Convenor Penny Allman-Payne Ideology Green politics | Founded 1991 | |
 | ||
Headquarters Albion Peace Centre
102 McDonald Road
WINDSOR QLD 4030 International affiliation Global Greens
Asia-Pacific Green Network | ||
The Queensland Greens is a Green party in the Australian state of Queensland, and a member of the federation of the Australian Greens. The party was founded on 22 September 1991 and made its electoral debut at the 1993 federal election. Larissa Waters is the party's environment and justice system spokesperson, was its lead Senate candidate at the 2007 federal election and again at the 2010 federal election, in which she became the first Greens candidate elected in Queensland.
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Electoral history
The party's sole parliamentary representative Senator Larissa Waters took her seat in the Australian Senate 1 July 2011. The party has not won seats in the Queensland Parliament, which uniquely of Australian state parliaments is unicameral and has no allowance for proportional representation. The party achieved its first state parliamentary representative on 5 October 2008 when Ronan Lee defected to the Greens from the Australian Labor Party, due to his belief that the Bligh government was not paying enough attention to environmental issues. He lost his seat at the 2009 state election to the Liberal Nationals.
Federal elections
The Queensland Greens' Senate vote at the 2007 federal election increased by 2.1 per cent to 7.5 per cent. It increased further to 12.77% at the 2010 federal election with Queensland Greens' Senator Larissa Waters elected.
Candidates from the Queensland Greens have not been elected to the Lower House of federal parliament.
State elections
The Queensland Greens enjoyed growing support in state elections, increasing their vote from 2.5 per cent at the 2001 election (when they contested 31 of the Parliament's 89 seats), to 6.76 per cent in 2004 (from 72 seats), to 7.99 per cent in 2006 (from 75 seats), and to 8.37 per cent in 2009 (from 89 seats). The 2012 election saw a fall of 0.85% in the primary vote to 7.52%.
The Greens in Queensland have traditionally polled strongest in the usually Labor-held seats of Mount Coot-tha and South Brisbane, as well as the usually LNP-held seat of Noosa, polling over 20% of the primary vote in these seats at the 2015 state election.
Local elections
Greens candidate Jonathan Sri was elected to represent the Gabba Ward in Brisbane City Council at the March 2016 Local government elections. He achieved a primary vote of 31.72%, a positive swing of approximately 13.8%. Sri finished in second place behind LNP candidate Sean Jacobs, but was able to win on mostly Labor preferences.
Sri is the first Greens candidate to win a seat in Local government anywhere in Queensland.
State Council
Decisions affecting the state party are made through the State Council, a meeting that consists of a delegate from each local branch. The State Council is the highest decision-making body, and controls election campaigns, sets the policy for the state party and decides on admitting new local branches to the Queensland Greens.
Branches
Branches are the engine-room of the Queensland Greens, and the entry-point for members to all other structures. They are where new members first meet other Greens, talk politics and policy, get involved in local campaigning and fundraising, and find out about what else is going on.
Working groups
A variety of working groups have been established by the State Council, which are directly accessible to all Greens members. Working groups perform an advisory function by developing policy, conducted issues-based campaigns, or by performing other tasks assigned by the State Council.
Queensland Young Greens
The Queensland Young Greens are the youth wing of the Queensland Greens and is open to all members under the age of 30 across the state of Queensland.
The Queensland Young Greens provide a forum for young people to express their opinions on political issues and contribute towards the shaping of party policies. The youth wing was established in order to draw new ideas from the youth community and provide an avenue for Queenslander's under the age of 30 to influence the political landscape within Queensland.
The Youth Wing's main focus is on election campaigning; skills training; policy development and hosting a number of different social events.
The goals of the Queensland Young Greens are as follows:
At present the youth wing is run by a steering committee which engages with members under the age of 30 from the various Queensland Greens branches throughout the state, as well as the branches established at universities across Queensland.
The youth wing maintains a grassroots approach in organising members. The youth wing also shares the same policies as the Queensland Greens based around the four guiding principles of non-violence, social justice, grass-roots democracy and ecological sustainability.
At present there are two University based clubs, with the University of Queensland Greens Club and the Griffith University Greens Club being the only clubs.
Other working groups
Queensland Rainbow Greens are concerned with advancing the party's position on LGBTIQ rights.