LABOR’S OWN
LABOR’S woes in Queensland headlined by Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad’s Cross River Rail house at Woolloongabba will go a long way to helping hand the keys to government to the LNP on a silver platter at next year’s state election. The LNP might not win government as much as it is handed it courtesy of Ms Trad. It’s not just the Queensland Treasurer’s $700,000 doer-upperer that will play a huge role in the outcome of next year’s election; there are the other sideshows as well. One being the fact that a law firm where Ms Trad’s husband works has been the recipient of State Government work. And there is the peculiar matter of a $267,000 grant to a company part-owned by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s chief of staff, David Barbagallo. This grant was for the development of a phone app that would help cruise ship passengers disseminate selfies and photos of sunsets, cocktails and food, yes, on yet more silver platters, to their social media followers. This app is not exactly a cure for cancer and it won’t stop childhood asthma, but it will be a handy tool for those rolling around the ocean on a floating feedlot. The Government is insisting there is nothing to see here as the grant was above board, or should we say, above the water line.
Jackie Trad is the real sticking point when it comes to the Premier Palaszczuk holding on to government. Ms Trad is the smart one. The tough nut who swears like a truckie bogged to the axles in Kajabbi mud. She was the premier in waiting. Now, her political future hangs in the balance. Rooster one day … And let’s not forget Adani. Ms Trad was desperate to stop the Adani mine going ahead in order to appease left-leaning, anti-coal voters who will be holding her to account when she contests her inner-city seat of South Brisbane next year. She was determined to stop the mine even though the arguments about it damaging the Reef and contributing to global warming were, and remain, beat-ups worthy of a gold-plated Oscar. And did anyone care about Labor voters who would be left on the unemployment scrapheap if the mine didn’t go ahead? No. Did anyone care about the young school leavers pinning their hopes on getting an apprenticeship at the mine? No. Did anyone care about the opportunities for indigenous people Adani would be employing at the mine? No. The crowd, supposedly alert to injustice at every level, was busy pushing the case of the black-throated finches.
It came down to the blackthroated finch. Will anyone ever forget the black-throated finch? Ms Trad’s government let the finch hold sway. The little bird, oblivious to the kerfuffle it was causing as it flittered from grass stem to grass stem, happily munching away on seeds, would have stopped the mine proceeding if not for the shock May 18 election when Queensland voters let the ALP know it saw through its anti-mine, anti-regional development agenda. Labor lost the unlosable election. When the blame game started, Ms Trad and her colleagues received a tap on the shoulder from the Labor bosses. Whoa. The Queensland Labor push had only itself to blame.
And now we learn that the State Government sat by and did nothing while remnant koala habitat was destroyed for housing development at Ipswich. Ipswich. Say no more. Don’t even mention Paul Pisasale. If Ned Kelly, Jesse James and Billy the Kid were ever going to ride again, they’d probably base themselves at Ipswich. The point is, the Federal Government allowed the housing development to go ahead even though koalas – threatened with extinction - would inevitably die in the process. Ms Trad and her government were using the blackthroated finch to signal their environmental virtue while at the same time ignoring what was happening to koalas in their own back yard. Hypocrisy? Say no more.
Seat dilemma for Cox
WILL any of this impact negatively on Townsville’s three Labor reps next year? In all likelihood, no.
Ms Trad’s Cross River Rail house will probably have less an impact in Townsville than her government’s failure to support Adani and to bolster the regions.
The Townsville ALP triumvirate toed the state party line and did nothing. In doing so they