Jackie Trad to be referred to CCC over appointment of school principal in her electorate

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad will be referred to the Queensland’s corruption watchdog again, after allegations she interfered in the independent appointment of a school principal in her electorate.

DEPUTY Premier Jackie Trad will be referred to the Queensland’s corruption watchdog again, after allegations she interfered in the independent appointment of a school principal in her electorate.

Ms Trad has denied she had anything to do with the dumping of Tracey Cook - who had earlier been chosen to head the new City South State Secondary College in Ms Trad’s South Brisbane seat - following a meeting she had with her.

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She said Ms Cook was instead dumped and the position readvertised after the size of the school expanded, which required an executive principal to be chosen.

“I have been advised by the Director-General that the woman in question was appointed by a panel but the director-general of education changed his view about the role and it was upgraded because of the size of the school,” she told Parliament.

“Let me make that very clear.”

She revealed she had attended two meetings regarding the school’s principal, after the Opposition questioned her over her initial meeting with Ms Cook.

“I have never interfered in a recruitment process, and particularly in relation to this one,” she said.

Ms Trad has denied she had anything to do with the dumping of Tracey Cook, who had earlier been chosen to head the new City South State Secondary College in Ms Trad’s South Brisbane seat. Picture: AAP Image/Glenn Hunt

She said she met with Ms Cook at the request of the Department of Education and then attended a follow-up meeting with the other candidate, again at the request of the department.

“The director-general made the decision to change the level of principal to executive principal because further land had been acquired in the build and the school was going to be bigger,” she said.

But Opposition education spokesman Jarrod Bleije said he would today refer the matter to the Crime and Corruption Commission, questioning what reason a local MP could have to meet with a candidate.

“It is highly inappropriate for the Deputy Premier to be involving herself in the selection of a local school principal,” he said.

“It jeopardises the independence of the independent selection panel.”

Mr Bleije called for an investigation into the process of the appointment following an anonymous complaint sent to the Opposition.

“I’ll be referring this matter to the CCC for assessment and Queenslanders must have confidence that their local school principals are appointed without political interference,” he said.

The CCC earlier this year probed Ms Trad’s failure to declare the purchase of a Woolloongabba property and found in September that while her actions were not criminal, they should be.

New laws that will see ministers face up to two years behind bars if they’re found to have intentionally failed to disclose a conflict of interest or update their register of interests in time were due to be introduced in Parliament this week.