Jackie Trad tells critics: I’m not going anywhere

Jackie Trad has a message for the knockers: she would ‘love’ to serve again in a Labor ministry.

Jackie Trad, Queensland’s most talked about politician, in Brisbane’s West End. Picture: Claudia Baxter

Jackie Trad has a message for the knockers in and outside her party: Queensland’s former deputy premier would “love” to serve again in a Labor ministry and isn’t in politics to “just occupy a seat”.

A day after being referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission for the third time in a year, Ms Trad was in trademark form, accusing the opposition of running a vendetta against her and challenging critics within the ALP to put their names to what they say privately: that the government is better off with her on the sidelines.

Ms Trad, 48, is Queensland’s most talked about politician and, as she tells it, the most misunderstood. Opening up on why she quit as Annastacia Palaszczuk’s treasurer and 2IC over a separate integrity investigation by the CCC, she insisted she was a political pragmatist who supported coalmining, not the factional ideologue blamed for dragging the government left to save her inner-city seat of South Brisbane from the Greens.

On coalmining, she said: “Of course I support the industry and I support the workers in the industry … we have coal and mineral deposits and gas deposits in this state that are important to our state economy and important to workers right throughout the state.

“And I do not believe in shutting down industries. That’s what the Greens political party does.”

Answering the most asked question in Queensland politics – would she seek to be reinstated if Ms Palaszczuk led Labor to a third successive election victory on October 31, and she held off the Greens in her own seat? – Ms Trad said: “I would love to serve in whatever capacity I can … I have enormous capacity, I think that is well recognised.

“I am very happy to use that enormous capacity solely for the people of South Brisbane and ultimately it is in their hands whether or not I am returned to parliament and what I do in that respect.

“I am a person who loves public policy, loves the challenges of working through complex issues to find solutions for the benefit of people, solutions to help people … whether that is solely focused on my local community or as a statewide focus.”

Ms Trad accepts that the one-off decision by the LNP to preference the Greens ahead of Labor in South Brisbane has pitched her into the fight of her political life. The LNP’s preferences rescued her at the 2017 election when the contest came down to her and Greens candidate Amy MacMahon, who is standing again.

Analysis by this newspaper shows Ms Trad must lift her base vote from 36 per cent in 2017 to 38.2 per cent if LNP preferences split 60-40 to the Greens, a formidable ask. Had the conservatives preferenced the Greens over Labor last time, Ms MacMahon would have won with 51.5 per cent of their secondary votes.

Ms Trad said her resignation as deputy premier, treasurer and minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships on May 10, after the CCC launched an investigation into LNP allegations she had interfered in the appointment of a principal for the new $150m Inner City South State Secondary College, had the silver lining of freeing her up to concentrate on the seat.

She rejected as “pathetic” the LNP’s move on Thursday to refer to the CCC her appointment of former under-treasurer Frankie Carroll. “There is no doubt, absolutely no doubt, that the LNP is using the CCC as their political plaything,” she said.

Accusing the state opposition of obsessively targeting her, she said LNP supporters should ask why it was in the state’s interest to replace her with a Greens MP. “They are telling their people to entrust the economic recovery of Queensland to the Greens political party. Honestly, I find that quite extraordinary,” she said.

“On the one hand the LNP are talking about a 10-year (mining) royalty freeze and on the other hand they are preferencing the Greens … who want to increase royalties by 30 per cent … I think that is crazy.”

Ms Trad’s travails with the CCC started with her failure last year to declare a $695,000 investment property purchase in Woolloongabba within the footprint of the $5.4bn Cross River Rail development overseen by her at the time. She was cleared after an assessment of the conflict of interest claims by the agency.

On May 9 this year, having learned the CCC was formally investigating the appointment of the ICSSSC principal, Ms Trad announced she would stand down as deputy premier and from cabinet. But less than 24 hours later the Premier announced Ms Trad was resigning, opening the way for her portfolios to be reallocated and Left factional colleague Steven Miles to become Deputy Premier.

Did Ms Palaszczuk try to talk her out of it? “No,” Ms Trad said.

Was she pressured to go?

“I can say 100 per cent I was not urged to do it. When it became clear to me that there was an investigation, reflecting overnight I came to the conclusion that I needed to make a decision to protect my family and to make sure the government wasn’t distracted from the main game, which was managing the coronavirus.”

Did she regret quitting given the CCC ultimately concluded there was no evidence she had committed a criminal offence or was motivated by dishonest or corrupt intent – a finding that would have allowed for her reinstatement had she not resigned?

“I made the decision, I stand by the decision, I don’t regret the decision. Given everything that was happening … I don’t think we had the luxury of being distracted.”

While acknowledging that any recall to the ministry was in the hands of the voters of South Brisbane and her caucus colleagues should the government be returned, Ms Trad said her track record was to throw herself into whatever job she was given. “I didn’t enter politics to just occupy a seat. I want to achieve outcomes for people and if you look at my electorate, I am very grateful I am being given an opportunity to deliver some of the things locally we have talked about for many years.”

Asked what Ms Palaszczuk and her overhauled cabinet had missed since her departure, Ms Trad laughed: “A bit of flair.”