Jackie Trad’s new CEO role unveiled

Former Queensland deputy premier Jackie Trad has been unveiled as boss of Australia’s largest renewables lobby in the former Labor minister’s most public-facing role since being defeated in the 2020 state election.

Trad, who served as Annastacia Palaszczuk’s deputy as well as state treasurer, was announced as the Clean Energy Council’s (CEC) chief executive to replace long-serving boss Kane Thornton in what the peak body described as a move that will “lead the organisation into its next chapter”.

The progressive former member for South Brisbane led the parliamentary Left faction in the former Labor government before resigning from cabinet five months before the 2020 election following revelations she was being investigated by the state’s corruption watchdog.

The CEC celebrated the appointment of Trad, whose experience in energy policy reform included establishing Queensland’s publicly owned clean energy company, CleanCo.

“After an exhaustive executive search, the board is pleased to announce Jackie’s appointment as the industry’s new CEO,” the body’s chair Ross Rolfe said.

“Jackie brings a wealth of experience in building consensus across a wide group of stakeholders and a deep understanding of policy development and design.”

After being defeated by one-term Greens’ MP Amy MacMahon in the 2020 election, Trad worked with class action law firm Slater and Gordon Lawyers and remains as a board director at alcohol harm advocacy group Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, according to LinkedIn.

Trad posted online Tuesday afternoon that the energy transition was at a “critical juncture”.

“Now more than ever, delivering substantive policy reform and impactful advocacy by working closely with local communities and governments is important and necessary to ensure that all Australians benefit from a successful energy and jobs transition,” she wrote.

“Drawing from my experience in government and across a diversity of policy and advocacy initiatives, I look forward to getting to know the CEC team, and working closely to support our members in getting on with the job of delivering this once-in-a-generation, nation-building agenda of energy and economic transformation.”

Trad’s appointment comes after Labor’s top Miles government public servant Mike Kaiser was appointed by the Albanese government as the boss of the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

The February release of a previously secret Crime and Corruption Commission report found Trad bullied the state’s top bureaucrat to have a confidante appointed as under treasurer.

The corruption watchdog decided not to pursue criminal charges but a damning report from 2021 was kept secret following legal action from Trad, which included a challenge in the High Court.

The report centres on the appointment of the under treasurer in 2019, and the failure to ensure a merit-based process as then-premier Palaszczuk had promised for Labor’s bureaucracy.

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