Queensland Deputy Premier accused of stacking ‘Labor mates’ in new appointments

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has been accused of stacking government boards with ‘Labor mates’.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad Ms Trad announced a raft of new appointments to Queensland government-owned energy, water, transport, financial and economic businesses. Picture: AAP

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has been accused of stacking government boards with “Labor mates,” after the appointments of former Rudd government treasurer Wayne Swan and a number of union and Labor-aligned figures.

Late on Friday, Ms Trad announced a raft of new appointments to Queensland government-owned energy, water, transport, financial and economic businesses.

Mr Swan, the current ALP president and former MP for the Brisbane seat of Lilley, is now a director of energy generator Stanwell in his first major public sector job since retiring ahead of the May election.

Former federal Labor candidate for the Northern Territory electorate of Solomon, Laurene Hull, was appointed to the board of the newly-created renewables company CleanCo, and Paul Venus, the Queensland managing partner of Labor-aligned law firm Holding Redlich, has also been appointed to the board of CleanCo.

In 2017, Mr Venus was appointed to a Metro South Hospital and Health Board.

Ms Trad said: “As we enter the new decade, having the best management of these businesses will help keep Queensland as the best state in which to live in the nation”.

Energy Minister Anthony Lynham said the new appointees brought “decades of invaluable public and private sector management knowledge and experience at the highest levels”.

Opposition deputy leader Tim Mander said it was “brazen political cronyism”.

“Appointing Labor mates to taxpayer-funded gigs doesn’t pass the pub test … Queenslanders can’t have confidence in the government when Labor ministers are more interested in taxpayer-funded jobs for their mates,” Mr Mander said.

The Opposition also criticised the appointment of Queensland Nurses Union secretary Beth Mohle to the QSuper board, ignoring the fact that Ms Mohle has been on the QSuper board since 2013, when she was appointed by the one-term Newman LNP government.

Don Luke will replace Karl Morris as chair of the QSuper board.

Ms Trad also reappointed Mark Algie to the board of Energy Queensland, despite controversy over his original appointment, which was the subject of an investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

It followed revelations by The Australian that Mr Algie did not formally apply for the job, and had instead relied on the Electrical Trades Union to champion him and send his CV to the private email of then Energy Minister Mark Bailey, a longtime member of the ETU.

The CCC probe found that the government’s process of picking candidates for its boards lacked “transparency and good governance” and ordered an overhaul.

The government’s purported overhaul this year of the process to pick board members was criticised by the CCC.

“The CCC also notes transparency and good governance could be further improved by removing the ability for cabinet to identify nominees or candidates that have not been through the nomination and due-diligence processes,’’ the statement said.