Former deputy premier Jackie Trad campaigning in her seat of South Brisbane before the 2020 state election,which she ultimately lost to now Greens MP Amy MacMahon.Credit:Tertius Pickard
But the first day of two weeks of hearings — covering the portfolio areas of Speaker Curtis Pitt,Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk,Treasurer Cameron Dick and Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe — has already revealed some new details.
Asked by opposition MP Andrew Powell about the costs ofongoing court action by former deputy premier Jackie Trad and public trustee Peter Carne to block the release of Crime and Corruption Commission reports,Laurie said parliament itself had also incurred some external legal fees.
Laurie said this was because the mattersinvolved elements of parliamentary privilege. “In relation to the Trad matter,the cost to date has been $14,218.75,” he said.
“In relation to the Carne matter ... our involvement was not only at the trial stage,but also at the appeal stage. Today,total expenses have totalled $13,875. But I note that there are outstanding invoices — I expect that to be an additional $10- to $15,000 or thereabouts.”
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The CCC itself has spentmore than $74,000 on external legal costs in the Trad case. Taxpayers are also likely to fund some or all of the former South Brisbane MP’s coststhrough the ministerial indemnity scheme.
Queensland’s acting Auditor-General,Karen Johnson,also confirmed that a formal investigation intothe Wellcamp quarantine project — built and owned by the Wagner Corporation — and government leasing arrangements had started,after the opposition wrote to the audit office in February.