QLD election 2020: Greens on track to unseat Jackie Trad in South Brisbane
The Greens are celebrating polling showing they’re set to snatch South Brisbane from Labor’s Jackie Trad at the October 31 election, and retain a seat they won in 2017.
QLD Politics
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The Greens are on track to unseat former deputy premier Jackie Trad in South Brisbane and retain its current inner-city seat of Maiwar in coming election, according to polling commissioned by the minor party.
But Ms Trad has rejected the polling as a “political stunt”.
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Phone and SMS polling of 600 voters conducted over the past month by Lonergan places the Greens’s Amy MacMahon as the frontrunner with 36 per cent of first preference votes, ahead of Ms Trad on 30 per cent and the LNP’s Clem Grehan on 21 per cent in the South Brisbane battlefield seat.
In Maiwar, the LNP’s Lauren Day is on 37 per cent, Michael Berkman is on 36 per cent and Labor polled 17 per cent, which Greens strategists believe would see Mr Berkman keep the Greens seat on Labor preferences.
But in South Brisbane, preference flows have not been predicted, with the Greens unable to use flows from the 2017 election after the LNP this time decided to preference their Greens political enemies in a controversial move some conservatives worry will backfire.
“The Greens vote is typically over-represented in polls, so please treat the data cautiously, particularly with 10 per cent undecided,” a caveat for the South Brisbane poll reads.
But the party is hoping the results meant it could be on track to win a small bloc in the parliament for the first time in Queensland’s history.
Ms MacMahon said the polling “looks pretty good” and people were excited about Greens policies to increase taxes on big business to pay for the COVID recovery.
“We’ve reached thousands of people with hundreds of volunteers and we’ve already exceeded the number of conversations we’ve had in 2017 but the Greens message is just resonating so strongly,” she said.
Ms Trad said she didn’t comment on polls and Labor’s economic plan was resonating well.
“The Greens political party do this political stunt at every election,” she said.
“They’re obsessed with themselves and putting at risk our state’s economic recovery during a global economic downturn.”
Earlier polling is giving the party hope in McConnel, held by Labor Minister Grace Grace.
In that poll of 600 people, Ms Grace recorded a 29 per cent primary vote to Green’s candidate Kirsten Lovejoy (30 per cent primary) and the LNP’s Pinky Singh (31 per cent primary), although the pollster suggested the data be treated “cautiously”.