Greens in Queensland poised to rescue the Senate

A national Galaxy poll commissioned by the Greens this week showed 52% of Australian voters would prefer to the Senate controlled by the Greens and the ALP, than Family First and the Coalition (35%).

This week’s Galaxy Senate poll commissioned by Get Up! has the Greens polling 7% in Queensland, and in today’s Galaxy poll the Greens are on 8.5% in Queensland lower house seats.

On those figures, the Greens have a strong chance of electing their first Senator for Queensland, community environmental lawyer Larissa Waters.

“Support for the Greens has steadily risen in Queensland over the last fifteen years, and I am feeling very excited at the prospect of being Queensland’s first Greens Senator,” said lead Senate candidate for Queensland, Larissa Waters.

“Voters want representatives who care about people and the planet. They want a more fair society and an environmentally sustainable future. That’s what The Greens stand for, and that’s what I would work for in the Senate representing Queensland,” said Ms Waters.

In the 2004 federal election the Greens polled 5.4% in the Senate and 5.1% in the House of Representatives. In last year’s state election, the Greens received 8% of the vote. In the state Brisbane Central by-election on 12 October 2007, the Greens polled an outstanding 33% of the primary vote (two party preferred 43%).

“This federal election, we have run our strongest campaign to date. We have almost three thousand volunteers who have rung our office wanting to help on a polling booth on Saturday.

“We’ve been able to advertise on metro and rural TV and radio, and place ads in the Courier Mail, The Australian, MX and smaller papers.

“We have extremely high quality candidates in all 29 lower house seats and my two Senate running mates have been actively campaigning throughout the state.

“We’ve had a very positive response from the public over the last few months at public forums and events, and we have a great hit rate of people accepting our leaflets, which shows how much people are yearning for a real alternative.

“Yesterday outside Central Station one in every three people took a Greens flyer from me, and I’m hoping for a similar response today. People like to see the actual candidate handing their flyers, as all our Greens candidates have done throughout the campaign,” said Ms Waters.

Ms Waters will be campaigning in the city today, handing out Greens brochures outside Central Station and other busy locations.

For comment:

Larissa Waters

Australian Greens lead Senate candidate for Queensland

larissa.waters@qld.greens.org.au