Why can’t Labor win Brisbane council? Their leader thinks he knows, and can turn the tide

2 hours ago 1

Labor hasn’t led Brisbane’s city council for two decades, and its current team of councillors could fit into a hatchback.

But leader Jared Cassidy believes they can increase their representation from five wards to 13 or more at the next election and win back the lord mayor’s office – potentially with himself on the ticket to snatch the robes from LNP incumbent Adrian Schrinner.

“We’ve learnt a lot of lessons, and we’ll be targeting vulnerable LNP councillors,” he says.

Brisbane City Council Labor leader Jared Cassidy is weighing up a tilt for lord mayor.

“I think what you’ll see at the next election is a very different type of approach.”

In an interview with this masthead, the 37-year-old, who has steered the party’s council team since 2019, explains why he believes Labor has been unable to cut through for a generation.

Sitting in a quiet nook at the Myrtle and Blossom cafe in Sandgate, in his ward of Deagon in the city’s north, Cassidy lists the LNP-held seats that Labor believes are vulnerable.

Recently back from time off in Melbourne – where he had tickets to attend day three of what turned out to be a two-day Boxing Day Test – Cassidy chats with staff while ordering a long black with a splash of milk.

“I feel refreshed and ready to go this year,” he says.

Why can’t Labor gain traction?

Across 26 wards, Labor has just four other representatives: Lucy Collier in Morningside, Charles Strunk in Forest Lake, Emily Kim in Calamvale, and Steve Griffiths in Moorooka.

The Greens have two councillors, there’s one independent, and the other 18, plus the lord mayor, are members of the LNP.

“To sort of break that incumbency, you need a lot of money or a very big ground game.”

In a city where Labor has had a better track record of winning over voters at the state and federal levels in recent years, why can’t it gain traction in council?

“It’s a question we ask ourselves a lot,” Cassidy says.

“To sort of break that incumbency, you need a lot of money or a very big ground game, and I think something that we’ve learnt and applied over recent [state and federal] elections is going back to the future and campaigning on the ground.

Jared Cassidy says his team has been out speaking to ratepayers every week, hearing frustration across three key topics.

“I concede [Schrinner] is successful at hiding his deeply conservative politics, which really don’t align with the vast majority of the people of Brisbane.”

Cassidy says his team has been out speaking to ratepayers every week, hearing frustrations across three main topics: traffic and congestion, housing affordability, and suburban neglect.

With a platform that tackles those concerns, he’s adamant it’s “very possible” that Labor could secure a major swing at the next election, which isn’t until early 2028.

“Brand LNP is not a good brand at the moment,” he says.

“The challenge for us is to … actually reach enough people and say to everyday punters, ‘the LNP politicians that you have a problem with at a federal level and at a state level because they don’t share your values and your priorities, they’re the same people at a council level’.”

That Cassidy is weighing up a tilt for lord mayor is an unusual and risky move for a sitting councillor, as he would be required to resign his position.

“It’s a path I’ve decided not to go down previously but, look, I’d be lying if I said I’m not thinking about it now, because the situation has changed so much,” he said.

In December, Schrinner confirmed to this masthead that he’s planning to seek re-election.

Wards to watch in 2028

Among the wards Cassidy singles out for targeting are Holland Park – where LNP incumbent and former deputy mayor Krista Adams will not run again – Northgate, Runcorn and Wynnum Manly. He says the LNP are “very vulnerable” in others.

Cassidy is adamant he would change the way the institution of local government operates from the ground up – “we have to go back to fundamentals” – but concedes he can’t outline an extensive policy platform two years out from the election.

“The problem is that if you increase supply at the moment, you’re increasing supply that is costing people $1 million for a unit, or $2 million or $3 million … it’s not diluting the market.”

At a state government level, Labor’s affordability mandates in areas including Woolloongabba proved controversial, with few development applications lodged and the LNP arguing they were driving away investment.

“For us, it’s about reform; it’s about making the lives of working people better, about delivering services to ordinary people out in the suburbs,” Cassidy says.

“I want to support a full-throated campaign in 2028. What role I end up playing in that, I don’t know, but I’ll throw everything at it.”