Jackie Trad in second potential conflict over husband’s law firm

As Treasurer Jackie Trad jets out of Queensland on a trade mission, a second potential integrity crisis threatens to engulf her.

BESIEGED Treasurer Jackie Trad has been accused of failing to declare that a state energy company for which she is responsible employs a law firm in which she and her husband have a major financial stake.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the Brisbane branch of law firm DWF, in which Ms Trad’s husband is a principal lawyer, has been on a panel of legal practices used by CS Energy for the past three years.

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However Ms Trad has not listed the potential conflict of interest on State’s Parliament’s register of members’ interests, sparking a fresh integrity crisis for the powerful Left faction leader.

Ms Trad lists herself as a beneficiary in VB Practice Trust, a partner of DWF Australia. She has also listed two of the law firm’s State Government clients, WorkCover Queensland and Queensland Health.

Treasurer Jackie Trad departs Brisbane on a trade mission yesterday. Picture: Richard Waugh/AAP

However her declaration does not include the firm’s work for CS Energy, despite it being appointed to the energy generation company’s panel of legal practices in July 2016 when it was previously known as Kaden Boris Brisbane.

Ms Trad was appointed Treasurer in late 2017, which made her a shareholding minister of CS Energy and gave her significant sway over the energy company’s operations.

DWF was chosen to be part of the CS Energy panel for its well-known expertise in worker’s compensation, occupational health and safety and employment law.

Ms Trad’s spokesman yesterday strongly denied the Treasurer should have declared CS Energy as a client of the firm, because her husband did not work on that account.

“The Deputy Premier’s husband’s team works directly with the organisations identified in the declaration,” she said.

“Decisions around engaging legal contractors are made at an operational level and are not subject to ministerial involvement.”

Shadow treasurer Tim Mander renewed calls for Ms Trad’s sacking, saying she had lost all integrity.

The revelation will envelop Ms Trad in a new integrity scandal as she tours London, Paris and New York over the next week as part of a trip to sell Queensland as an investment destination. She already faces multiple investigations over her family’s purchase of a $700,000 Woolloongabba property along the corridor chosen by the Government for the $7 billion Cross River Rail project, and her failure to declare the investment.