"I am preselected as the party's lead Senate candidate for the next federal election and I am absolutely ready to go back to work," Ms Waters said. "I am also very excited for Andrew because I think with his experience he has a very good chance of winning Brisbane." Senator Bartlett, who represented Queensland in the Senate for more than a decade before losing his seat at the 2007 federal election, filled the vacancy created by Ms Waters' resignation. He would now stand down to campaign for the seat of Brisbane, believing the minor party had a chance of wresting the seat from the LNP after the Greens' Michael Berkman won the state seat of Maiwar in 2017 and Jonathan Sri was elected to the Brisbane City Council in 2016. “We’ve got the campaign office up and running at the top of the Chinatown Mall and I’ve just begun some door-knocking,” he said.

“It’s a long-shot chance but I just feel it’s a real chance of winning a House of Representatives seat and we want to make sure that we give ourselves the very best chance of winning it.” Senator Bartlett won pre-selection as the Greens candidate for Brisbane in March 2018. The seat of Brisbane is held by LNP moderate MP Trevor Evans, who polled 49.9 per cent of the first preference vote at the 2016 federal election. Labor’s candidate, Pat O’Neill, polled 26 per cent, while Greens candidate Kirsten Lovejoy polled 19.4 per cent. Mr Evans won the seat and slightly increased the Liberal’s 4.3 per cent margin to slightly more than 5 per cent. Senator Bartlett believed his profile as a long-time senator with the Australian Democrats before he joined the Greens, and as one of Australia’s earliest voices for same-sex marriage and refugee rights, would help raise the Greens vote in the inner-city electorate.

He acknowledged he faced an uphill challenge to win the seat from Mr Evans, saying he would rely on finishing second - ahead of Labor - and defeating the LNP MP on preferences. “Within that 6 per cent, the Greens will still need to finish ahead of Labor on the primary vote,” he said. “The core thing is for the combined Labor/Green vote to increase by around 6 per cent and within that for the Greens to finish ahead of Labor. “That is a fairly similar scenario to what happened in Maiwar in the recent state election.” Senator Bartlett, who lives in Brisbane and is a volunteer at independent radio station 4ZZZ, stood for the seat at the last federal election and gained more than 20 per cent of the primary vote.