Joe Hildebrand: Battleground city of Brisbane a hotbed of political intrigue

The contest for three Green-held seats in the battleground city of Brisbane is shaping as messier than a ménage a trois, writes Joe Hildebrand.

In 2007 Queensland and Labor were wedded at the hip. Kevin Rudd even celebrated the nuptials at Brisbane’s holiest site — Suncorp Stadium.

But since then the Sunshine State has steadily cooled on the federal ALP, like a steamy whirlwind romance in which it turns out the participants have nothing in common.

Today Anthony Albanese sought to relight that flame and got very hot and heavy at a rally of the Labor faithful in Rudd’s old seat of Griffith.

Anthony Albanese speaks at a Labor rally in Brisbane on Sunday. Picture: Jason Edwards

The location was particularly poignant because Labor lost Griffith to the Greens in a shock result at the last election.

They say that if you love something set it free but that definitely does not apply in politics, which has more of a “if you love something kill anybody who looks at it sideways” kind of vibe.

How Labor lost Griffith is still the cause of much angst in the party.

Incumbent MP Terri Butler, who doubles as a natural alternative to sleeping pills, appeared to be caught napping by the oddly asymmetric Green impresario Max Chandler-Mather, who famously doorknocked every single house in the electorate and then banned any more from being built.

Now Labor wants Griffith back but insiders fear it has moved on and the ALP has a better chance of winning the inner-city seat of Brisbane, which flipped from Liberal to Green at the last election without so much as a peck on the cheek for Labor on the way past.

Meanwhile the third Green seat of Ryan is tipped to return to the LNP, which is generally accepted as being part of God’s plan.

But all of these three-cornered contests are notoriously hard to poll and thus notoriously hard to call — it all depends on which party finishes in third place and how their preferences flow.

Anthony Albanese mocked Peter Dutton during the Labor rally in Brisbane over comments the Opposition Leader made about choosing to live in Sydney over Canberra if he became Prime Minister. Picture: Jason Edwards

It is messier than a ménage a trois and this makes Brisbane a hotbed of political intrigue.

Thus Albo’s pitch was essentially “that other guy doesn’t really care about you”, pointing to Peter Dutton’s choice of Kirribilli House as his would-be prime ministerial residence as proof that he is a closet Sydneysider.

At least Copacabana is slightly closer to the border.

Meanwhile the actual Queenslander was down in Melbourne spruiking his plan to cut foreign student numbers even though he blocked Labor’s plan to cut foreign student numbers.

Man, this me-too politics is confusing sometimes.

But I guess that’s the nature of love — it’s irrational and inconstant and makes us do crazy things.

So both parties will be hoping that Brisbane’s triple dalliance with the Greens was just a one-time fling and all will be forgiven if their darlings come back home.