Ten seats that count: Trad fights for survival in South Brisbane
Former deputy premier Jackie Trad is in the fight for her political life in her inner-city Brisbane seat, with the LNP directing their preferences to the Greens to unseat the controversial MP. Here are the issues that matter in South Brisbane.
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A BRIGHT Green billboard above busy Logan Road is calling on 84,000 passing motorists to “stop corruption” as former deputy premier Jackie Trad fights for her political survival in South Brisbane.
But the former deputy premier has labelled her political rivals “hypocrites” as she tries to hold the once-safe Labor seat in one of the most hard-fought battles this October.
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The Greens’ Amy MacMahon will go up against Ms Trad, bizarrely buoyed by LNP preferences after a hotly-contested decision by the conservatives to help their traditional political enemies topple the left-leaning Labor MP.
The Greens’ “Ban Corruption” campaign is railing against cash-for-access meetings and corporate donations and Ms MacMahon said the electorate was fed up with politics as usual.
“Both major parties are taking major corporate donations and cash for access,” Ms MacMahon said.
“Government are having to write new laws to criminalise the behaviour of its ministers.
“People are feeling fed up with the major parties, they’re feeling particularly fed up with Labor and what we’re hearing on the ground is that Labor politicians, including Jackie Trad, are all typical politicians.”
Ms Trad stepped down from Cabinet earlier this year during a Crime and Corruption Commission probe into the principal selection at the Inner City South State Secondary College that ultimately cleared her.
She was earlier cleared of corruption for not declaring a Woolloongabba investment home but new laws were recommended to prevent future corruption risks.
Ms Trad said she was still passionate about public life, but wouldn’t be drawn on whether she wanted to rejoin Cabinet if she was returned.
She said continuing political attacks from the LNP and others weren’t unexpected.
“The Greens are in this for political power,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s many people in Queensland who could say they’ve been referred to the CCC twice and have been cleared twice.”
She said the Greens political donations campaign was “outright hypocritical” when they had received the largest donation in Australian history – $1.6 million from Wotif founder Graeme Wood in 2010.
“Now, let’s be clear the Greens political party takes corporate donations,” Ms Trad said.
“They say they take donations from individuals but they’re individuals who own and run companies and corporations.
“I find it not just paradoxical, not just ironical but I find it outright hypocritical.”
Meanwhile, the economy and development are shaping up as key battleground topics in the electorate where nearly 10,000 workers are on JobKeeper.
Ms MacMahon said the Greens’ message for big business to fund the COVID recovery was “resonating”.
“We’re saying to these major corporations it’s time you pay your fair share so we can expand our health care system and make sure we are funding the essential services that Queenslanders need,” she said.
But Ms Trad said people understood “we’re all in this together” and the Greens’ “simplistic messaging just does not cut it”.
YOUNG VOTERS TURNING GREEN
THE margin on Brisbane’s most hotly contested seats could tighten further as young voters look left towards a candidate they can “count on”.
South Brisbane was a left-wing battleground in 2017 and history seems set to repeat itself in October as young voters, like West End resident Tamika Eastley, look towards the Greens in the search for a candidate who will “uphold their policies”.
“The Greens have the area’s interests at heart … and I’m hoping things come through if they get in,” Ms Eastley said.
It’s a sentiment shared by South Brisbane balloter Jess Berry who said: “I watch LNP and Labor change their talking points on what their policies are every year or every election cycle depending on where the wind is blowing.”
Ms Berry worries about job security and the economic ramifications of COVID-19 but wants to dedicate her vote to “uncompromising … long term policies”.
“For me it’s less about disagreeing that the focus is on COVID and more me worrying that things are falling by the wayside,” she said.
“Greens consistently talk about the environment, social justice issues … and looking after the less fortunate.”
“Because those policies are not popular opinion they’ll stick to it.”