Greens eye maximum success: Reinforcements called south for Victorian election

MP Max Chandler-Mather, the mastermind behind the Greens’ remarkable federal election success in Queensland this year, admits that Greens supporters can be “a bit preachy” or “fulfil that stereotype of being a moralising lefty”.

It's something he is determined to change.

Federal Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather believes the state seat of Richmond has the right demographic markers – young, progressive renters – to be turned green at this election after a long run in Labor hands. Credit:Eddie Jim

The Victorian Greens have enlisted Chandler-Mather to help the state branch replicate the federal party’s best election result after it picked up four lower house seats in May. He took a methodical approach to that election victory, door-knocking 15,000 homes in South Brisbane with a team of volunteers who reached 90,000 homes before polling day.

Earlier this month, Chandler-Mather ran a training session for an army of volunteers preparing to target the Labor-held seats of Richmond, Albert Park and Northcote over the next five weeks.

He insists the Greens isn’t a radical party and is determined to make sure the party’s volunteers don’t sound “preachy” or descend into moralising as they expand their door-knocking campaign across inner-city neighbourhoods.

He told Greens volunteers and members during a workshop: “You need to forget all of that. You are there to have a non-judgmental conversation.”

Max Chandler-Mather, left, and Elizabeth Watson-Brown, second left, celebrate their success at the federal; election in May with Greens supporters.Credit:Getty

Instead, Chandler-Mather describes his door-knocking technique as “life-knocking”, which he says is a “non-judgemental, long-form conversation”.

“It can take 10 or 15 minutes – it doesn’t matter because it has to be genuine, it can’t be fake,” he said.

“One of the barriers we encountered early on was that people don’t think politics is going to do much to improve their lives … people can’t think of any political issues.

“What we teach people to do is to get beyond that and find out what people do, [ask] how much are you paying in rent, what could be done to improve their situation.”

Chandler-Mather takes a data-driven approach to politics. He has studied the long-time Labor seat of Richmond, which takes in the suburbs of Fitzroy, Collingwood, Clifton Hill and Richmond, and believes it has the right demographic markers – young progressive renters – to be turned green.

“When I am looking down here from afar, frankly, I sort of feel like this should be a Greens seat,” he said.

“The demographic of Richmond is, in many ways, classically considered a much better chance than any federal seat in Queensland, and we won three.”

Richmond is held by retiring veteran Labor MP Richard Wynne on a notional 5.8 per cent, but pollsters and Labor Party insiders believe Greens candidate Gabrielle de Vietri will win the seat next month by pursuing anti-government sentiment.

I sort of feel like this [Richmond] should be a Greens seat.

Former Labor strategist and pollster Kos Samaras believes Richmond is the Greens’ “best shot”, but believes the party also has a strong chance in Northcote and Albert Park.

“In suburbs where the residents are very young and there are high numbers of renters, they are voting for the Greens or teals and I doubt that Green juggernaut is going to slow down,” he said.

“The majority of Millennial voters are now voting away from the major parties because they see them as a legacy of the last century.”

Two federal MPs who lost their Queensland seats in the so-called Greenslide that swept the sunshine state have accused the once-minor Greens party of capitalising on broad dissatisfaction with politics and believe the major parties need to adapt to the new political landscape.

Terri Butler was the high-profile Labor MP ousted by Greens candidate Max Chandler-Mather in May. Credit:Dan Peled

Former Labor MP Terri Butler lost her seat of Griffith – once held by Kevin Rudd – to Chandler-Mather. She warned that any anti-government sentiment in Victoria would bolster the Greens’ campaign.

“They are very good at conflating the two major parties because they campaign on anger,” Butler said.

“It works because if you are angry and you want to blame someone, it’s easy to convince voters that parties of government are the problem,” she said. “They see us all as one thing.”

Former Liberal MP Trevor Evans, who lost his seat of Brisbane to the Greens in May, believes the major parties have been hesitant to criticise the Greens in the past over fears that doing so would legitimise the threat.

By doing so, Evans said the Greens have been able to “outbid major parties” on policy promises without being accountable as they aren't a party of Government.

“If we are seeing the slow breakdown of the two parties, it will be increasingly important to start to criticise other alternatives,” Evans said.

The Greens’ success in Queensland came off the back of catastrophic flooding in the state, which highlighted climate change concerns, coupled with the unpopularity of Scott Morrison as prime minister and broad dissatisfaction with the major parties.

Several Labor Party sources, speaking to The Age on the condition of anonymity, believe similar conditions exist in Victoria and harbour concerns Labor has done little to counter the threat.

While the results in the Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Age by research company Resolve Strategic, show that Premier Daniel Andrews is on track for another crushing election victory in November, respondents who backed Labor held reservations about the premier.

“This is apparently a popular Labor government, but when you look under the hood, a lot of people are really dissatisfied, more broadly with the political system,” Chandler-Mather, said.

Until recently, Labor insiders also held concerns about retaining the seat of Northcote in Melbourne’s inner-north which Labor’s Kat Theophanous won by 800 votes when she ran against Lidia Thorpe in 2018.

At the last election, the Greens campaign was derailed by offensive tweets by one of Thorpe’s staffers and a series of separate scandals that challenged the culture of the Greens.

Several Labor MPs, speaking to The Age on the condition of anonymity to discuss campaign matters, said the latest revelations that Thorpe, now a Greens senator, had failed to declare a possible perceived conflict of interest in her relationship with a former high-ranking bikie, would again be used to highlight some of the cultural problems within the party.

Dean Martin and Lidia Thorpe at a Melbourne market last month.Credit:Facebook

“Lidia Thorpe still has issues here,” one Labor MP said.

“When they deserve it, holding them to account is important.”

Much of the Greens’ confidence about boosting their representation in the lower house comes from the impending retirement of two long-serving Labor MPs.

As well as Wynne, the Greens hope the retirement of Albert Park MP and former health minister Martin Foley will strengthen the chances of their candidate, Kim Samiotis, winning that seat.

At the federal election in May, Greens candidate Steph Hodgins-May almost won the federal seat of Macnamara, which covers similar territory to the Albert Park electorate. But Labor’s Josh Burns eventually claimed victory after nine days of counting.

Nina Taylor is Labor’s candidate for the seat, hopeful of moving downstairs from the upper house. She told The Age she was confident she could retain the seat for her party.

“I am very confident, but I say it with humility,” she said.

"Albert Park has had strong Labor representation and that's allowed voters to physically see what that means for an area."

“It’s all about action and not just words. Credibility has to be correlated with delivery.”

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