2026-10-29
By Elizabeth Watson-Brown
MP for Ryan
Friends,
The last year has been one of significant political instability, in Australia and around the world. Here at home we’ve seen the rise of One Nation, a consequence of voters increasingly deserting the two old parties. All these trends are a symptom of neoliberalism disempowering and alienating everyday people, and speak to the power of the right-wing media in blaming migrants rather than billionaires.
Meanwhile, the Greens are the only party standing up for economic fairness, climate action and global peace and justice. While there are no shortcuts, I remain optimistic that in these conditions, if we patiently and strategically continue our work, we can seize the opportunity to win over a significant number of voters looking for an alternative.
Representing Ryan in the lower house, I am very aware of the political shifts on the ground. Many people have been asking what we can do to combat the rise of the far right. I believe that for us, it requires two things: firstly, it comes from boldly showing that there is another alternative to the political establishment – one based on our common humanity. Secondly, this alternative has to embed itself ever more in different communities, mobilise more people and show that collective action is possible.
Here in Ryan, our community work has continued to evolve in this direction. For several years, my office has provided weekly community dinners in St Lucia, Kenmore and The Gap. We have continued our office community pantry, an essential support for many families.
We have also organised some larger events that have aimed to integrate larger sections of the community. Our Easter Scavenger Hunt was a big hit, with approximately 2,000 attendees. It was a delight to see so many families playing games, doing activities and sharing meals. We received so much positive feedback, and I can’t thank my team enough for their work in organising it.
We had an even bigger win in September, with our community festival ‘Alive in the Sunshine’ held at the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. Over 5,000 people attended, across five hours of music, activities, panel discussions and speeches. Over 30 community organisations took part, along with a large number of small businesses, local artists, and political campaigners. As I reflected in Parliament afterwards, coming together like this strengthens our confidence in ourselves, and our capacity to build the better future we all deserve.
Meanwhile my team and I are leading the charge in Queensland on the campaign for a gas tax. We have delivered 10,000s of flyers, put up hundreds of yardsigns, held a number of large scale community events, and mobilised hundreds for our monthly sign wave actions. Our office is now a hub for campaign activities across the city, and the response has been incredible. I’m looking forward to the next steps of this campaign that is really starting to build pressure for meaningful political change.
I’m also incredibly proud of the work my constituent advocacy team does every day, making a real difference improving the lives of hundreds of Ryan locals. Navigating Australia’s nightmarishly bureaucratic, poorly designed, and poorly funded social services can genuinely destroy people’s lives. That’s why our advocacy on NDIS, Centrelink, Immigration and a host of other issues is so vitally important.
My portfolio areas of Transport, Infrastructure and Sustainable Cities often overlap with my advocacy for Ryan. This is especially true for the issue of excessive flight noise, where we had a substantial win earlier this year with a flight path redesign that sends more flights over the bay, and far fewer over people’s homes. The government has also proposed two aviation bills in recent months, on which I negotiated directly with the Minister. It is clear that Labor is unwilling to do anything substantive to improve the situation, either for communities in flight paths or consumers in general. Tinkering around the edges of the issue is not good enough. We need proper protection for communities living under flight paths, and I will continue pushing for the government to adopt many of the recommendations of last year’s Senate inquiry into the issue.
More broadly in Parliament, I have been working hard to hold the government to account, and expose the fact that they, the Coalition and One Nation are all part of the same corporate takeover of our politics. Collaborating with my Greens friends in the Senate, and my crossbench colleagues in the House, I will continue to speak up for Ryan and the issues that matter.
While it can be easy to get sucked into the personalities and proceedings during sitting weeks, it is always a relief to get back to Ryan and connect with my community. Real change will only come from growing our movement far beyond the halls of Parliament. Over the next twelve months we will begin to gear up for the next election cycle. Building our movement to be stronger than ever will take all of us. See you out there!
In hope,
- Libby