LNP asks corruption watchdog to investigate GetUp! activist’s job

Queensland’s corruption watchdog will be asked to investigate the hiring of a GetUp! strategist for last year’s state election.

Queensland Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Development Jackie Trad. Picture: AAP

Queensland’s corruption watchdog will be asked to investigate the hiring by Deputy Premier Jackie Trad of a GetUp! strategist as a temporary adviser for last year’s state election.

The LNP said it would write to the Crime and Corruption Commission requesting an investigation into the appointment of Josh Genner as a senior political staffer just a day after Premier Anna­stacia Palaszczuk called the November 25 election.

Mr Genner’s contract, earning the Sydney-based activist about $2000 a week, ended the day before the poll, The Weekend Australian revealed.

Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington has accused Labor of breaching the ministerial code of conduct, set up following the Fitzgerald inquiry into police and political corruption, which says official resources should not be used for party-political purposes.

“The appointment of a GetUp! political director to a taxpayer- funded position to assist Labor in the 2017 election is a corruption risk,” Ms Frecklington said yesterday. “The LNP will request the CCC doesn’t just oversee but also runs the entire investigation.

“The Department of the Premier and Cabinet is conflicted on this matter given they have portfolio responsibility for ministerial staff.”

GetUp!’s anti-Adani campaign featured heavily in the election campaign, called on October 29, and the activist group announced it was calling 100,000 voters in marginal LNP seats to advocate for a first-preference vote for Labor or the Greens.

Mr Genner could not be contacted yesterday. His LinkedIn profile last week listed him as a political director at GetUp! from “2013 — present”.

The profile has since been changed to list him as a GetUp! ­director from “2013 — July 2017”.

A spokesman for Ms Pala­szczuk said Mr Genner had been “employed as a media adviser in the office of the Deputy Premier”.

His employment was “within the office budget and in accordance with the guidelines”, the spokesman said yesterday.

Ms Frecklington has called on Labor to refund taxpayers for the salary payments. “The Premier has been silent on this taxpayer-funded appointment but in the interests of openness and transparency she should support the CCC conducting this inquiry,” she said.

GetUp! said in a statement on August 13 that Joshua Genner did not work for GetUp! at the time of the Queensland election.