Queensland Greens - Representation

Representation

The party have one representative in the aforementioned Larissa Waters from 1 July 2011, when she took up her post in the Australian Senate. As of the 2007 federal election, the Queensland Greens were the only state Greens party that had failed to achieve parliamentary representation. The party had been unable to win seats in the Queensland Parliament, which uniquely of Australian state parliaments is unicameral and has no allowance for proportional representation. The party achieved its first parliamentary representative on 5 October 2008 when Ronan Lee defected to the Greens from the Australian Labor Party, due to his belief that the Bligh government was not paying enough attention to environmental issues. He lost his seat at the 2009 state election to the Liberal Nationals.