Greens tell wealthy voters how to object to housing

Federal Greens campaigning for affordable housing in Canberra have opposed apartment blocks in their own inner-city electorates, distributing pamphlets instructing residents how to flood local councils with objections.

Greens housing firebrand Max Chandler-Mather and fellow Brisbane MPs Elizabeth Watson-Brown and Stephen Bates have resisted eight projects or rezonings for several thousand new dwellings, letters from the MPs to council officials show.

Max Chandler-Mather, Elizabeth Watson-Brown and Stephen Bates, the three new Greens elected in Brisbane in the 2022 election.Credit: James Brickwood.

Several of these high-density projects in wealthy inner suburbs have also been opposed by state and city council Labor politicians, undermining both parties’ rhetoric on housing supply as they fight for votes in three key Brisbane electorates. None of the projects, some of which were approved despite the opposition, were criticised by federal Labor MPs.

Watson-Brown, member for the inner Brisbane seat of Ryan, has published 10 tips on how to object to the Uniting Church’s plan to turn an old chicken farm into 92 homes. The Greens frequently cite concerns about a lack of affordable homes in their opposition to developments but that is absent from the document, which instead focuses on complaints such as the local shops being too far.

“Feel free to just copy what we have suggested. If a great number of residents make submissions with the same or similar objections, it will greatly increase the chances they’re taken seriously,” Watson-Brown’s document states.

She has written joint objections with state Greens MP Michael Berkman, whose office spruiks another letter-writing guide that lists 11 reasons to object – including overshadowing, heritage and traffic – none of which include affordability.

“Is it beautiful? Is it friendly? Is this how we want to live?” the document, featuring a graphic of people exercising underneath highrise buildings, reads.

Bates, who holds the electorate of Brisbane, has sent anti-development letters on four projects including a 380-unit project “a massive 15 storeys over the limit” in the neighbourhood plan.

For another 204-bed project in the affluent inner Brisbane suburb of Paddington, Bates said a four- to five-storey building was “unacceptable” as it would “dominate the street and public spaces, damaging views”.

He claimed locals had expressed “dismay” at the prospect “for-profit” ventures such as a bar, childcare centre, vet, healthcare service or rooming houses could use the site.

Chandler-Mather has opposed a retirement village in Holland Park and an 850-home development in Bulimba Barracks, both partly based on flood risk and reported previously.

The Greens this week delayed Labor’s shared equity housing scheme by two months after joining with the Coalition to block the government’s housing agenda, which Greens leader Adam Bandt said embarrassed the prime minister.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and Chandler-Mather have met in recent days but not made progress on reaching an agreement on Labor’s housing plans.

Bandt said Labor’s “small target” housing policies were unfit for the times and urged Albanese to break his prime minister’s promises not to cap rents or end investor tax breaks.

In response to questions to the Greens MPs, Chandler-Mather’s office provided a letter he sent to Queensland Premier Steven Miles last year when Miles was planning minister. In the letter, he suggested a series of sites for public housing and stated: “I am concerned by your suggestion that I have blocked housing development in Griffith, and as planning minister you must know that I do not have that power under the planning act.”

Chandler-Mather said in a separate statement to this masthead that the 2022 Brisbane floods proved why private developers should not be able to build in areas at risk of submersion, a reason given for some of the projects opposed by Greens.

“The reality is every piece of land that is safe to build on that we lose to another high-end expensive developer is another piece of land that can no longer be used for the construction of genuinely affordable government built housing,” he said.

“Labor is desperate to distract from the fact that their two broken housing bills will drive up house prices and rents.”

Chandler-Mather’s office also sent an online petition circulated by Labor MP Andrew Charlton against a development in his Sydney seat of Parramatta, though there are other projects he supports locally. Albanese has previously said it was “remarkable” that Chandler-Mather was using his influence to block housing in Brisbane.

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