Anthony Albanese warns Adam Bandt and Greens over blocking legislation after poor showing in Qld election

The Greens’ poor showing at the Queensland state election was a result of voters experiencing buyers’ remorse, a Federal minister has claimed, as Anthony Albanese issued a warning to Adam Bandt over blocking legislation in Parliament.

As the political fallout from the LNP’s narrow win in the sunshine State intensified on Sunday, the Greens were facing the loss of both seats in Queensland parliament, with pundits pointing to the Federal party’s behaviour as the reason for the loss of support.

But the Greens, which previously held two seats in the last Parliament and were hopeful of growing their share, were on track to lose Maiwar and South Brisbane to the LNP and Labor respectively.

“People who elected Greens Party representatives to State and Federal parliament expected them to play a progressive role, not to play a blocking role; to seek to bring people together, not to divide people,” the Prime Minister said.

“I think there is a big message in this result for Adam Bandt. I think that it is the first time that a Greens elected member who has been elected for a full term has lost their seat.”

The Prime Minister said the loss of South Brisbane, which the Greens won from Labor’s deputy premier Jackie Trad in 2020, challenged a belief that once seats were lost to the crossbench, Labor would be unable to win them back.

“Of course last night that was proved wrong,” he said.

Despite Labor’s Steven Miles conceding the Queensland State election on Sunday morning, Mr Albanese heaped praise on the former premier, saying that he ran an “effective campaign”.

Queensland senator Murray Watt said Queenslanders were experiencing “buyer’s remorse” from the Greens, and it gave Labor hope of winning back seats lost in 2022.

“What was really coming through from those voters, which are currently held by the Greens Federally, is a sense of buyer’s remorse,” he said.

“People voted for the Greens both at State and Federal level expecting to see progressive solutions delivered and all they’ve ended up getting are a bunch of blockers and extreme activists who seem increasingly out of touch with what voters in those areas think.”

In a statement, Mr Bandt accused Labor of giving up on governing.

“People desperately need help right now. These are Greens policies that Labor adopted in Queensland, and we know they’d help millions of people,” he said.

“But instead of fighting the LNP, Labor gave up on government and focused on fighting the Greens.

“If Labor focuses on fighting the Greens, the Liberals get to take over. When Labor realises the Greens can work with them, we can make these positive changes a reality.”

Late on Sunday, the ABC said the Greens would likely retain Maiwar and were still in the hunt in South Brisbane — but would need the LNP to finish second, and then rely on Labor preferences.

The comments came as LNP leader David Crisafulli hit the ground on his first day as premier-elect, speaking for more than 20 minutes with the Prime Minister.

After predictions of a landslide victory against Labor, Queensland narrowly elected the LNP, which was on track to win a majority of 47 seats in the Parliament.

Mr Crisafulli said the Prime Minister had been “generous” with his time, but vowed to create a “generational” government for the LNP in Queensland.

“Government allows you to shape the kind of state that you want for your kids,” Crisafulli said.

“It’s important that we are a good government and that we do what we say we are going to do and we don’t do what we said we wouldn’t do.”

Mr Miles, who is set to remain Labor leader after the loss, admitted his speech on Saturday night “jumped the gun” after he refused to concede the election.

“The result last night was much better than expected, but clearly nowhere near sufficient for a Labor victory. I’m very proud of the campaign that I ran and the government that have led these last 10 months, but at the end of the day, clearly, Queenslanders for some time, have wanted to see change of government,” Mr Miles said.

“You’ve seen the polls pretty consistently for a long time now, they predicted a very, very bad result. The fact that many MPs have held their seats, it’s a credit to them, but also I’m going to give credit to the campaign that we ran”.