The Queensland Greens increased their representation from one to two councillors on the Brisbane City Council and won significant swings in other wards at the March 16 election.
In Far North Queensland, the new progressive team听听(CF) did well, winning up to 24% of the vote in the Cairns Regional Council.
CF听is an alliance of community activists, including from Socialist Alliance听and the Greens, and independent and First Nations activists.
Denis Walls as mayoral candidate won 13% of the vote 鈥斕齠ourth of seven candidates. Renee Lees, in division 7, won 24%, coming first in several booths.
Lees, a member of Socialist Alliance, told听91自拍论坛听the campaign was 鈥渆nergising鈥 and that 鈥渨e feel like we鈥檝e had an impact and we can do more鈥.
CF did well in other areas: 23% for Carine Visschers in division 9, 21% for Phillip Musumeci in division 8, 19% for Nicole Sleeman in division 6, 12% for Marisa Seden in division 3 and 6% for Patricia Courtney (against six other candidates) in division 2.
The conservative incumbent Unity Team lost the mayoral race but retains up to four out of nine councillors. Amy Eden, who broke from Unity claiming she would listen to community voices, is likely to become mayor.
Progressive incumbent councillor Rob Pyne (who switched from division 2) won 30% of the vote in division 5 and is likely to win the seat. Pyne is a member of Socialist Alliance, who contested as an independent.
CF was the only team to promote a progressive platform, including housing affordability, improving public transport and climate action. Its campaign was strong enough for other candidates to claim they supported its positions, or talking points.
Sleeman told听GL听the campaign 鈥渟howed me that everyday people can come together and influence election platforms; we had more impact than I expected, and that was validated by feedback from community members鈥.
CF has decided to be a 鈥渃ouncil watch鈥 and an 鈥渆xternal opposition鈥 to the incoming council. It also plans to contest again in four years鈥 time.
Lees believes the group is in a good position to 鈥渆lect people [in 2028] if we do the work between now and then鈥.
In Brisbane, the Liberal National Party鈥檚 (LNP) Adrian Schrinner was returned as mayor with 48% of the vote. Greens candidate and former councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan won 19%.
厂谤颈谤补苍驳补苍补迟丑补苍听听the outcome as 鈥渆asily the best Greens result we鈥檝e ever had in Brisbane at the local government level鈥, although the party did not win as many wards听as hoped.
The addition of one new Greens councillor understates the advance, given the swing of more than 5% on average to the Greens, much of which came from Labor.
鈥淟abor lost some votes to the LNP and a lot of votes to the Greens, who are now beating Labor on primary votes in 10 out of Brisbane鈥檚 26 wards,鈥 Sriranganathan said.
The optional preferential voting system made it harder too. Emerald Moon told the听Serious Danger听听on March 17 that 鈥渋f we had compulsory preferential voting, we would be winning a whole lot of these seats that [were then] on a knife鈥檚 edge鈥.
Labor also suffered 听in two state by-elections on March 16, losing Ipswich West to the LNP听and narrowly retaining Inala (previously held by former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk). The state election is scheduled for October.