Opinion: Watchdog’s ruling came not a moment too soon for Jackie Trad

The war might be over but the battle has just begun to rehabilitate the reputation of Jackie Trad and the Palaszczuk Government ahead of next year’s State Election, writes Sarah Vogler.

FRIDAY’s Crime and Corruption Commission ruling could not have come a moment too soon for Jackie Trad.

Any longer and the calls for her head, both internally and externally, would have become too loud to ignore.

The question now is whether that ruling has come too late to save both her and the Government on polling day in less than 14 months.

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That Ms Trad has survived after seven weeks of damaging questions over her integrity is no mean feat.

It is a testament to the power she wields and the loyalty she invokes among other influential players within the party.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad. Picture: AAP Image/Jono Searle

There are many within the party who would be willing to fall off a cliff with her if that is what it took.

Many who know — or hope — that she would take a bullet for them too. Many who know she already has.

But that loyalty was being tested.

Sure most expected she would be cleared of any corrupt conduct. But that finding was taking forever to materialise.

And every day the CCC took to make up its mind was just another day the Palaszczuk Government struggled for oxygen. Nothing was working to distract from the crisis. Not even her promise to stand aside should an investigation be launched.

Her political future was the talk of last month’s Labor conference and not just because of the CFMEU’s theatrics.

Many were questioning whether the ALP should continue to march behind Ms Trad as it heads into the next election.

They were weighing up the cost of saving her given her precarious position in her own South Brisbane seat against a rising Green vote and an LNP decision to preference her last on their how-to-vote cards in the electorate. They were wondering if the fire the Government was taking over Ms Trad was worth it given she could lose her seat and cost them power as well.

Was one person bigger than the Government if that person is Jackie Trad.

A week later The Courier-Mail/YouGov polling would reveal Labor was trailing the LNP for the first time since 2016.

Worse still was the hit the Premier — whom Labor considers to be their best electoral asset given her likability among voters — had taken in her own personal popularity.

It confirmed what many feared. The saga was resonating with the voting public. And they did not like it.

But they knew the only person who could really decide if Ms Trad should take one for the team was Ms Trad herself.

The Sunday Mail understands an approach was even made by someone close to her to discuss whether she was considering standing down, regardless of whether a CCC investigation was launched, if the saga continued much longer. But she held the line. And so did her supporters.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk Picture: Matt Taylor

Ms Trad was cleared on Friday of any dishonesty or corrupt conduct.

But she had breached the Cabinet and Ministerial handbooks and was stripped of responsibility Cross River Rail as punishment. She has apologised.

The next Minister to breach the cabinet and ministerial handbooks by failing to properly declare their interests will not be as lucky though with future breaches to carry a criminal sanction as recommended by the CCC.

The Cabinet will now lock in behind the Premier and her Deputy. At least publicly. They have to. Disunity in politics is death. The caucus though, well that is another story.

Sitting in that room are many MPs who were already eyeing the loss of their seats after Labor’s Federal Election loss in May.

Voters named the Palaszczuk Government’s handling of Adani as among the factors motivating them to swing their baseball bats at Labor.

They were also naming Jackie Trad. The caucus wanted action then. And they got it.

A decision was made on Adani. But the saga surrounding the Woolloongabba investment home has simply reopened the wound.

And that wound is not going to be closed any time soon. The introduction of new laws to criminalise handbook breaches will give the LNP a new platform to continue their attack.

The worry among the Labor ranks is whether there is enough effort to go around to rehabilitate the Deputy Premier’s reputation and to save other seats as well.