Jackie Trad at a loss on key conversations

Jackie Trad told the corruption watchdog she could not recall key conversations alleged to have happened during the school principal fiasco, in contrast to evidence from others.

JACKIE Trad told the corruption watchdog she could not recall key conversations alleged to have happened during the school principal fiasco, in contrast to evidence from others.

According to the Crime and Corruption Commission’s report, Education Queensland deputy director-general Jeff Hunt said he spoke to the then treasurer on April 8 – 10 days after she met with Tracey Cook, a principal candidate for Inner City South State Secondary College in Ms Trad’s South Brisbane electorate.

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Mr Hunt told the CCC “the Deputy Premier (Ms Trad) indicated her agreement with the proposal” to readvertise the position and gave him “an indication that she wasn’t filled with confidence” having met Ms Cook.

But Ms Trad could not recall whether she stated an opinion about Ms Cook’s suitability during the April 8 conversation, according to the CCC report.

She said her recollection was they talked about the March 29 meeting, and she had noted Ms Cook was nervous.

She did not recall Mr Hunt giving an opinion, either.

Tracey Cook

Jeff Hunt

“In my recollection it was the department has made a decision and they were just going through and doing their process, like it was a reflection on something that had been decided by others,” she told the CCC, according to its report.

University of Queensland vice-chancellor Peter Hoj claimed, according to the CCC, that Ms Trad phoned him to say a decision had been made to “go again”.

But Ms Trad said she could not recall phoning Mr Hoj to advise him of the decision to readvertise the principal decision.

She also had a different recollection of the March 29 meeting in question, saying the conversation was “very general”.

But Ms Cook told the CCC the general consensus from others in the meeting was that Ms Trad was in “a bit of a mood” and the candidate was subjected to a “grilling”.

Originally published as Jackie Trad at a loss on key conversations