Seven more seats: Greens set their sights higher in Queensland

With support surging at all levels of Queensland politics, the Greens have set an audacious target for the next state election.

The emboldened Greens believe they are in with a chance to seize an extra seven seats at next year’s state election, following their stunning gains in Queensland at the 2022 federal poll.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Greens MPs Michael Berkman and Amy MacMahon pledged to never form a minority government with the LNP – making Labor the only option in a hung parliament.

And they have indicated they will make the cost of living, government services and a “fair go for renters” key issues they will raise with voters ahead of the October 2024 poll.

The minor party picked up an extraordinary three seats in Queensland at last year’s federal election – and they now believe an extra seven seats could be up for grabs at state level.

“If we hold and grow our federal vote share, we would be expecting McConnel, Cooper, Greenslopes, Moggill, Clayfield, Miller, and Bulimba just as a bit of an overview of where the potential is,” Ms MacMahon said.

Labor MPs – including three cabinet ministers – hold five of those seats, while two LNP frontbenchers hold the remaining two electorates.

At the 2020 state election, the Greens came third in the primary vote in Education Minister Grace Grace’s inner-Brisbane seat of McConnel – but they still secured 28.15 per cent of the vote.

And in Cooper, which is held by Labor backbencher Jonty Bush, they came third again – but with 29.63 per cent of the vote, putting them just behind the LNP which got 33.4 per cent.

Queensland Greens MPs Michael Berkman and Amy MacMahon. Picture: David Clark

Mr Berkman said it would be up to the party to decide what seats would be targeted during the election, however he acknowledged Cooper and McConnel were “very obvious choices”.

“Those seats that are now overlaid by federal Greens reps represent our best opportunities obviously,” he said.

“We have more people volunteering or engaging with the party now than we’ve ever seen.

“And at the federal election it just exploded.”

Mr Berkman has held the electorate of Maiwar since 2017, while Ms MacMahon beat former deputy premier Jackie Trad to claim South Brisbane in 2020.

The latest YouGov poll commissioned by The Sunday Mail in December showed the two major parties were locked in a tight race at 50-50 on a two-party-preferred basis.

Ms MacMahon stressed the Greens would never form a minority government with the LNP should the opportunity arise.

“We’ve been very clear about that for years – we would never form a coalition with the LNP,” she said.

“If the opportunity came to work in collaboration with a Labor government, that’s what we would do.

“So a vote for the Greens is never going to result in an LNP government in any form.”

Mr Berkman indicated cost of living, advocating for renters, and public services – such as making public transport free – would be issues the Greens would take up ahead of the poll.

“I think the conditions that led to our success at the federal election haven’t changed,” he said.