Jackie Trad lashes secrecy claims over house sale
Jackie Trad has rejected claims her refusal to provide details of the off-market sale of an investment property amounts to secrecy.
Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has rejected claims her refusal to provide details of the off-market sale of an investment property amounts to secrecy.
“Oh, for heavens sake! Talk about manufacturing a soap opera,” Ms Trad wrote on Facebook on Thursday after her office declined to give the details.
“The fact is the sale is not a secret, it’s just not complete. As is normal, conditions of a sale of contract have to be met and we’re waiting for that to happen.”
Ms Trad and husband Damien Van Brunschot’s family company, VBT Investments, bought the property at Woolloongabba in March. They paid $695,000 for the three-bedroom house and the contract settled in April.
Ms Trad failed to declare the purchase on her pecuniary interests register, despite it being in proximity to the her signature infrastructure project, the Cross River Rail. That sparked an investigation that led to her losing carriage of the project.
Ms Trad had promised to sell the property for the amount they paid for it — there was a prospect that it may have gained in value because of its proximity to the rail project — and this week she said the sale process was under way.
“When the sale is settled, the details will be made public,” she wrote on Facebook.
“This is what happens when any other house sells — this is no different.”
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington, who spent weeks demanding Ms Trad’s resignation, had earlier criticised her lack of transparency.
“It is obvious that this integrity crisis won’t go away until Jackie Trad, the Deputy Premier of Queensland, is open and honest with Queenslanders,” Ms Frecklington told the ABC.
In September, the Crime and Corruption Commission cleared Ms Trad of corruption and dishonesty but found she breached ministerial and cabinet rules.
The state’s Integrity Commissioner found Ms Trad should have declared the purchase and absented herself from a key cabinet committee decision on Cross River Rail.
Ms Trad, who is also Treasurer and a powerful Labor figure, conceded she had made “a mistake”.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised tougher rules to deal with such matters in the future.
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