Opinion: Greens’ radical, divisive agenda finally under scrutiny

Voters are finding out that the Greens are not the cuddly environmental party of old, writes Trevor Evans.

Member for Maiwar Michael Berkman is battling to be the last Green standing in Queensland Parliament. Picture: Lachie Millard

On Saturday Queenslanders voted to change the state’s direction, but it wasn’t the Greenslide predicted.

The Greens lost South Brisbane and are on a knife’s edge to hold Maiwar.

They made no gains despite publicly claiming they could win 10 seats.

It’s a stark contrast from the last federal election where the Greens took Griffith from Labor, and Brisbane and Ryan from the LNP.

It begs the question of how there could be such a turnaround.

The LNP preferencing Labor ahead of the Greens is part responsible, and sends a clear message that extremists shouldn’t be tolerated in state or national politics.

Labor should reconsider its preferences too, rather than appeasing an extreme and divisive opponent on its left flank.

The turnaround also requires an understanding of the context of the last federal election.

After Covid-19, households had record high savings from government support payments, combined with restrictions that made it difficult to travel and spend.

This meant Australians could afford to use their vote to signal, rather than their usual focus on the hip pocket.

Yet after two and a bit years of the Albanese government, voters are having to adjust to the grim reality that their slice of the economic pie is shrinking.

This is where Queenslanders found themselves on Saturday.

Ongoing inflation is hurting people’s standard of living.

Gabba ward councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan, federal Member for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather and then state Member for South Brisbane Amy MacMahon last year

We are enduring a sustained per-capita recession: on average we are all getting poorer, but it is hidden by higher migration.

This is a disastrous environment for the Greens, who ironically need prosperity for voters to indulge their post-materialist agenda.

It’s no coincidence that, across Australia, the Greens vote is strongly correlated with higher wealth.

But when times get tough, people can’t afford the Greens.

The final factor is that, for the first time, the Greens are being held to account for their extreme views and divisive ways.

It began in the March Brisbane City Council election, when the LNP reminded voters that the Greens’ lord mayoral candidate wanted to shut down major roads across the city, had advocated for shoplifting, and had even released videos demonstrating how to break into homes.

It continued at this election, with Labor accusing the Greens of “stoking division as a way of winning votes” and “more focused on trying to win … than in making their communities better”.

Other groups including the Queensland Jewish Collective called out the Greens for supporting terrorism and accepting gambling donations.

Voters are finding out that the Greens are not the cuddly environmental party of old.

Their agenda is radical, extreme and divisive.

They deserve all the scrutiny they’ve started to receive.

Trevor Evans is the former federal Liberal member for Brisbane

Originally published as Opinion: Greens’ radical, divisive agenda finally under scrutiny