Federal election 2022: Polished Greens make history at poll

The progressive movement has broadened its base from the far Left to become a political force in South East Queensland. VOTE IN OUR POLL

The Greens’ electoral success in inner Brisbane has been helped by a move from candidates with “beards and twigs in their hair” to more polished representatives who present as more palatable to voters.

Stephen Bates on Saturday became the third Queensland Greens MP in the 47th Federal Parliament, after he secured 26.8 per cent of the primary vote in the race for the seat of Brisbane, with the party also taking out Griffith and Ryan.

Mr Bates – who is currently a retail worker at the Apple Store at Westfield Chermside – said his victory still hadn’t sunk in.

“I’ve actually got to go back to work this week,” he said.

“I actually need to still pay my rent, pay my bills, so I’ve got to go back to work in the interim – so that will be my week ahead.”

Mr Bates said it was an honour to win, suggesting he won because people wanted a big change as the major parties stuck with the status quo.

Labor candidate Madonna Jarrett conceded late yesterday, acknowledging it was clear she wasn’t going to win the seat.

Griffith University political scientist Paul Williams, said the great irony of the Greens’ victories was that Queensland was the most resistant to the party 15 years ago.

But Brisbane’s inner city had now emerged as the jewel in the Greens’ crown.

Dr Williams said the image conjured from the beginning of the century was older candidates typically removed from professional careers, but incoming Member for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather appeared to be a “poster boy from central casting”.

The more polished campaigner has followed in the footsteps of the equally presentable Michael Berkman – a former environmental lawyer whose ascension to the state seat of Maiwar in 2017 paved the way for the party to prise electorates from the major parties.

Professor Williams said the party “no longer fronts candidates with beards and twigs in their hair”.

“They front them in suits, and that’s going to make them palatable to middle Australia,” he said.

This is a departure from the traditional Greens image sported by city councillor Jonathan Sri.

The Greens still advocate radical policies, including a stop to all new coal and gas projects, and sophisticated campaigning on hyper-local issues that appealed to a demographic beyond the party’s environmental base.

Flight path noise, social housing, property affordability, and the cost of basic health emerged as major concerns Mr Chandler-Mather discovered after speaking with tens of thousands of constituents.

Mr Chandler-Mather, whose 14-month campaign knocked on 90,000 doors, rejected the premise of the party becoming a slick professional political machine, insisting the current-day Greens party was a natural evolution of that from the early 2000s.

He stunned pre-poll predictors to pull off a primary swing of more than 11 per cent to unseat Labor frontbencher Terri Butler, while Elizabeth Watson-Brown has captured the blue-ribbon seat of Ryan.

“I would describe it as a large and growing movement ... where the messaging and policies and the way we describe our politics is informed directly by tens of thousands of doorknock conversations,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.

He said the major parties had “abandoned space to us”, and he was eyeing further growth in inner Brisbane.