Jackie Trad escapes probe, says she’s still fit to serve

Queensland’s embattled Deputy Premier Jackie Trad admits she’s made a mistake after escaping watchdog probe.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Queensland’s embattled Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has apologised for breaking cabinet and ministerial rules, but says she is still fit to serve in cabinet after a finding she did not act corruptly or dishonestly.

However, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will strip Ms Trad of her responsibility for the state’s biggest infrastructure project after the corruption watchdog found she failed to declare an investment property. Ms Trad will still be acting premier from Sunday when Ms Palaszczuk goes overseas to meet with the International Olympics Committee about south-east Queensland’s 2032 Olympics bid.

“I have admitted that I have made a mistake, I’ve also publicly apologised for this and I wish to do so again,” Ms Trad said.

Deputy Premier @jackietrad apologises and says she has made a mistake #qldpol @australian pic.twitter.com/k8t8iUAAPv

— Sarah Elks (@sarahelks) September 6, 2019

“I want to apologise to the Premier, my colleagues, to my community, and to all Queenslanders. But most importantly, I also want to acknowledge this has also been a very difficult time for my family and I want to apologise to them as well.”

“I’m glad the CCC has found no evidence of dishonesty or corruption, but that doesn’t change the fact that I made a mistake.”

Ms Trad said she “absolutely accepts” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision to strip her of responsibility for the Cross River Rail and acknowledged that she had broken the ministerial and cabinet rules in two ways.

“The Premier has a right to expect the highest standards from all of her ministers, and on this occasion, I did not meet those standards,” she said.

The CCC today found there was no evidence of corrupt conduct by Ms Trad, but recommended new criminal sanctions be created to punish failures by Cabinet ministers to publicly declare financial interests and privately disclose conflicts of interest at Cabinet meetings.

In response, Ms Palaszczuk said she would permanently remove the Cross River Rail project from Ms Trad’s workload, handing the job to Tourism Minister Kate Jones.

And the Premier has said her chief of staff David Barbagallo - who is under assessment by the CCC for a separate matter - will resign.

“I have been just as frustrated as everyone else out there awaiting this decision, and yes, I believe this has had an impact on my government,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“The CCC has also made some other recommendations and today I tell Queenslanders I accept all of those recommendations.”

Speaking in Townsville, Ms Palaszczuk said she accepted the CCC’s findings that Ms Trad had not acted corruptly or dishonestly.

But she said Ms Trad would permanently lose responsibility for the Cross River Rail project, Queensland’s largest.

“Cross River Rail is the largest infrastructure project in Queensland, because she has breached the ministerial handbook, she will not have that responsibility,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

She said Tourism Industry Minister Kate Jones would take that responsibility.

Ms Palaszczuk also announced her chief of staff David Barbagallo had tendered his resignation. However, she insisted he had always intended to go in October.

“That by no means says he has done anything wrong,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

She said Mr Barbagallo wanted to leave last November, and she asked him to stay. She said he advised her in June that he wanted to leave in October, before the allegations emerged that the government bought $267,500 in shares in a company he co-owns.

The Crime and Corruption Commission has been assessing complaints against Ms Trad about an undeclared investment property for seven weeks and today released its verdict.

“Based on the information obtained and assessed by the CCC, no evidence or information was identified that supported a reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct as defined in section 15 of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001,” a CCC statement said.

“The jurisdiction of the CCC to investigate suspected corrupt conduct by elected officials is limited to circumstances where the alleged conduct would, if proved, amount to a criminal offence. The CCC’s assessment did not identify evidence or information suggesting a criminal offence had been committed.”

“The CCC will therefore not commence a corruption investigation.”

The decision means Ms Trad will not automatically step aside from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s cabinet and may not lose her roles of Deputy Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships.

However, Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday promised to take “action” if Ms Trad was found to have breached ministerial and cabinet rules.

Ms Trad and Ms Palaszczuk are expected to respond today.

The CCC has been considering allegations that Ms Trad’s husband — through their family trust — bought a $700,000 investment property in inner-Brisbane’s Woolloongabba on March 27. The three-bedroom house stands to rise in value thanks to its proximity to the planned Boggo Road station of Ms Trad’s signature infrastructure project, the $5.4bn Cross River Rail.

Ms Trad has denied any wrongdoing, but has previously apologised for failing to update her public pecuniary interest register to disclose the house until months later, when she was contacted by a journalist from The Courier-Mail.

It is alleged she breached ministerial and cabinet rules by failing to declare the purchase — and the potential conflict of interest — at a key Cabinet Budget Review Committee meeting on April 3.

A senior Queensland Labor source told The Australian that Ms Palaszczuk should have acted weeks ago to remove Ms Trad from cabinet and sack Ms Palaszczuk’s chief of staff David Barbagallo, who is also under an integrity cloud.

“Objectively, it’s irrelevant what the CCC decides,” the source said. “The Premier should have acted ages ago. It’s destroying her government.”

“Trad should have gone to the backbench and Barbagallo should have been punted. This is not a Labor government I recognise.”

Trad Timeline

March 27, 2019: Jackie Trad’s husband Damien Van Brunschot buys a three-bedroom Woolloongabba house for $695,500, through their family trust VBT Investments Pty Ltd

April 1, 2019: Ms Trad meet with the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority (CRRDA)

April 2, 2019: Ms Trad and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk meet with the CRRDA

April 3, 2019: Ms Trad attends Cabinet Budget Review Committee meeting where the government makes a decision about the final station locations for the Cross River Rail and who will build it

April 4, 2019: Ms Trad and Ms Palaszczuk announce the CRR building contractors

April 24, 2019: Mr Van Brunschot signs the mortgage documents for the Woolloongabba property

April 26, 2019: Settlement date for Woolloongabba property

May 1, 2019: Sale lodged with state titles office

July 18, 2019: The Courier-Mail reports that Ms Trad failed to declare on her pecuniary interest register the Woolloongabba house purchase. Opposition leader Deb Frecklington refers Ms Trad to the Crime and Corruption Commission

July 21, 2019: Ms Trad phones CCC chair Alan MacSporran on his mobile on a Sunday, to advise him she will be referring herself to the CCC over the investment property

July 22, 2019: Ms Trad issues a press release to say she is referring herself to the CCC

July 23, 2019: Ms Trad reveals at budget estimates that she rang Mr MacSporran on a Sunday

July 26, 2019: Mr MacSporran tells budget estimates his integrity was not compromised by the phone call, but confirms he will stand aside from assessing complaints against Ms Trad because of the perception

August 5, 2019: Ms Trad and Ms Palaszczuk say Ms Trad will stand aside from cabinet if the CCC launches a full investigation

September 6, 2019: CCC releases results of assessment