TED Baillieu's brother-in-law had access to senior government bureaucrats and acted as a ''backroom'' agent for the mountain cattlemen as the Coalition controversially returned cattle to the Alpine National Park.

Documents obtained by The Age under freedom-of-information laws show the Premier's brother-in-law Graeme Stoney, a former Liberal MP and cattle grazier, was the behind-the-scenes middleman between the senior public servants running the alpine grazing trial and the cattleman families. He was also given government reports, maps and information before it was available to the public.

Graeme Stoney: 'I am my own man.' Credit:Rebecca Hallas

The extent of Mr Stoney's involvement is revealed for the first time in emails written by two senior Department of Sustainability and Environment managers. These show it was Mr Stoney, not Mountain Cattlemen's Association of Victoria president Mark Coleman, who organised the grazier families, helped with contracts, received department documents and notified the government when families returned their cattle to the park.

In one email, departmental manager Peter Appleford tells Mr Stoney ''all seems to be going well'' with the trial. In another, he thanks Mr Stoney for his ''assistance with this work'' and reminds him to call his mobile for further information. In other emails, Mr Stoney is sent departmental question-and-answer material used to address criticism of the trial. In another, Mr Stoney reports that a certain grazier ''put his cattle in to the designated area today''.