George St Beat: Spin doctor brought in to remedy Trad malady

The Queensland Premier has called in the cavalry in a bid to get the State Government’s message back on track after the Jackie Trad integrity fiasco. State Political Editor Steven Wardill takes you behind the corridors of power.

ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk has called in the cavalry.

Out of the wilds of Tasmanian politics has re-emerged spin doctor Chris Taylor, who was at the Premier’s side for Labor’s brief stint in opposition and during those heady early days when she surprised everyone by regaining government.

Taylor once plied an honourable trade as a scribe at The Sunday Mail but now has the challenge of getting the State Government’s message (something about jobs apparently) back on track after the Jackie Trad integrity fiasco.

Jackie Trad at the ALPQ State Conference. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

His hiring comes hot on the heels of Labor’s master of the dark arts, Brendan Strong, reclaiming a desk in 1 William St after a stint with Bill Shorten.

FIGHTING WORDS

MEANWHILE, Pine Rivers MP Nikki Boyd is giving the impression she’s convinced that the Labor brand can’t be cleaned up by October 2020.

Supplied image of Nikki Boyd on a poster on the side of a truck.

Here’s a picture (above) of Nikki festooned on the side of a truck outside her electorate office in which the new mum declares she’ll “fight for us”. It has been noted that the self-authorised promotion doesn’t include Labor branding or a picture of Palaszczuk.

Maybe it’s got something to do with the vagaries of electorate allowance rules. But Boyd’s truck is a curious play for an MP on a rather safe margin of 6.2 per cent.

GENERATING CONCERN

THE energy sector’s collective eyebrows have been raised over the latest incarnation of the Palaszczuk Government’s renewables policy.

New State-owned power generator, CleanCo, headed by Oxford scholar Maia Schweizer, has taken over responsibility for Renewables400, the Government’s much-delayed clean energy reverse auction.

It’s a curious arrangement given CleanCo will decide which of the 10 short-listed proposals will be backed while having a mandate to develop its own new generation to compete with them. Proponents aren’t impressed.

SIGN OF HIS TIMES

AUGUSTINE Tso left his eponymous restaurant unhappily some time back after being booted out so work could begin on the new Queen’s Wharf casino precinct. It was a bitter end for a man who for a generation served prime ministers, premiers and the top end of town made worse by a nasty fall at the premises in the final days.

Augustine Tso and Ian Walker.

Amid a hasty exit, Augustine’s gilded brass plaque was left behind.

Ex-Newman government MP Ian Walker noticed it still adorned the building recently so contacted Dave Edwards (Sir Llew’s son), who is in charge of the project, and retrieved the sign. Walker presented the sign to Augustine at a lunch they had at the Powerhouse’s Bar Alto this week.

SELL, SELL, CELLAR

IT seems the Brisbane Club has found a new way to raise cash. Talk of the Town has been told it has been quietly selling treasures from its underground wine cellar, considered one of the best in Australia.

We’re told there has been much interest in 20-year-old Bordeaux that have reached their peak. Please don’t go knocking on the door. The sale is to members only.