By-elections bombshell as state election looms
QUEENSLAND'S political leaders are set to square off within weeks in one - and perhaps two - bruising by-elections.
Despite the state election set for October 31, LNP stalwart Jann Stuckey has revealed she will quit next week as the member for Currumbin.
Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller is meanwhile considering running in March for Ipswich mayor.
Ms Stuckey issued a statement last night saying she had made a heart-wrenching decision to resign because of "ongoing ill-health".
The MP referred to the "black cloud" that's "swamped me over and over again".
"I am unable to give the electorate that I love so dearly the attention and energy that I have provided for the past 16 years and hope everyone will understand how difficult it has been to make this final choice," she said.
"The past 12 months have been a real struggle for me and I deeply resent insensitive reporting I am fed up and or I am spitting the dummy - I am unwell and have been for some time.
"I have always empathised with people who suffer from depression - you read about it often - and from far nobler careers than politics - I thought it would never happen to me but it got me and it's been overwhelming".
Ms Stuckey has held Currumbin since 2004. The LNP currently hold the seat by a margin of 3.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, there is speculation maverick Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller is considering a tilt for Ipswich mayor.
Ms Miller would have to quit as an MP, potentially reducing the Government's already slim majority and sparking a tight race for her Bundamba seat between Labor and One Nation.
Mrs Miller's possible defection to local government would be another major distraction for the second-term Labor administration, which is trailing the LNP in The Courier-Mail's latest YouGov opinion poll.
It is understood she would not make a decision for some time, but she would have to nominate before March 3.
Mrs Miller, 61, declined to comment.
