Face of Nation : Queensland’s most senior politician and her opponent are deadlocked in a battle over integrity. But their war of repeated words won’t be the decider in whether Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad keeps her job after her husband bought a house along the route of a railway project she was overseeing.
The premier’s refusal to be drawn further on the integrity scandal has been met with unrelenting pressure from Deb Frecklington and her Liberal National Party MPs. They have relentlessly called for Ms Trad to be dumped, while she herself has herself said she’ll step aside should an official probe be pursued.
Ms Palaszczuk has been labelled weak for not making a move, and Ms Trad accused of running from scrutiny when she left for an overseas trade mission soon after the purchase was revealed. She didn’t disclose the $695,500 Woolloongabba property to the right officials at the right time.
She also said her husband had told her about the property in a text message, and accepts she benefits from the trust involved in the purchase. As a courtesy, she then called the head of the CCC on a Sunday while he was putting together an IKEA bookcase to let him know she had referred herself to the anti-corruption body.
The matter has already been investigated by Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov because of its proximity to Cross River Rail, but Ms Trad won’t release the resulting advice.
