Qld election live results: Former deputy premier Jackie Trad loses to Greens’ Amy MacMahon

Jackie Trad’s career appears to be over after the Greens claimed victory in her South Brisbane electorate.

Former deputy premier Jackie Trad has been booted out of Queensland’s parliament after the Greens claimed victory in her inner-city seat in South Brisbane.

Ms Trad had been a formidable figure having also served as the state’s treasurer until she was forced to resign her ministerial duties amid a scandal earlier in the year.

But she will now forgo her position to Amy MacMahon, who has pocketed 38.5 per cent of the vote compared to Ms Trad’s 34.7 per cent and the LNP’s Clem Grehan’s 22.5 per cent, with more than half the votes counted.

Such a heavy loss was expected to be a major blip for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s battle to avoid a minority government but she has retained government for another four years, according to Sky News.

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Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk and Jackie Trad. Picture: Peter Wallis

The seat had traditionally been a Labor stronghold having only conceded two election losses since 1950.

But the Greens had been on the rise in this electorate in recent years as the inner-city region becomes increasingly populated by young and progressive constituents.

The result in South Brisbane is another sign of the surging popularity of the progressive party after a significant swing in the Brisbane council elections earlier in the year as well as the recent poll in the Australian Capital Territory.

Amy MacMahon has succeeded in her bid to represent South Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR TRAD

Ms Trad had been one of the most powerful figures in Queensland until earlier this year when she conceded her duties as deputy premier and treasurer in May.

She was investigated by the Crime and Corruption Commission over claims she had interfered with the recruitment of a principal at the Inner City South State Secondary College.

This came after being cleared by the CCC for failing to declare a $695,000 house in Woolloongabba, an inner-Brisbane suburb, following reports in The Courier-Mail.

The former powerbroker was abandoned by her party during the campaign, with Premier Palaszczuk promising voters her former deputy would not be invited back into cabinet.

Ms Trad had also featured heavily in the LNP’s anti-Labor campaign material, which has regularly referred to the South Brisbane member as “Dodgy Jackie”.

“Let’s just say she’s not a popular figure,” Griffith University political scientist Paul Williams told NCA NewsWire.

He said Ms Trad had also been a victim of the duality of Queensland political leadership, where the premier protects their own image by reserving appearances for positive news.

This leaves the deputy premier to do the tough and ugly work among the government’s leadership team.

“Jackie Trad was a very good head kicker but maybe too good, and that’s where some of the animosity began,” Dr Williams said.

“Some voters tell me they see her as an abrasive, combative figure, and that’s not always good.

“And then that was all compounded by integrity scandals. You put those two things together and it’s not a winning formula.”