By Matthew Knott and Paul Sakkal
A former Greens senator has called for the party to review its “in your face” rhetoric after the party’s disappointing performance in the Queensland state election as former party leader Bob Brown urged the party not to panic.
Despite being swept from power in Queensland, Labor seized on Saturday’s state election result to claim the party can reclaim inner-city federal seats from its progressive rival at the election next year.
Andrew Bartlett during his time as a Greens senator for Queensland.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Andrew Bartlett, who represented the Queensland Greens in the Senate from 2017 to 2018, said the party’s results were “a shock” given the party believed it could win up to four seats in the state parliament.
“Expectations were set very high, but they fell short,” said Bartlett, who represented the Democrats, another minor party, in the Senate for a decade before joining the Greens
The Greens look likely to lose the seat of South Brisbane while narrowly holding on to the seat of Maiwar in Brisbane’s inner-west suburbs.
“The party needs to be self-critical and honest about what happened and not believe its own narrative ... The Greens need to pause, reflect and engage in a dispassionate analysis of the results,” Bartlett said.
Federal Greens leader Adam Bandt, state MP for Maiwar Michael Berkman and federal MP for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather at a press conference on Monday.Credit: Matt Dennien
This review should examine whether the tone of prominent Greens politicians was too “in your face” and turned off some voters, he said.
Federal Greens leader Adam Bandt and housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather, who represents an inner-city Brisbane seat, have argued Queensland Labor lost the state election because it focused on competing with the Greens rather than taking on the Liberal National Party.
“If federal Labor continues on this path, they will hand the keys to Peter Dutton,” Chandler-Mather said at a press conference on Monday.
Labor cabinet minister Murray Watt said the party had received “a lot of feedback that people really noticed Max Chandler-Mather on stage with the CFMEU, pursuing an extreme sort of agenda there”.
Chandler-Mather appeared at a rally in August opposing the Albanese government’s decision to place the construction union in administration after revelations it had been infiltrated by organised crime figures.
Michael Berkman, who may be the Greens’ only lower-house MP in the Queensland parliament, said: “There’s no doubt this was a disappointing result for the Queensland Greens.”
Greens party founder Bob Brown said it was not the time for panic because the party had faced similar moments by previously losing Tasmanian state seats and West Australian Senate positions.
Brown emphasised the party’s primary vote across the state of Queensland was steady at 9 per cent, indicating it picked up voters in areas outside its target zone where it lost support.
He said Labor decided to squeeze the Greens in the inner city when it feared a wipeout.
“I’ve been around too long to be concerned about an election where they’ve held their vote, even though they’ve lost one seat,” he told this masthead, adding that he held no concerns about the Greens’ tone or policy agenda.
“They don’t need to be shrinking violets.”
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