Election 2022: Kevin Rudd recruited to stave off the Greens

Kevin Rudd has been called in to help save his formerly safe Labor seat of Griffith from falling to the Greens.

Greens candidate for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather. Picture: Getty Images

Kevin Rudd has been called in to help save his formerly safe Labor seat of Griffith from falling to the Greens.

Voters in the Brisbane electorate have been inundated this week with robo-calls from the former prime minister, pleading with them to vote for incumbent Terri Butler.

It comes after what the Greens have dubbed their “biggest ever campaign” to get Max Chandler-Mather elected ahead of Ms Butler, who has a 2.86 per cent margin.

“G’day, it’s Kevin Rudd here, former prime minister but also former federal member for Griffith,” Mr Rudd says in the 50-­second automated phone call.

“This election is so important. We’ve got an opportunity to get rid of this tired, out-of-touch Morrison federal government.

“Only a vote for my friend Terri Butler and Labor will deliver more investment in renewable energy.

“I know our community. I know it well and I know Terri, she’s a voice we need in Canberra.

“This election is such an important choice. Don’t risk three more years of Morrison.”

The message echoed claims by Ms Butler this week that if Labor did not win Griffith, it would help Scott Morrison stay in government. “Local Greens Party activists have been denying this obvious truth and shouting down anyone who says it,” she wrote on Twitter.

“They can shout over me and call me a liar, but anyone who claims that Labor’s path to government from opposition is made more likely if we lose a seat is wrong.”

Mr Chandler-Mather said Labor had deployed the “scare tactic” in response to the formerly safe Labor seat becoming the Greens’ “most winnable seat” outside of Melbourne. “Labor have been getting very feral, which I always take as a good sign,” he said. “We’ve already made it very clear we want to kick out Morrison, so I think it’s just an attempt to trick or lie to Greens voters. I don’t think it’s going to work.

“What’s clear is if the people vote for the Greens in Griffith, it elects another seat in to parliament of someone who wants to kick out Morrison.”

Ms Butler’s primary vote dropped by 2.2 per cent in 2019 while Mr Chandler-Mather ­increased his party’s vote by 6.7 per cent.

Mr Chandler-Mather said the Greens also had strong chances to win the neighbouring Coalition-held seats of Brisbane and Ryan.

A win for the Greens in Griffith would cap off a significant rise for the minor party in Queensland over the past six years.

In 2016, the Greens won their first seat on the Brisbane City Council.

A year later, Michael Berkman became the party’s first member of the Queensland Legislative ­Assembly when he won the seat of Maiwar.

In 2020, Amy MacMahon followed suit, winning the party‘s second state seat by defeating deputy premier Jackie Trad.

Mr Chandler-Mather directed all three successful campaigns.