Greens to target renters in push to snatch eight more seats at Queensland election

Queensland’s Greens have rubbished Annastacia Palaszczuk’s claims that Labor would not do a deal with the minor party in the event of a hung parliament.

Queensland Greens MPs Michael Berkman and Amy MacMahon on Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The Greens will use any balance of power to negotiate stronger rights for renters as they push to oust six Brisbane Labor MPs and two Liberal National frontbenchers at next year’s Queensland election.

Greens MPs Amy MacMahon and Michael Berkman have set the target of winning eight new seats at the October 26 state election, where Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk may be forced to deal with the minor party to form a majority.

Dr MacMahon said the Greens would wage the biggest campaign in the party’s history, using “every tool at our disposal” to pressure government to drive down costs for renters, but said the party did not yet have a specific list of demands if they held the balance of power.

The Greens have been pushing for nationwide rental caps, and in Queensland Dr MacMahon tried to introduce legislation last year to impose a two-year rental freeze.

The federal Greens in September used their numbers to squeeze an extra $1bn for public and community housing out of Anthony Albanese in return for backing the government’s flagship $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund legislation.

Of Greater Brisbane’s million households, 35 per cent are renters, 26 per cent own their home outright and 36 per cent have a mortgage.

“Rents have gone up by over 12 per cent over the last 12 months, record low vacancy rates, people being priced out of their homes,” Dr MacMahon said. “A rent freeze and a rent cap will help tens of thousands of Queenslanders who are struggling.”

Economists and property groups have warned rent controls would drive investors out of Brisbane at a time when the city needs more rental stock supply than ever before.

Brisbane became the Greens’ new heartland at the last federal election when the progressive party recorded mammoth swings, capturing three inner-city seats from Labor and the Coalition.

Federal success came after Mr Berkman and Dr MacMahon won their seats in state parliament in 2017 and 2020 respectively. At the 2020 Brisbane City Council election, Greens councillor Jonathan Sri enjoyed an 18 per cent swing to him, and the Greens finished second, ahead of Labor, in four other wards.

Surging Greens support in the state’s capital puts Labor seats of McConnel, Bulimba and Miller – held by Labor ministers Grace Grace, Di Farmer and Mark Bailey – in jeopardy at the 2024 state election.

The Greens will be targeting other Labor-held seats of Cooper, Greenslopes and Stafford and the LNP’s Clayfield and Moggill.

While the Greens are notorious for over-hyping their election prospects, Mr Berkman said picking up an extra eight state electorates was not implausible given seven of the eight target seats already had federal Greens representation.

Mr Berkman, whose Maiwar electorate covers the well-heeled western suburbs of Bardon and Fig Tree Pocket, believes hung parliaments will become the norm, rather than the exception, with support for the two major parties falling.

“What that looks like is anyone’s guess at this stage,” he said.

“But it can only be better for Queenslanders if the winner-takes-all kind of approach that we’ve seen for decades falls by the wayside and governments have to work collaboratively.”

Mr Berkman dismissed declarations from Ms Palaszczuk and LNP leader David Crisafulli last week that they would not negotiate with a minor party.