We’re the real cost-of-living party: Greens’ pitch to struggling voters

The Greens have declared they will have a candidate in every seat and will be going in to bat for struggling Queenslanders, claiming they are the only major party with a wide-ranging plan to address the affordability crisis.

The Greens have made a pitch to struggling swing voters, claiming they are the only major party with a wide-ranging, longterm plan to address the affordability crisis.

“Labor are announcing some short-term pre-election sugar hits, but the Greens have long term plans to actually tackle the cost of living and housing crisis,’’ the party’s South Brisbane MP Amy MacMahon said.

“Housing is the number one expense for most Queenslanders, but only the Greens are proposing to cap rent increases and create a publicly-owned bank to offer cheaper mortgages.

“As well as making rents and mortgages cheaper, we’d cap prices on essential groceries, make more free GPs and psychologists available, give every Queensland kid a season of free sport, and ditch out-of-pocket expenses at state schools.

“The bottom line is Labor and the LNP will always let big corporations and landlords rip off Queenslanders just to protect their corporate donors, whether it’s Coles and Woolies or the Big Four banks.

Amy MacMahon and Michael Berkman. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

“Why would Queenslanders trust either major party to cut living costs when they’ve both taken millions in donations from Coles and Woolies and former Labor Premier Anna Bligh is head of the banking lobby?”

The party will field candidates in all 93 seats, today announcing names for every electorate up for grabs at the 2024 state election.

Full details of every candidate would be online by Friday October 4.

The Greens’ vote sank by 0.5 percentage points last time around but it picked up its second seat, South Brisbane, which was wrested off Labor’s Jackie Trad by Ms MacMahon.

This time around Ms MacMahon potentially faced a harder fight after the LNP confirmed it would not preference the party, like it did in a controversial, strategic move in 2020.

The alternative party polled 9.47 per cent four years ago, although it scraped only 5 per cent of the primary vote outside Brisbane.

It has pinned its hopes on a swag of inner-city Brisbane electorates after clinching more than 20 per cent of the vote in Cooper, Greenslopes, Maiwar, McConnel, Miller, Moggill and South Brisbane in the 2020 campaign.

Allora farmer David Newport is the Greens’ candidate for the Southern Downs seat of Blair. He is one of 93 Greens candidates. Picture: David Newport/Facebook

Toowong-based MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman, the state’s first Greens MP, said the party was offering a genuine alternative to disillusioned voters.

“Labor and the LNP always let big corporations and rich landlords rip us off, but the Greens are offering a genuine alternative in every seat this election,’’ he said.

“Every Queenslander can now vote for a Greens candidate who’ll fight for cheaper rents, mortgages and groceries, no new coal and gas, and taxing big mining corporations fairly to fund public health, housing and education.

“Positive change doesn’t happen overnight, but it is possible - the first step is voting for someone who will fight for you and what you believe in.’’