Paul Thomas Lucas (born 9 July 1962) is a former Australian politician who served as the

Attorney-General of Queensland The Attorney-General of Queensland is a ministry of the Government of Queensland with responsibility for the state's legal and justice system. The current Attorney-General of Queensland is Shannon Fentiman Shannon Maree Fentiman is an Aust ...

and Minister for

Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

and Special Minister of State in the Bligh Government and the Member for Lytton from 1996 until his retirement at the 2012 state election. Lucas was a solicitor prior to entering Parliament, and has a bachelor's degrees in Economics and in Law and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

Political career

Lucas was elected to the

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral st ...

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 A payroll is the list of employees of some company that is entitled to receive payments as well as other work benefits and the amounts that each should receive. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time worked or tasks pe ...

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.

Community affiliations

Lucas belongs to many community organisations, including the Wynnum Manly Leagues Club, and is a patron of organisations such as Bay FM, Wynnum Softball Association, Eastern districts Orchid Society Inc and the Aid and Recreational Association for the Disabled and Wynnum Table Tennis. He was also a founding member of the Bayside Community Legal Service. He has played an important role in environmental issues, in particular fighting for a buffer zone between residential areas of Wynnum North and the

Port of Brisbane Port of Brisbane is the shipping port and coastal suburb of the City of Brisbane, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. In the , Port of Brisbane had no residents living in the suburb. The port is the largest in the state of Queensland. ...

. He has also worked to ensure that the Wynnum Manly community has benefited from the economic development of the Port and the Australia TradeCoast area.Paul Lucas - State Member for Lytton
.

Personal life

On 20 January 2010, upon release from the

Mater Private Hospital The Mater Private Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Príobháideach an Mater) is a private hospital business. Its main hospital is located just to the east of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. In addition to the main hospital ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, Lucas admitted to having suffered an

epileptic seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...

but that he had returned to work and was "fighting fit", providing an example to the community that people with chronic medical conditions can participate fully in public life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Paul 1962 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian solicitors Deputy Premiers of Queensland People educated at Villanova College (Australia) Attorneys-General of Queensland Politicians from Brisbane Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians