Left right out: faction forced Queensland Treasurer Jackie Trad’s resignation

Jackie Trad’s about-face in quitting cabinet is understood to have followed angst among Labor’s marginal-seat MPs.

Former Queensland deputy premier and treasurer Jackie Trad. Picture: AAP

Annastacia Palaszczuk has been forced to install a new treasurer five months out from the Queensland election and at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, after Treasurer and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad quit cabinet amid internal pressure over her corruption scandal.

After refusing on Saturday to resign from cabinet — offering only to stand down until the completion of a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into claims she interfered in the ­recruitment of a school principal in her electorate — it was announced on Sunday Ms Trad had quit the frontbench.

The move sparked the first major reshuffle of the Palaszczuk ministry since the Premier was re-elected in 2017, with the elevation of one-time Labor leadership ­aspirant Cameron Dick to steer Queensland’s post-COVID-19 economic road to recovery as treasurer. Ms Trad’s sudden 24-hour about-face in quitting cabinet is understood to have followed growing angst among Labor’s marginal-seat MPs across regional Queensland, and the withdrawal of support by United Workers Union boss and Left faction convener Gary Bullock.

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Several sources said the union powerbroker, who has 18 Labor MPs linked to his union, ­addressed a phone hook-up of the dominant Left faction — headed by Ms Trad — over the weekend that led to her decision to resign. Ms Trad, who faces a difficult battle to hold onto her inner-city seat of South Brisbane against the Greens, is set to be re-endorsed to contest the October 31 election along with her fellow MPs at a meeting of Labor’s administrative committee late on Monday.

In announcing Ms Trad’s resignation and the cabinet reshuffle — which included the elevation of Health Minister Steven Miles, a senior member of the Left faction, to deputy premier — Ms Palaszczuk repeatedly insisted the changes were “permanent” ahead of the poll. Ms Palaszczuk said she supported Ms Trad’s endorsement to stand again, but would not answer questions about whether she would be welcomed back to cabinet if Labor won the next election and Ms Trad held her seat.

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“I am not commenting on ­hypotheticals,’’ she said. Ms Palaszczuk said she had “acted swiftly and decisively” after Ms Trad relinquished her roles. “She did not want there to be any distractions for the government as we ­respond to the CVOID crisis,” the Premier said.

“I want to reassure Queenslanders that these are permanent appointments. Queenslanders expect myself and my team to deal with the health and economic ­crisis that we have before us and that is absolutely my intention.’’

The reshuffle involved Mr Dick, a member of Ms Palaszczuk’s Right faction, shifting from the state development portfolio to treasurer and the promotion of Tourism Minister Kate Jones by adding state development to her responsibilities.

Assistant minister Glenn Butcher was also elevated to cabinet as minister for regional development and Craig Crawford, the Minister for Fire and Emergency Services taking on Ms Trad’s ­responsibilities as indigenous minister.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at Parliament House in Brisbane on Sunday. Picture: AAP

On Saturday, Ms Trad said she had been informed by the CCC on Friday that an assessment of a Liberal National Party complaint about an alleged interference in the selection of the school principal had become an official investigation. Ms Trad has denied any wrongdoing. “It will provide me with an opportunity to set the ­record straight on this matter,’’ Ms Trad said on Saturday.

“Let me be clear — no applicant to the principal position was known to me in any capacity, personal, political or professional.’’

Ms Palasczcuk said Ms Trad’s decision to resign was based on the best interests of her family, the community and the party.

But Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said Ms Trad should have been sacked six months ago, after she faced her first probe by the CCC. The CCC assessed Ms Trad’s failure to properly declare the purchase of a $695,500 home in Woolloongabba, near the Cross River Rail project she was overseeing at the time.

The watchdog found no evidence to support a reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct, but it did push for changes to the way conflicts are dealt with and the introduction of criminal penalties.

“If the Premier had acted swiftly, as she now claims, she would have sacked Ms Trad from the cabinet last year,’’ Ms Frecklington said. “Annastacia Palaszczuk leads a government that is riddled with integrity issues, and it starts at the top.’’

Mr Dick said he wasn’t daunted by the new role in leading Queensland out of the coronavirus crisis. “Central to my vision as Queensland’s treasurer will be putting Queensland back to work,” he said.