Stephen Bates

You can always check out what I'm up to and our upcoming events, doorknocks and free community BBQs at my Linktree! linktr.ee/stephenbates.g…

Absolutely wild. When the gov and opposition team up to ram a bill through parliament with a 24 hour consultation period, you know something’s up.

In a word? Grim. Tomorrow, the fight for a fairer and more just world continues. It is never going to be easy but it’s a fight we must have. Neoliberalism is incapable of saving us from the far right, fascism, and climate change. Bold, structural change is our only hope.

People with student debt are hurting. This down payment on wiping all student debt can't be held to ransom until after the next election. The PM says he wants the next government to cut debts, but he could do it now. Today I wrote to the PM, offering to pass the cuts this year.

And so it begins. Nothing liberal left in the 2024 Liberal National party.

I have said it before and I will say it again, the Greens are the only party with a guarantee that every single MP will vote for women’s right to choose, every single time. Queensland Greens #QandA #auspol #abortion

If you want to help people buy a home, then Labor should work with the Greens to phase out negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, and establish a government owned developer to build quality homes and sell them for cheap to first home buyers.

Voting Greens means you not only elect a representative who doesn’t take corporate money and fights for the community’s interest, you’ll also force a more progressive Labor party. If you want a more progressive politics in QLD, it’s time to vote Greens.

The longer the two party system reigns, the worse outcomes we get, and the realm of what’s possible continues to shrink. The continuing and cementing existence (and political threat) of The Greens in QLD politics has already shifted the Overton window.

The shift of QLD Labor to adopt numerous Greens policies (or float them in the media) shows the power that comes from threatening the two party system. QLD Labor’s announcement of free school meals for children in state primary schools is a prime example of this.

Woolworths and Coles have been caught red-handed price gouging during a cost-of-living crisis, and Labor’s been asleep at the wheel. These corporate villains are profiting off fake discounts and ripping off Australians.

The Whitlam Gov introduced free university, the precursor to Medicare, and oversaw a mass build of public housing. Why, in the middle of the worst housing crisis in generations, should renters accept worse than scraps from a Labor party that has forgotten they are in gov

The Greens will be seeking a meeting with the Minister about the ABS’ recommendations regarding questions on variations of sex characteristics and to understand how the government plans to work with the intersex community going forward.

I strongly urge the government to keep working with the ABS and the expert LGBTIQ+ advisory panel to ensure that a question on variations of sex characteristics is in the next census.

After weeks of pressure from the LGBTIQA+ community, this shift by the government to include questions on sexual orientation and gender in the census is positive but still leaves the intersex community behind.

How are these questions remotely complicated? I trust the ABS and the expert panel put together for these questions in the census more than I trust the vibes-based approach of the PM.