Trad arrives home to calls for her to stand down amid integrity saga
Queenslanders have had their say on Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad’s future amid her continuing integrity crisis over a controversial house purchase – and they’re not happy.
QLD Politics
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QUEENSLANDERS overwhelmingly want Deputy Premier Jackie Trad to step down amid the integrity crisis surrounding the controversial purchase of an investment property along a new rail corridor.
Ms Trad returns to work this week to news of the public vote of no confidence after a week-long trade mission that failed to dampen questions over the Woolloongabba property.
The survey, commissioned by the LNP, found 74 per cent of Queenslanders want to see Ms Trad resign or be removed from the ministry as the Crime and Corruption Commission looks into issues around her failure to declare the home.
Jackie Trad’s investment property also in catchment of new school
State Government Minister Mark Bailey supports Jackie Trad
Second integrity cloud over Trad
The scandal involves Ms Trad’s purchase of a three-bedroom house near the proposed Boggo Rd train station being built in the Cross River Rail project which she has ministerial responsibility for.
MediaReach asked 1737 people across the state last Thursday whether they believed Ms Trad should remain as minister over the saga.
Three quarters of respondents said no, including the majority of Labor voters.
Just 16 per cent said she should stay and 9 per cent had no view.
North Queenslanders were the most unimpressed with Ms Trad, with almost 80 per cent telling her to go.
The Treasurer’s support was best in Far North Queensland, although an overwhelming 70 per cent of people still wanted her to go. One in five there backed her to stay.
Ms Trad has promised to sell the property but denied impropriety, saying the route for Cross River Rail had been public knowledge for years.
She also maintains plans for a new high school nearby, which will likely give an additional boost to property prices, were publicly known.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington yesterday repeated calls for Ms Trad to go.
“(Premier) Annastacia Palaszczuk needs to show some leadership and sack Jackie Trad,” she said.
“If Jackie Trad thinks that by spending a week swanning around London, Paris and New York is going to make this integrity crisis go away then she is wrong.”
But Education Minister Grace Grace said everyone should wait to see what the CCC found.
“I think we let the CCC do their job and once they do their job then obviously that is something to be considered at that point in time,” she said.
“But in my books, everyone is innocent until proven otherwise.”
CCC head Alan MacSporran has recused himself from the watchdog’s investigations following revelations Ms Trad had phoned him on a Sunday to have a private conversation a day before referring herself.
Mr MacSporran told Budget estimates hearings he didn’t feel compromised but would stand aside to ensure the reputation and transparency of the CCC.
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