Annastacia Palaszczuk admits Jackie Trad has ‘damaged’ her government but Treasurer won't be sacked

Annastacia Palaszczuk admits Jackie Trad has hurt her government, amid rising party unrest over the looming election.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Treasurer Jackie Trad.

High-profile Queensland Labor minister Kate Jones has emerged as a possible consensus candidate to replace embattled Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and boost the Labor government’s chances of winning the October election.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk admitted on Friday that Ms Trad’s integrity crises had “damaged” her government, as a split continued to widen in the Treasurer’s dominant Left faction over whether she needed to go to the backbench.

Ms Trad is digging in, will not quit cabinet, and is determined to deliver the April 28 budget, dismissing the leadership speculation as “gossip”.

But several Labor MPs and party insiders say factional numbers have shifted in the Labor caucus after the merger late last year of United Voice and the National Union of Workers created a super-union, the United Workers Union.

The UWU now has members across the Left and Ms Jones’s small Old Guard faction — which switched its ­allegiance from Ms Palaszczuk’s AWU-Right faction to Ms Trad’s Left faction five years ago.

Crucially, Ms Trad still has the support of UWU Queensland state secretary — and senior Labor and Left faction powerbroker — Gary Bullock, the former state secretary of United Voice.

“We have seen Jackie Trad and the Palaszczuk government stand up for workers and deliver more funding for schools, hospitals and the community,” Mr Bullock said.

“We can’t give the LNP another opportunity to cut, sack and sell in Queensland this year. That’s why we support Annastacia Palaszczuk as Premier, Jackie Trad as Deputy Premier and Treasurer, and the rest of the Labor team.”

It is understood to be unlikely that Ms Jones would move to challenge Ms Trad for the deputy leadership. But if Ms Trad decided to step aside, Ms Jones is firming as the likely replacement.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Treasurer Jackie Trad.

The public concern among government MPs over Ms Trad comes ahead of the March 28 by-election for the LNP-held seat of Currumbin. The poll is shaping as a major test of Labor and Deb Frecklington’s Liberal National Party.

The integrity crisis and Ms Palaszczuk’s failure to dump Ms Trad is being blamed for the dramatic fall in the Premier’s personal popularity in recent polls, which last week showed her satisfaction levels dropping from 46 per cent to 29 per cent. Ms Frecklington’s personal support also plummeted.

Health Minister and senior Left faction minister Steven Miles said the faction was firmly behind Ms Trad.

“I don’t think anyone could ever question my support for ­Jackie or the Left’s support for Jackie,” Mr Miles said.

Ms Jones, who defeated LNP premier Campbell Newman in 2015 to regain the seat of Ashgrove, did not return calls on Friday.

Ms Palaszczuk said she would not remove Ms Trad from cabinet, despite the damage she had caused, because the Treasurer was preparing the budget.

“I think everyone knows there has been damage to our government, there is no denying that, I am the first to admit it,” she said. “And I am quite sure Jackie admits it as well.”

Ms Trad, in Cairns to meet tourism industry leaders about the coronavirus, dismissed backbencher concerns and the reported defection of Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders from her Left faction as “gossip”.

“I’m here to talk about jobs in this very important region of Queensland, not to comment on gossip,” she said.