Adam Bandt in fight to hold seat as Greens slide back in Queensland

The Greens have already lost two prized seats in Brisbane with Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates losing out to Labor.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt speaks to party faithful on Saturday night. Picture: NewsWire/Ian Currie

Greens leader Adam Bandt is in a desperate battle to hold onto his seat and two other members of his party have lost their seats, raising the prospect of a quick rout for the minor party from last election’s high watermark.

The unimpressive Greens showing follows months of backlash to the minor party’s anti-Israel stance and a tussle with Labor over inner-city seats.

By Saturday night, Mr Bandt had suffered a 5.63 percentage point primary vote swing against him, bringing him down to 42.35 per cent of the votes counted so far.

Labor candidate Sarah Witty enjoyed a 6.06 percentage point swing in her favour, bringing her to 31.38 per cent of first preferences counted so far.

The question now turns on how the preferences will flow on from votes for the Liberal Party, which has so far taken in 17.51 per cent of first preferences.

If all the Liberal preferences were to flow to Labor, this would unseat Mr Bandt and flip Melbourne for Labor.

Notably, the Liberals put the Greens last on its how-to-vote card and hence, voters that took the advice would have their votes flow to the Labor candidate.

The party’s star housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, has lost his seat of Griffith to Labor challenger Renee Coffey and Brisbane Greens MP Stephen Bates has been unseated by Labor challenger Madonna Jarrett.

Only Ryan in Brisbane’s western suburbs is firmly in the Greens’ column, which incumbent Elizabeth Watson-Brown is projected to hold.

The Greens may pick up the Labor-held seat of Wills in Melbourne’s north west suburbs as Greens challenger Samantha Ratnam is neck-and-neck with incumbent Peter Khalil. Ms Ratnam is ahead by 2.22 percentage points on swing but this is expected to tighten as more votes are counted.

This means the Greens will end up with somewhere between one and three seats in the next parliament.

It is a retreat after the 2022 “Greenslide” which won three federal seats in Brisbane. The minor party won the prized seat of Brisbane and the blue-ribbon seat of Ryan off the Liberals, as well as Kevin Rudd’s former seat of Griffith, which was held by Labor.

Labor insiders told The Australian they believed the Green’s pro-Palestine stance had hurt support across parts of the seat. Mr Chandler-Mather was also heavily criticised when he spoke on stage in support of the CFMEU at a rally in Brisbane last year.

Max Chandler-Mather has lost his seat of Griffith. Photo Steve Pohlner

The mood at the Greens’ election night event in Brisbane at the Woolloongabba bar and arts venue turned from cautiously optimistic to subdued on Saturday night as the results looked increasingly unfavourable. A planned 9pm address to the party faithful was initially delayed until 10pm as officials awaited the pre-poll count they hoped would firm up the result.

Late on Saturday night, senator Larissa Waters embraced Mr Chandler-Mather, who urged the party faithful not to give up.“It is going to take time, and it is going to be hard, and it is going to have moments like this, but it is going to make the victories all the sweeter,“ Mr Chandler-Mather said.

“It’s not about seats, it’s about people not going hungry. It’s about people having homes. For us, victory is about stopping the opening of new coal and gas mines and giving our kids a future.

“The one request I have for you is, do not give up.”

Mr Bates said the losses were “just a blip in the movement of positive change in this country”.

Additional reporting: Mohammad Alfares