‘Unprofessional, unknowledgeable’ Bleijie slammed by Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman over Trad move

Jarrod Bleijie says he does not regret using parliamentary privilege to call for the release of a CCC report linked to Jackie Trad.

Opposition frontbencher Jarrod Bleijie says he does not regret using parliamentary privilege to call for the release of a corruption watchdog report linked to Jackie Trad he says is being stalled by court proceedings.

Mr Bleijie used parliamentary privilege on Tuesday to tell the House that Trad, the former treasurer, was trying to block the release of a CCC report concerning the appointment of former under treasurer Frankie Carroll with Supreme Court action.

During debate on an appropriation Bill, the Manager of Opposition Business said he would not be “bullied” as he raised questions around whether the government had funded any of Ms Trad’s legal bills regarding the Supreme Court action or in relation to CCC matters.

“I want to know how much has the Labor Government spent of taxpayer’s money to protect Jackie Trad,” he said.

Shadow Minister for Finance Jarrod Bleijie. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

“Can you believe, if it’s the case – and the Premier didn’t deny it this morning – that if the Labor Government have spent taxpayer money defending Trad to try to hide and block a report that should be in the public interest?”

“That is a disgrace and the Premier owes it to the people of Queensland now to say did Jackie Trad get the legal assistance and was it paid for by the taxpayer.”

Mr Bleijie said he had heard that Ms Trad had “lawyered up and (was) sending threatening documents to journalists in Queensland not to talk about the matter”.

“That is a disgrace and I will not be bullied by the Attorney-General this morning, coming in here this morning saying why did I raise these issues,” he said.

“I’m not going to be bullied by the Attorney-General for raising these important matters when someone runs off to a court to try and hide documents that should be in the public domain.”

He said he did not regret making his statement to parliament on Tuesday “because the only way we can let the transparency in this matter unfold is to let the sunlight in”.

Earlier, Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman slammed Mr Bleijie as the “most unprofessional and unknowledgeable person to hold the office of the attorney-general in the state’s history” following comments made on Tuesday.

Former deputy premier Jackie Trad was unseated at the 2020 election. Picture: Tara Croser

“Let me be clear, his comments, calling on the Premier to intervene and order a report be released prior to the decision of the Court, would absolutely amount to contempt if said outside this chamber,” Shannon Fentiman said.

Ms Fentiman said Standing Orders explicitly stated that MPs should exercise care to avoid saying anything in the House that would be regarded as a contempt of court outside the House and jeopardise court proceedings.

“As a legally-trained, former Attorney-General, he should know better than to call for a massive overreach of executive government,” she said.

Ms Fentiman said Mr Bleijie had the “audacity” to invoke the principles of Tony Fitzgerlad in calling for this interference.

“If the member had any regard for the legacy of the Fitzgerald inquiry, he would know that Tony Fitzgerald himself wrote in that inquiry the separation of judicial power from legislative and executive power is fundamental to the system of checks and balances designed to achieve a stable democracy,” she said.

“The distinction should not be blurred.”

Ms Fentiman said Mr Bleijie, in calling for the Premier to intervene in a matter before the court, had “failed to respect the most basic principle of our legal and political system”.

“It seems the member for Kawana, not content with already being universally scorned by the judiciary, is intent on securing his title as the most unprofessional and unknowledgable (sic) person to hold the office of Attorney-General in this state’s history,” she said.