Queensland Parliament live blog: Trad no certainty to fill in as Premier
As the Opposition again focuses on State Government integrity issues during Question Time in north Queensland, Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has been challenged to repeat a comment she made about coal miners - "or does she only say those things in Brisbane".
DEPUTY Premier Jackie Trad has left open the possibility of not acting as premier if the corruption watchdog has not reported back on her by the end of the week.
REVISIT WHAT HAPPENED IN QUESTION TIME BELOW
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will leave for Switzerland and France on an Olympic bid on Saturday and has insisted she’ll leave her deputy in charge, as is convention, despite an integrity cloud over her.
Annastacia Palaszczuk sticks by decision to appoint deputy Jackie Trad as acting premier
Jackie Trad to stand in as premier despite property saga
Asked today if she would fill in, Ms Trad said the Premier had made her position clear.
“I also know that the chair of the CCC (Crime and Corruption Commission) gave evidence to the PCCC a couple of weeks ago,” she told reporters ahead of the opening of regional Parliament in Townsville.
“We’ll see what happens this week.”
CCC Chair Alan MacSporran has indicated his assessment would be complete this or next week.
Ms Trad was asked what would happen if the CCC decided to launch an investigation into her Woolloongabba property purchase and surrounding issues while she was in the top job.
“We’ll wait until we see what happens this week and we’ll deal with it when it happens,” she said.
Asked whether she might suggest to the Premier to choose someone else if the CCC still hadn’t finalised it’s assessment of her matter, she repeated: “We’ll wait until then.”
The Deputy Premier said there was “a void” on the public record regarding her side of the story and she looked forward to filling that after the CCC’s decision.
“I certainly will want to put my side of this whole saga, if I can put it this way,” she said.
“I think it’s important. It has attracted a lot of public commentary, fuelled by the LNP and I think it’s only important, and particularly for the sake of my family that I have an opportunity to tell my side of the story.”
Originally published as Queensland Parliament live blog: Trad no certainty to fill in as Premier
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