Political Career
He was elected to the Queensland Parliament in October 1996 at a by-election for the seat of Lytton, vacated by former Deputy Premier Tom Burns.
Lucas was previously the Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning between September 2007 and March 2009. Lucas served as Minister for Transport and Main Roads between 2004 and 2007. Prior to that he was Minister for Innovation and Information Economy, with ministerial responsibility for Energy between 2001 and 2004.
Lucas was once under investigation for electoral malpractice in the Shepherdson Inquiry, but he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
While Lucas was Minister for Transport, he was issued a speeding ticket, which his driver paid for instead due to a mix-up. The incident attracted much negative attention from the media and the public.
There were calls for his resignation over the bungled rollout of a payroll system for Queensland Health workers in 2010. An online petition was started by the Queensland Public Sector Union as part of a campaign to force Lucas to resign after the Auditor-General released a report which heavily criticised the implementation of the new payroll system.
On 15 September 2011, Lucas announced he would step down as Deputy Premier the following day and would retire from the parliament at the next election.
Read more about this topic: Paul Lucas (politician)
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