Poster girl’s fall a shock for the left of politics

Queensland's Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad announces she is standing aside from her ministerial role as the state's corruption.

Leaders of the left are supposed to be, indeed assumed to be, absolutely pure. They are above the grimy world inhabited by other politicians. They did not commit even original sin. That is why the spectacle of the Queensland Deputy Premier and Treasurer, Jackie Trad, standing aside amid a corruption scandal is such a shock. 

As the most powerful machine politician in Queensland, Trad was a figure to be reckoned with. She had clout and was not afraid to use it. Whether or not her rapid descent is permanent remains to be seen.

Trad’s tenure in the state parliament was in doubt, in any event. Like all inner-city electorates, her seat is swinging to the Greens. One day someone will come up with an explanation as to why supposedly well educated and intelligent voters in the suburbs, which are only a stone’s throw from the GPOs of our major cities, will vote for a party guaranteeing to send our country broke.

If Trad’s career is to be extended, another seat will have to be found for her. That, of course, is easier said than done.

If the proverbial bus claimed Palaszczuk any time soon, Trad would have to overcome Cameron Dick and he is a man on the rise while she is a woman unable to stop or slow her downhill trajectory.

Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: AAP

That Trad would voluntarily resign from her ministerial position is a considerable shock to me, as it is to Queensland Labor. She was the poster girl for the left and no one expected her to go this soon or in poor circumstances.

Right around Queensland there had been a sense that attempts were being made to undermine the Premier. That is why there will be some relief for many at Trad’s departure. Labor’s chances of winning an almost unimaginable third term rest entirely with the Premier, so many will treat Trad’s absence with glee.

Queensland is Australia’s most decentralised state. In places such as Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville there was never any great love for Trad. Inner-city lefties never travel well. What works in the inner cities may not be the answer in the burbs, let alone communities hundreds, even thousands, of kilometres away.

That is one of the reasons Palaszczuk has been so successful. She does travel well. And being friendly and open gives her another advantage — I have walked down the Strand in Townsville with her. It was a slow walk because she kept stopping to talk to virtually every person who walked past.

The “girl next door” image has served the Premier well. It is easy to play a role if the role is to be yourself. For Trad, the problem will be finding a way back, even if she is cleared. The legality of her actions is not the issue. What rancour’s the mob is that at best she was tricky, bordering on dodgy. The slate will not be wiped clean for her and the mob will not forget any time soon.