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BRISBANE - Former Queensland cabinet minister Merri Rose has pleaded guilty in a Brisbane court today to trying to blackmail Premier Peter Beattie into giving her a highly paid public service job.
Rose, 52, was charged in the District Court in Brisbane with one count of extortion, which involves demanding property, benefit, or performance of services with threats.
Asked by the court this morning how she would plead, Rose said: "Guilty."
Rose, a former tourism minister and Gold Coast MP, is expected to be sentenced later today.
It's alleged that on October 30 last year, only a month after the Beattie government's landslide election victory, Rose made the threats during a meeting in the Queen Street Mall in central Brisbane.
The premier referred the matter to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
Lawyers for the prosecution and defence have agreed to further details of the case being suppressed, or the court closed to the public.
But Chief Judge Patsy Wolfe has agreed to hear legal argument against the closure of the court from lawyers for Queensland Newspapers and the Nine Network.
The penalty for the offence is up to 14 years in jail.
The case continues.
- AAP
