Curtis Pitt refers Jackie Trad to Ethics Committee over Cross River Rail property

Treasurer Jackie Trad is under renewed pressure to resign from Cabinet as the scandal over her investment property refuses to go away.

TREASURER Jackie Trad was last night under renewed pressure to resign from Cabinet over her house scandal, after a behind-the-scenes tit-for-tat with Speaker Curtis Pitt sparked her referral to Parliament’s powerful Ethics Committee.

Mr Pitt lambasted Ms Trad in a scathing 12-page letter tabled in Parliament late yesterday in which he criticised her for repeatedly failing to apologise for not properly declaring her property purchase.

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The Courier-Mail revealed in July that Ms Trad had failed to declare a three-bedroom Woolloongabba home she and her husband purchased near the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail project which she managed.

The revelation sparked the most damaging scandal to hit the Palaszczuk Government since it was elected in 2015, and prompted widespread internal calls within the Labor Party for Ms Trad to quit.

A long-running Crime and Corruption Commission inquiry found Ms Trad’s actions were not criminal but should be, with the watchdog recommending a new offence for ministerial disclosure failures.

Ms Trad was later stripped of responsibility for the Cross River Rail project. In his ruling, Mr Pitt revealed the CCC had written to him in September seeking an Ethics Committee investigation, and his hand had been forced because of Ms Trad’s failure to say sorry in Parliament and refusal to provide him with relevant material to explain her position.

“Had the Deputy Premier made an apology in the House, similar to the one she made outside the House on 6 September 2019, I would have been comfortable in ruling that an adequate apology has been made and the matter does not warrant the further attention of the House,” he says in the letter tabled to Parliament.

“However, in the absence of such an apology in the House, I cannot so rule.”

Mr Pitt’s referral centres on Ms Trad’s failure to declare the property within a month as required and a little-known rule introduced in the wake of the 1990s Netbet Affair under which MPs must disclose conflicts when corresponding with other members.

The Speaker revealed Ms Trad claimed in correspondence with him to have legal advice which absolved her of the conflicts of interest identified by Queensland’s Integrity Commissioner but was refusing to provide him a copy.

“It is impossible for me to rule on the adequacy of such an explanation when I have not been provided with the full material including the legal advice that is the purported basis of her explanation,” he wrote.

Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the Speaker’s actions were “unprecedented” and Ms Trad should be sacked.

“This has never happened before in Queensland politics and shows how deep the integrity crisis goes in the Palaszczuk Government,” she said. “It is now another test of leadership for the Premier, she must finally act and sack … Jackie Trad.”