Pioneering Greens politician Jonathan Sriranganathan to run for Brisbane mayor

He’s been a rapper, youth worker, and climate activist; now former Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan has set his sights on Brisbane’s top job.

Former Brisbane City Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan will be the Greens’ candidate for Brisbane Lord Mayor at the March 2024 local government elections. Picture: Sarah Elks

Trailblazing controversial former Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan will be the party’s candidate for Brisbane Lord-Mayor at next year’s election, vowing to shift power from property developers to residents.

In an interview with The Australian, Mr Sriranganathan said he wanted to transform how democracy was done in the Brisbane City Council, and give residents regular direct votes on planning rules and – possibly – whether Brisbane should pull out of hosting the 2032 Olympic Games.

He said housing needed to be treated as a basic human right instead of just a way to make money, and insisted Australia’s largest council needed to throw much more support at public and active transport.

“The problem at the moment is that people vote every four years for a councillor and the mayor, and between elections they just have to cross their fingers and hope that those representatives will listen to them and make good decisions,” Mr Sriranganathan said.

“But … it’s very easy for big business to manipulate or even coerce a handful of elected decision makers.”

“We see that played out on the streets of Brisbane in terms of the kinds of poorly designed unsustainable development projects that are approved in the way decisions like the Olympics have been imposed on the city without ordinary residents having any meaningful input.”

He said he would introduce “deliberative democracy” that would give affected residents a direct vote on new neighbourhood plans and issues such as whether high-rises should be allowed to be built on flood plains.

The musician, climate activist, and former youth worker became the first Greens councillor elected to Brisbane City Council in 2016, and resigned in April to consider his future.

As a Greens councillor in June 2022, Jonathan Sriranganathan locked himself to a front door in Taringa to prevent the eviction of David Barker from public housing. Picture: Richard Walker

Since he won the inner-city Gabba ward, the Queensland Greens have built momentum at a state and federal level; the state party now boasts three federal MPs and two state crossbenchers.

But the Liberal National Party and its Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner still have a massive majority in the council, holding 20 of 26 wards.

Mr Sriranganathan said that if the 2022 federal election result was replicated at next March’s council vote, the Greens would win an extra six or seven wards. He didn’t rule out cobbling together a coalition arrangement with Labor to hold power in council, but said he would “rather work collaboratively with all councillors across party lines”.

But it will be a herculean task to win the mayoralty.

At the 2020 Brisbane City Council elections, Mr Schrinner received 47.82 per cent of the first preference vote, followed by Labor’s candidate, former television journalist Pat Condren, who secured 30.94 per cent.

The Greens’ candidate, Kath Angus, came third with 15.30 per cent of the primary vote, a significant jump from climate activist Ben Pennings’ 10.4 per cent in 2016’s mayoral race.

Jonathan Sriranganathan, Senator Larissa Waters, Griffith MP Max Chandler-Mather, Brisbane MP Stephen Bates and Ryan MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown celebrate three new Greens’ MPs on election night in May 2022. Picture: Richard Walker

In Mr Sriranganathan’s Gabba ward, he won 45.55 per cent of the primary vote, representing a massive 18 per cent swing to him. More concerning for the major parties, the Greens came second ahead of Labor in four LNP-won wards: Central, Coorparoo, Paddington and Walter Taylor.

At the recent LNP state convention, Mr Schrinner told supporters the Greens were the “most destructive and divisive force in Australian politics”.

“For the very first time in the city’s history, Labor enters an election incapable of forming a majority in its own right … what this now means, is that Labor’s only real path to victory … is through an alliance with the Greens.”

Mr Sriranganathan said Mr Schrinner’s attacks meant the LNP was worried about the rise of the progressive party.

“I’m much more interested in what the people of Brisbane think about me, but the fact they’re already launching personal attacks against me shows how nervous they are about rising support for the Greens … they know our policies are popular and sound,” he said.