The Brisbane Greens Are Building a Mass Party With Unashamedly Left-Wing Politics
The Australian Greens won three new lower house seats and the Senate balance of power at the last election. By combining radical reforms and community activism, they are building a mass organization with the power to challenge the political establishment.
Australian Greens’ Member of Parliament for the seat of Ryan Elizabeth Watson-Brown and Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters chat to a voter at a polling booth on May 21, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Dan Peled / Getty Images)
In Australia’s federal election in May, the right-wing Liberal-National Coalition lost power for the first time since 2013. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) won government, but with a swing against it. Uninspired by Labor’s small target campaign, Australians voted in record numbers for independents or candidates from minor parties.
To Labor’s left, the Australian Greens won a historic breakthrough. Thanks to a stunning result in Brisbane, the Greens went from one lower house seat to four. In the Senate, the Greens won three additional seats and now hold the balance of power.
The Greens campaigned on a social democratic platform demanding rapid climate action, the reversal of energy privatization, large-scale public housing construction, and expanding Medicare — all funded by taxes on billionaires.
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