Max Chandler-Mather’s decision this week to climb onto a stage in support of the embattled CFMEU was a high risk strategy that ended in a spectacular own goal for both the savvy 32-year-old Greens’ MP and his party.

From every angle, Chandler-Mather’s loud support looked like an endorsement of a union which stands accused of violence, gross misogyny, and enveloping a culture that is toxic to the core.

It was a bad, bad look, made worse by posters labelling Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a traitor and likening him to Adolf Hitler, and the brash, intemperate language of CFMEU officials who screamed abuse while demanding supporters embark on the “absolute destruction of the Australian Labor Party’’.

It was a tad indecorous and opened the Greens up to accusations it was embarking on a brash power play to broaden its political appeal, at any cost.

The Greens see its performance both in the upcoming Queensland election and the looming federal poll as crucial to its future; an opportunity to extend its influence and grow its support beyond constituencies worried about environmental and climate issues.

Chandler-Mather has used the housing crisis to do exactly that. As the Greens’ housing spokesman, he has championed renters as the face of the nation’s cost of living crisis, successfully garnering support and even influencing legislative change.

But this week’s antics, which he claims were dictated by the Greens’ opposition to a bill to force the CFMEU into administration on the grounds it was a denial of natural justice, did more harm than good.

In a few short, loud sound bites, the Greens looked more like a party of protest than a party of policy.

It also looked more like a political performance by the party’s showman, than a dignified call for support for those law-abiding construction workers who have done nothing wrong.

And it meant Chandler-Mather’s leader Adam Bandt had to spend his time defending Chandler-Mather’s behaviour; time the party had hoped would focus on the Green’s corporate tax policies.

So who is Chandler-Mather? Elected at the 2022 federal election, he toppled Labor frontbencher Terri Butler in the Brisbane seat of Griffith, once held by former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

That victory put Chandler-Mather’s name up in lights; a win that was delivered in equal measure by Chandler-Mather’s relentless local campaigning (we personally had three door-knock visits) and a view that Butler was driven more by big policy than the concerns of her electorate.

Since then, Chandler-Mather’s profile has grown mostly on the back of savvy media performances.

And that’s why this week’s horseplay is particularly hard to fathom.

It provided a fillip to Labor, which has had to dig deep to take on a union that is now supercharged to see its political demise.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Senator Murray Watt, on a spot of political deflection, claimed the Chandler-Mather performance was driven solely by politics. The Greens’ MP had wanted to boost his profile, and “it doesn’t seem to matter what the cause is’’.

“The most dangerous place you can possibly be is between Max Chandler-Mather and a TV camera,” Watt said.

Of course, this is a tricky one for Labor, with up to five unions now considering funding legal challenges to its legislative plans.

Labor’s attacks were followed by the Teal independents, with Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel labelling the Greens as “disingenuous at best’’.

It was impossible to advocate for integrity, women’s safety and equality and then be a “cheer squad’’ for a leadership accused of behaviour that undermined all of that, she said.

It wasn’t the write-up the Greens were after, and points to the party’s desperate attempt to kept aloft that wave of support it has seen in recent elections.

The first test will be in a few weeks, when Queensland goes to the polls, with the Greens claiming they are poised to take several key inner-city Labor seats including that of high-profile industrial relations minister Grace Grace.

Looking at the polling, that might be a realistic result, which would be boosted by a touted deal between the party and the Liberal National Party explicitly to lock out Labor MPs.

That deal, like Chandler-Mather’s performance at this week’s CFMEU rally, is all about politics.

Pure and simple.