After 7 years, Jonathan Sriranganathan, Councillor for The Gabba is moving on. Jonno has done so much incredible work and will be hugely missed. We’re excited that Trina Massey will move into the role to continue the amazing work Jonno has done to use council to transform our political system at the local level.
We’re wishing you all the best Jonno and we’re so grateful for all you’ve achieved 💚💚💚
More from Jonno:
Big personal news to share…
After 7 years as the only Greens city councillor in Queensland, I’m ready for a break and some other adventures, so I’m moving on from my role as councillor for the Gabba Ward!
As is often the case when people step down from high-profile positions, there’s a whole combination of factors behind the decision rather than any one single reason… These include wanting more time with loved ones, the urge to put more energy into music and writing, a desire to explore other forms of grassroots activism, feeling a little worn out by racism and police harassment combined with such heavy public scrutiny, having to deal with overly-entitled people who think that how often grass gets cut in the local park is the MOST important thing I should be looking into, and of course, the banal pointlessness of sitting through mind-numbingly farcical council meetings every Tuesday where Labor and LNP councillors mostly just hurl insults at each other.
(It’s possible that council meetings could serve a very different, useful function, where meaningful decisions are made, and contrasting visions for the future of our city are considered and debated, but under the current LNP administration, they’re just a rubber-stamping process that serve primarily as political theatre, while the actual decisions have already been made by the mayor behind closed doors.)
Perhaps the most important reason I’m stepping down though, is that I think it’s important that politicians don’t hold on to safe seats for too long, gradually accruing more power and influence while losing perspective (if they ever had any) of the struggles of the most marginalised members of our community.
With the next council election coming up in March 2024, I had to decide whether I wanted to serve another 4-year term, by the end of which I would have held the role for 12 years without a break. I think 12 years is about the absolute maximum a politician should hold onto the same seat, particularly when we should be making space for a wider range of voices within our political system.
Being an elected representative changes you, often in ways you barely notice unless you make time for critical self-reflection.
Regardless of whether political parties are involved or not, the very nature of majoritarian hierarchical representative democracy corrupts the way people make decisions. It changes their openness to collaborating as opposed to giving orders, and how they engage with conflict. It means politicians don’t have time to engage meaningfully with new or unorthodox ideas, and they increasingly tend to see everything through adversarial, us-vs-them lenses. This doesn’t just happen because of political parties (although I think parties tend to exacerbate tribalism) – we see the same thing in various jurisdictions even among reps who don’t have a party affiliation. I’ve tried to resist this in part through staying connected to music and activism communities, but the pressure is relentless. Anyway that’s a whole essay in itself, so maybe I’ll save it for another post.
I’m announcing that I’m stepping down today, but I’ll continue to serve as councillor until the end of April, tidying up loose ends and making sure there’s a smooth transition to our new Gabba Ward councillor, who should be sworn in at the start of May (and who I’ll introduce shortly in another post). So there’ll be plenty of time for more reflections and thank yous etc.
There are quite a few active community groups, campaigns and local projects that we’ve been connected to, and the Gabba Ward office will continue to support those activities. My ward office staff are staying on in their roles, so there shouldn’t be too much disruption on that front. I’ll do another much longer thank you post in a few weeks, but for now I just want to briefly express my deep and sincere gratitude to:
– my friends and family – particularly my amazing partner Anna
– my kickarse ward office staff (current and former) and all the people who helped me get elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020
– all the lovely Brisbane City Council employees I’ve collaborated with, who have done their best to work towards a more sustainable, equitable vision for our city, despite some significant resistance from the LNP
– all the residents and community groups I’ve worked with and who’ve had my back
– Greens members and supporters from across the country
(I should perhaps also thank the handful of conservative hacks who relentlessly criticise me on this page, because without you continually trolling me, fewer people would see my posts and hear what I have to say.)
I suppose a lot of people are now going to be asking me “what’s next?” and aren’t going to be content with an answer of “I just want a break to reflect and rest.”
In a capitalist society, it’s still seen as a little unusual that someone my age would give up a secure job without a plan for the next step in their ‘career path.’ But honestly, I just want to chill out for a bit.
When I first got involved with the Greens, one of my main motivations was to help build up the party here in Brisbane. We only had one federal senate seat at the time, and the Greens vote in Queensland was pretty stagnant.
We set out to prove that it was possible to take a more radical message and transformative vision to the electorate while winning over more voters… and it worked! Since my election in 2016, the Queensland Greens now have two state parliament seats and five federal seats, and we’re on track to pick up a bunch more council seats next March. I’m definitely not claiming sole credit for that, and obviously there’s still a lot of work left to do, but I feel pretty pleased to have played a part in building a powerful political force in Queensland that can effectively challenge the dominance of the two major parties. And now I think it’s a good time to make space for others…
For those journalists and political commentators who aren’t content with that answer, here’s a longer list of all the things I might do over the next 12 to 24 months:
– Become a reporter for the Courier Mail
– Move to Inala and run for state parliament against Annastacia Palaszczuk to convince her not to waste $3 billion demolishing and rebuilding the Gabba
– Set up a running blockade of the nearest coal mine
– Run for Coorparoo Ward in the council election so we can win it off the LNP
– Take a job with Santos under a fake name and bring it down from the inside (if anyone with a conscience does still work for Santos, I hope you ARE quietly sabotaging its operations)
– Occupy empty inner-city mansions and hotels and turn them into crisis accommodation for residents who can’t afford rising rents
– Plan a statewide rent strike (we actually have a meeting about rent strikes coming up on 5 April for those who are interested – check my events page)
– Record a self-indulgent concept album that no-one really understands but everyone pretends to like so they don’t look ‘uncultured’
– Write a book about the future of Brisbane and how we can use the coming Olympics as the catalyst for an anti-capitalist revolution
– Start my own political party called ‘The Teals’ just to confuse everyone
– work for the Greens behind the scenes to win a whole bunch of council seats next year and take control of Brisbane City Council (based on recent federal election results, the Greens could be in a position to win as many as 10 council wards in 2024…)
– Join the Labor Party because apparently “tHaT’s HoW rEAL chAnGe haPpeNs”
– live in my camper van for a year and hop between music festivals and forest blockades
– shut down the Pinkenba detention centre
– learn how to sabotage coal seam gas wells to scare new fossil fuel investment out of Qld
Alright that’ll do for now. For any journalists (or journalism students who have an assignment to write at the last-minute), we’re doing a press conference at 1:30pm today in Bunyapa Park where we’ll be announcing our new councillor for the Gabba Ward (footage in the comments).
Also: we’re going to throw a massive party on the night of Saturday, 29 April in Woolloongabba to mark the end of my time in office – keep an eye out for promo for that one.
Thanks so much everyone! It’s been a wild ride.
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