Brisbane Greens councillor Trina Massey has rejected claims that the party is in decline, arguing it can combine moderate politics with demands for deeper structural change as it seeks to increase its representation at the 2028 council election.
Massey, who represents the Gabba ward, said the Greens should not be forced to choose between working within existing political structures and using protest and disruption to press for change.
“I think we can do both,” she said. “I think if we look historically, no political change has been made possible by just doing one lane … I do both.”
Her comments come after a series of setbacks for the Greens at federal, state and local level. At the last federal election, Brisbane MPs Stephen Bates and Max Chandler-Mather lost their seats, while Amy MacMahon was defeated in South Brisbane at the most recent Queensland state election.
Massey was speaking at Echo & Bounce in Woolloongabba, where Greens supporters had watched the party’s lower-house representation come close to being wiped out. She was also at the venue to perform a DJ set later that day.
Despite the recent losses, she believes the party is positioned to expand its presence on Brisbane City Council. The Greens retained the Gabba ward at the last council election and gained another seat when Seal Chong Wah was elected in Paddington.
“A good result for us is not only increasing our vote, a good result is getting our message out there, getting people talking,” Massey said.
“Whether that means the Greens are going to win four, six or eight wards in 2028, I don’t know … I think a good result would be that we increase the number of councillors.”
She added: “It doesn’t have to be LNP … There are other ways you can run council.”
Brisbane Greens councillor rejects ‘decline’ narrative
Massey’s predecessor in the Gabba ward, Jonathan Sriranganathan, has argued that the Greens need to choose between being an anti-establishment party committed to major change and a centre-left party focused on incremental reform.
Sriranganathan said the party was struggling to benefit from public frustration because it was attempting to occupy both positions at once. Massey rejected that analysis.
“Residents want me to press every lever … protest and disruption is a lever, and some things we do have to protest,” she said. “This idea that the Greens are in decline is completely not a real narrative.”
She said the party had previously promoted policies that were later adopted by its major-party rivals, citing its 2017 proposal for one-dollar public transport fares in Queensland. The major parties initially rejected the idea before introducing 50-cent fares years later.
“We were told we were crazy … we’ve been so instrumental in pushing policies or changes that both major parties have never wanted to even look at, but we’ve had challenges in communicating those wins,” she said.
Massey believes the Greens could secure a significant number of council seats with only a small increase in their primary vote. Several wards were closely contested between the Greens and the LNP in 2024.
Her focus is also on what she describes as Brisbane City Council’s two most pressing problems: the sale of public assets and inadequate public consultation.
She has criticised the proposed development of the Visy site in South Brisbane, which is expected to include more than 4,000 apartments and about 1.2 hectares of public space. The Goprint site is also among the assets she says should not have been sold.
“The Schrinner administration believes its job is to just approve development with no parameters, with no thoughts about housing affordability,” Massey said.
“The city developers building developments are getting away with everything … [the council and state government] basically enable developers to run roughshod across local communities.”
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has confirmed he will seek re-election in 2028, while Labor leader Jared Cassidy is considering a bid for the position. Massey said she was not currently planning her own campaign for lord mayor, although she had not ruled one out in the future.
“It is something that I will definitely consider in the future. Brisbane needs better leadership,” she said.
Massey, who was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia as a child, was elected to the Gabba ward in her own right in 2024 after entering the contest when Sriranganathan stood down to run for mayor.
She said Scott Morrison’s Coalition victory at the 2019 federal election had prompted her to move from political commentary into active party membership.
“I realised posting on Facebook every two or three years wasn’t enough,” she said. “When I decided what party to join, it really went down to what my values were … I believe in fairness and justice, and so for me it was the Greens.”
Massey is one of a small number of LGBTQ women of colour in elected public office in Australia and is among the few renters on Brisbane City Council. She said the political system did not adequately reflect people from backgrounds such as hers.
