Opinion: Jackie Trad caught in the middle as ALP tries to please city and regions on Adani

DEPUTY Premier Jackie Trad is at risk of becoming caught in the middle as Labor struggles to please both the regions and the southeast.

Jackie Trad campaigning in Highgate Hill where the Greens are fanning Adani flames. Picture: Annette Dew

STANDING in the middle of the road just doubles your chances of getting run over.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad is now at real risk of becoming a statistic of this truism.

Labor entered the 2017 election campaign with a fragile position on Adani’s Carmichael coalmine.

In May, ministers brawled over a royalty agreement for the Indian miner.

And, as The Courier-Mail revealed last week, Cabinet had decided to veto a Federal loan for Adani’s rail line until Treasurer Curtis Pitt went out and publicly supported it.

Clearly, there were irreconcilable divisions.

Amid the pressure of the campaign, Labor’s position came apart at the seams. The loan was vetoed. But the reason kept evolving.

First it was to clear Annastacia Palaszczuk of a conflict of interest, then to keep a prior promise and finally because it was popular. Amid the tumult, the Government has been at risk of losing support at both ends.

Today’s Courier Mail/Galaxy Poll shows Labor could lose South Brisbane.

Despite her high profile, Trad is struggling against the Greens who are fanning the anti-Adani flames. Trad may survive but would need LNP preferences.

Meanwhile, Labor is in trouble in Townsville, a city that sorely needs Adani.

Every lost regional electorate will have to be replaced by another in the southeast, if Labor is to secure a majority.

That remains a strong possibility given the LNP has 11 marginal southeast corner seats.

But the equation becomes harder if Labor can’t bank on seats like South Brisbane.

This struggle is a product, at least in part, of the Government’s vexed position on Adani.

It means one thing to voters in a certain part of Queensland and the opposite in the other.

Had Labor had a consistent position this might not be such a problem.

Instead, it is stranded in the middle and Trad could be among those who become political roadkill on November 25.

Originally published as Opinion: Jackie Trad caught in the middle as ALP tries to please city and regions on Adani