Queensland Labor member Jo-Ann Miller has quit parliament.
A sobbing Ms Miller announced her immediate resignation in parliament on Thursday after 20 years in office.
Her sudden exit will trigger another by-election just months before voters rumble into booths to decide which party will lead the state.
"Together, we have fought some magnificent battles, sometimes against those you least expected, including the party to which I have devoted my life to," she wrote in her resignation letter.
"I thank our community for standing with me as I paid a personal price for resolutely standing firm, being stitched up by the political and media elites, but never shaken by the rotten political and administrative culture."
It comes days after she told Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad to consider her position, labelling her a "four letter word".
Ms Miller revealed recent surgery to remove a tumour played a part in her decision, and said she was the last in a generation of Labor MPs.
"They taught me a lot and I thank them," she wrote.
"We will never see their like again in this House. I close the door on this era."
The backbencher embraced Speaker Curtis Pitt after handing in her letter of resignation and then fell over, only to be helped up by Liberal National Party MP Jarrod Bleijie.
She embraced LNP leader Deb Frecklington and MPs on both sides of the chamber on her way out.
Ms Miller wrote on Facebook that she would not be vying for the position of Ipswich mayor, after speculation she would put her hat in the ring at next month's council elections.
Her family was the most important thing to her, she wrote in her resignation letter.
"Thank you for standing by me and supporting me while the job I was privileged to be elected to, kept me away from you," it said.
"I love you. It's your turn now. I'm coming home."
She was praised by Pauline Hanson as Labor's last honourable member in Queensland, recalling when Ms Miller offered her a pair of booties for her newborn grandson during the 2017 state election campaign.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk thanked her for her service.
Her resignation follows that of Jann Stuckey, who stood as member for Currumbin for the LNP.
Australian Associated Press
