Greens’ campaign guru eyes seat of Labor MP Terri Butler

The Greens will target Labor’s Terri Butler in a bid to claim their first lower house seat in Queensland at the next federal election.

Max Chandler-Mather will re-contest the Labor-held seat of Griffith at the federal election. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The Greens will target Labor frontbencher Terri Butler in a bid to claim their first lower house seat in Queensland at the next federal election after recording swings to the minor party in the past two campaigns in their growing Brisbane heartland.

After recording a 6.7 per cent swing to the Greens in Griffith in 2019 — the largest swing to the party in Australia — campaign mastermind Max Chandler-­Mather will recontest the seat himself.

He was the architect of the Greens’ defeat of Jackie Trad in October to win the traditionally safe Labor seat of South Brisbane, which lies within Griffith.

Mr Chandler-Mather was also the head strategist behind Michael Berkman’s successful campaign in Maiwar in 2017 — the first seat won by the party — and managed the campaign of Jonathan Sri, who became the Greens’ first councillor elected to the Brisbane City Council when he won the Gabba ward, which also lies mostly within Griffith.

He plans to use the same tactics that delivered those victories in his tilt at the election.

“At the core of all of those campaigns was a basic premise that politics is about reaching out to people about the issues that ­affect their daily lives and what they care about and making policies that address those issues,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.

“It’s a reverse of what politics usually is, which is parties preaching what people should care about as opposed to what they do.

“A lot of our campaign is about lots of doorknocking and political messaging and strategy based on the feedback we are getting on people’s doors.

“Issues like climate change are really important, but it’s also about the cost of living, or frustrations with the cost of childcare, or not being able to go to a dentist without paying a lot of money.

“Our vote has grown enormously every time we run that style of campaign.”

Mr Chandler-Mather said winning a lower house federal seat would complement the seat won by the party’s national leader and Melbourne MP Adam Bandt.

Griffith is the party’s best chance of victory in Queensland and will be the focus of its increased resources and army of volunteers.

With Mr Chandler-Mather as its candidate, the party improved its vote by 6.67 per cent in 2019, winning 23.6 per cent and finishing third behind Labor but providing crucial preferences for Ms Butler’s re-election.

A swing away from Labor and to the Greens of 3.51 per cent would likely give the Greens victory, based on 2019 preference flows.

Ms Butler said her primary focus was on ensuring the Liberal Party did not win the seat. Labor sources say they are concerned about all their Queensland seats, particularly Griffith, held by Kevin Rudd from 1996 to 2013.