MP vows to provide ‘real opposition’ to Morrison government as senators Larissa Waters and Nick McKim elected co-deputy leaders of the party

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Adam Bandt has been elected Greens leader unopposed, with Larissa Waters and Nick McKim to serve as co-deputy leaders.

The Greens party whip Rachel Siewert delivered the result of the Greens’ party room meeting on Tuesday, settling the leadership question created when Richard Di Natale announced his resignation on Monday. Waters was also elected Senate leader and McKim will become deputy Senate leader.

Bandt immediately announced the Greens would campaign on a platform of a Green New Deal, rebranding policies to include dental care in Medicare, make education free by abolishing public school fees, and to phase out fossil fuel extraction in favour of an advanced mining and manufacturing sector powered by renewable energy.

Bandt told reporters in Canberra he aimed to win the balance of power in both the House of Representatives and Senate at the next election, promising to build campaign pressure on the Morrison government to take action on climate change in the meantime but ultimately to turf them out of office.

Bandt cited the Greens’ agreement with the Gillard Labor government in 2010 as a model, saying “the only time that pollution has been cut in this country is when [the] Greens shared power [with Labor and independents]”.

He also noted the Greens’ Shane Rattenbury holds the climate portfolio in the Australian Capital Territory government and Jacinda Ardern governs with the Greens in New Zealand.

In an escalation of rhetoric, Bandt said he would remind Australia that the planet is on track for 3C of heating, blaming the Coalition government, which he labelled “criminal” for abolition of the carbon price under Tony Abbott.

Bandt said that given catastrophic bushfires had occurred at 1C of heating, that the Coalition’s path to 3C would lead to “three times as much pain, three times as much suffering and three times as many deaths”. He also warned big businesses that are “killing people” by contributing to “climate catastrophe” that they should be worried.

Bandt suggested the Greens would provide “real opposition” to the Morrison government.

He argued that although the Liberal and Labor parties are not “the same”, they are “singing from the same song sheet” about the need for Australia to maintain a coalmining industry, and also criticised Labor’s decision to pass income tax cuts that benefited high-income earners.

Bandt, a former industrial lawyer with close links to unions, was elected to the lower house in 2010. He was the first and still only Greens member of the House of Representatives, elected to the seat of Melbourne after the retirement of Labor’s Lindsay Tanner.

Play Video 6:06 What is the Green New Deal?

Anthony Albanese told ABC TV he didn’t think the change of Greens leader would “make an enormous difference” to Labor because he was running against Scott Morrison and the Coalition, not the Greens.

“The Greens remain essentially a Senate-based party,” he said. “We’ll see how it works having their only member of the House of Representatives as the leader.”

Albanese noted that “from time to time Adam Bandt’s rhetoric is more extreme than Richard Di Natale’s”.

“I don’t think that you advance your cause, your objective, by coming up with strong rhetoric that has people who agree with you agreeing with you even stronger.”

In a statement, Bandt thanked Di Natale “for his leadership of our party and service to our country” and his colleagues “for their support and the confidence they have placed in me”. Di Natale resigned on Monday to spend more time with his family.



“In particular, I want to congratulate Larissa Waters for being elected today as leader in the Senate and Nick McKim for being elected as deputy leader in the Senate,” he said.

“We are in the middle of a climate emergency and long-running jobs and inequality crises.

“People are angry and anxious because the government has no plan for the big problems facing the country.

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“I call on everyone, but particularly young Australians, to join our movement for a Green New Deal so together we can fight to save the future.”

Siewert was returned as whip and Janet Rice continues as party room chair and also takes on the new role of deputy whip.