Jackie Trad intervened in Cross River Rail train station placing

Jackie Trad rejected official advice and ordered a Cross River Rail train station to be built in her electorate, documents show.

Former Queensland Treasurer Jackie Trad. Picture: David Kapernick

The Queensland government has been forced to defend its flagship infrastructure project after leaked documents showed its former boss, Jackie Trad, rejected official advice and ordered a Cross River Rail train station to be built in her electorate.

The design modification, which could cost $1bn, led to construction delays on the southern end of the project while the design was rectified.

Documents given the Liberal National Party by a “whistleblower” show the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority recommended to Ms Trad, who was overseeing the project, that a new, costlier station should be built at Dutton Park instead of refurbishing an old station there and another one at nearby Boggo Road.

They said the Boggo Road station would create engineering and safety problems.

The minister responsible for Cross River Rail, Kate Jones, told parliament on Tuesday the government had looked at the Dutton Park station option but rejected it because it did not connect with existing infrastructure.

“A whistleblower has exposed that the Labor government overruled expert engineering and safety advice about Cross River Rail in favour of the member for South Brisbane’s own plan for Dutton Park and Boggo Road stations,” Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said.

South Brisbane MP Ms Trad was removed from her role with the project last year after she was referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission over her failure to declare the purchase of an investment property at Woolloongabba, which would have grown in value because of the rail line. The CCC cleared her of wrongdoing, but it led to laws aimed at cracking down on MPs failing to disclose their interests.

Ms Jones told parliament the design of the CRR was the one that “delivered the best option for more commuters”.

“By delivering the new Boggo Road station, we will create a new interchange for travellers coming from both the Gold Coast and Cleveland lines, enabling them to connect directly to the new underground and new Cross River Rail stations,” she said.

“The government did examine the benefits and disadvantages of the proposed alternative, known as New Dutton station (but) decided against this option as we believed the modelling showed it did not deliver ultimately a better superior option for commuters.”