Andrew McLean – The Greens

State Government Election 2024

I joined the Greens because they don’t take corporate donations. Big corporations don’t give money from the goodness of their hearts. They do it to buy outcomes. Just in Queensland, Labor and LNP have taken $25.3 million in donations from big corporations in the last decade, so of course they will never stand up for regular Queenslanders. 

I run a housing nonprofit and I’ve been a youth worker, pastor, concreter and had my own mobile mechanic business. I’m an environmentalist who lives my values. The Greens found that they couldn’t protect the environment without challenging toxic and destructive economic structures. 

That’s why we have made powerful enemies. Last election saw the fossil fuel industry spend over $5 million on anti-Greens ads. I used to vote for the major parties, but now I’m a part of a people-powered movement, designed to break the stranglehold of the two old parties. The old parties have changed and are bleeding votes. 

Positive change doesn’t happen overnight, but the first step is voting for someone who will fight for you and the things you believe in. Election vision Politics is not working for us. The Greens will fix the housing crisis – the crisis has been caused by governments failing to build enough public housing. 

The Greens will expand Queensland’s public builder and start a public property developer to build 100,000 new public homes to rent or buy for below market prices, cutting out greedy private developers and big banks. We’ll build infill homes to stop landclearing for suburbs and make our neighbourhoods walkable. 

There is only one way to make housing cheaper, and that is to take on the private developer juggernaut. The Greens will freeze and cap rents. Rents are out of control and it breaks my heart watching people work multiple jobs to keep ahead. This is not how one of the wealthiest countries in the world needs to be. We will stop new coal and gas projects, and increase investment in renewables. We will stand up for animals, waterways and forests. Queensland is responsible for more deforestation than the rest of the states put together.

If nature isn’t healthy, we aren’t healthy! We will cap prices of essential groceries and break apart Coles and Woolies to bring cheaper groceries. We’ll make healthcare more affordable with 200 new bulk-billing GP clinics across Queensland and 20 free psychology sessions a year for everyone. We will endorse a Queensland State Bank that won’t be beholden to shareholders, so it will be able to provide cheaper mortgages and fee-free service. We will create a public mining company. 

Only 3% of the wealth of our private mining companies go to Queenslanders. In Norway it’s 55%. We are being ripped off . A public mining company will bring the wealth to where it belongs, not in a billionaire’s pocket. A public mining company will build real, reciprocal relationships with our First Nations peoples.