Are the Queensland Greens using homelessness issues to gain votes in Labor electorates? Craig Hill discusses his personal experience with Max Chandler-Mather's campaign office.
THIS WEEK, I received a phone call from Queensland Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather’s office, praising me for my previous successes in working with the homeless in Brisbane.
Max’s office asked me to assist in their supposed homelessness project, where I could use my lived experience and previous accomplishments to help the homeless.
I agreed and asked what I could do to help.
The staffer then said she wanted me to doorknock in Labor electorates, recounting my experiences and telling people what a great job Max is doing.
I found this quite insulting and explained to the staffer that this would not benefit anyone except Max.
I further explained that Max had not, in fact, achieved anything other than blocking legislation that would actually help the homeless and people affected by rent increases.
I went on to explain that Max’s insistence on ridiculous rent caps had actually spooked landlords into increasing rents in the fear that these caps would become legislation.
The staffer then became extremely aggressive and abusive, claiming that if I did not help Max with door-knocking, then I was not serious about helping the homeless and was a fraud.
This was not the first time that Max’s office had contacted me. Earlier this year, they approached me with exactly the same offer.
The reality is that Max is not interested in helping the homeless — Max is interested in using the homeless as political pawns to win votes in Labor electorates.
I was doubly disappointed because I have previously, on two occasions, given Max a platform on the Australian politics community of Reddit, which has over 230,000 subscribers.
In fact, in this community, they give politicians from all political parties an unbiased platform where they can present their policies and answer questions directly from the general public.
This is something that is missing in Australia’s mainstream media and you can see the full list of politicians that have been platformed at this link.
The successes Max’s office talked about date back to my own experiences as a homeless person in Brisbane in 2005.
I was working selling The Big Issue magazine on a street corner in the CBD, to help pay for food and other essentials.
I met Brisbane businesswoman Sarina Russo, who agreed to fund my paid employment with The Big Issue for six months by donating $10,000 of her own money. This was not a government grant.
In this employment, I was able to develop systems and communication channels between The Big Issue magazine, social housing organisations, the Department of Housing, the Rental Bond Board and charities such as Saint Vincent De Paul.
The effect of these systems was such that a streetie could come to the The Big Issue office in the morning and on most occasions be in housing by late that afternoon.
When the six months of employment had finished, I was approached by former Australian Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett's staff to continue this work from his office in Fortitude Valley, an inner Brisbane suburb.
Shortly thereafter, I was approached by Vodafone Australia telling me that I was one of the four successful people, from 500 applicants across Australia, who would be given a grant of $75,000 to pay for wages and expenses for one year to work for a charity.
I opted to continue my work with The Big Issue magazine, but unfortunately, the contract fell through when the manager of The Big Issue in Queensland refused to sign the contract unless Vodafone sent him the money first.
This manager was placed high in the Greens hierarchy in Queensland and later went on to become a Greens Senate candidate.
I continued working with the homeless in Brisbane for a further two years as an independent operator, including some more time in Senator Bartlett's office.
In 2007, I travelled to America and worked with the homeless in Honolulu and Seattle for six months.
Between 2009 and 2012, I worked as a corporate trainer for Fortune 500 companies in China and worked with the homeless in various towns and cities in my free time.
Since 2012, I have worked on various social justice projects as an independent operator.
With the support afforded to me by Big Issue, Senator Bartlett and others, I was able to get off the streets, complete four degrees and open my own business school.
Max knows of my history and wants to use it for his own political purposes — for the Greens to win votes in Labor seats.
In fact, Max and the Greens are using homelessness as an issue to score political points against Labor.
I believe the Greens are not committed to helping the homeless and taking advice from Max on these issues will not help them. The bigger political issues seem to be beyond the Greens' capabilities at this point.
Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based journalist and education consultant, and a keen observer of Australian and Chinese politics. You can follow Craig on Twitter/X @CraigHill01.
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