Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has been lauded as "tough as steel" and the only person able to fix the state's chaotic rail network.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Friday delivered a glowing assessment of Ms Trad who must use, and abuse, her factional union allies to solve the rostering problems which have beset Queensland Rail.
"She is as tough as steel and I know that no one, no one will get in her way," she said.
Ms Trad, the transport minister in 2015, was returned to the role following a cabinet reshuffle on Friday which also saw Kate Jones revert to a previous role as Commonwealth Games minister.
Ms Palaszczuk's third cabinet shake-up was triggered by the resignation of Stirling Hinchliffe, after Monday's release of Phillip Strachan's 300-page independent report into QR's inefficiencies, recommending a top-down overhaul.
Ms Trad said QR's problems would not be fixed overnight, but she was committed to working with a restructured management and the rail union to implement Mr Strachan's 36 recommendations.
"I am determined to work as hard as I possibly can to turn things around for the people of southeast Queensland," she said.
Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls slammed the premier's decision to task the union-aligned Ms Trad with fixing QR and "bringing the unions to heel".
"It'll be like being slapped in the face with a wet lettuce leaf and it just won't happen," he said.
Mr Nicholls said if Ms Palaszczuk was serious about changes at QR, she should've taken on the portfolio herself.
But while he called on her to add the most challenging job in government to her duties as premier, the LNP leader also criticised the decision to weigh down Education and Tourism Minister Kate Jones with 2018 Games responsibilities.
"Is the only person Annastacia Palaszczuk can trust in her entire cabinet, Kate Jones?" he asked.
"It really shows that this government is in crisis."
Ms Jones' re-appointment comes just three months after Ms Palaszczuk resisted calls to strip Mr Hinchliffe of the Games portfolio so he could focus on QR's timetabling dramas, saying it wouldn't be a "good look" to swap ministers so close out from the event.
But Ms Palaszczuk had no issued with Ms Jones adding to her tourism, major events and education portfolios on Friday.
"I know the tourism sector has said that she's the best tourism minister they have seen in this state and from an education perspective, Kate Jones is not just the best education minister the state has ever seen, she's the best education minister that Australia has ever seen," she said.
Mark Furner, elevated to cabinet on Wednesday night, was given the local government portfolio from Ms Trad.
He also received the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Partnerships portfolio from Treasurer Curtis Pitt, who took back Ms Trad's trade responsibilities.
Mr Pitt handed the sports portfolio to Housing Minister Mick De Brenni, while Gladstone MP Glenn Butcher was appointed assistant minister for transport and infrastructure.
