegations raised in a blog about government contracts awarded to his wife's business over several years.

Mr Stewart advised he would stand aside from the investigation into Mr Bailey's emails, pending the CCC's investigation into his self-referral.

Ms Palaszczuk said Mr Stewart was still doing his job as the director-general of the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

She said there were a lot of inferences and accusations in the blog, published this week by Archie Butterfly.

"He is quite upset by it and he has done the right thing by self-referring," she said.

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