Who is Renee Coffey, the Labor candidate who ousted the Greens' Chandler-Mather after one term?
Newly elected member for Griffith, Renee Coffey, grew up with no illusions about the pressures of the job: former Griffith MP Kevin Rudd was a family friend.
Coffey attended the same primary school as the children of Rudd and Therese Rein – Morningside State School – and the Rudds were frequent houseguests at family Friday night dinners.
'I would see Kevin roll up several hours after everybody else, absolutely shattered from community events. So I had that modelling from a very young age about what it looks like to be a really engaged member of parliament,' Coffey said.
On Saturday night, the Norman Park resident snatched victory from Greens identity Max-Chandler-Mather, overcoming a 10.5 per cent margin and bringing the seat back into the Labor fold.
Coffey achieved a primary vote of 30,561 over Chandler-Mather's 28,312. With the LNP putting the Greens last on their how-to-vote cards, preferences have flown Coffey's way.
Chandler-Mather declined an interview on Monday, but later posted on Facebook that he lost because 'the major party vote combined was too big to overcome this time'.
In the post, he celebrated his work on bringing together a renters' movement that had 'struck fear in the hearts of the banking and property industry', and the Greens' drawn-out negotiations with Labor on housing.
Chandler-Mather had spearheaded the move to vote with the Coalition to delay the government's Help to Buy scheme last year, holding out for rent caps and changes to negative gearing.
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