Nearly half of Greens partyroom enters leadership contest ahead of vote

In her pitch for the leadership, Faruqi said the Greens needed to grow, highlighting a “broken” economic model that was hurting voters. The senator has ventilated her frustration that the Greens have not seen a boost in the polls since the election, amid the ascendancy of One Nation, compared to the rise of populist left-wing leaders in the UK such as Greens leader Zack Polanski and the New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Hanson-Young, the first Green to put their hand up for leadership candidacy, raised the threat of a “hate peddling” One Nation, and highlighted protection of the environment in her pitch to party members. Hanson-Young said on Tuesday she was contacting her colleagues to seek their support.

“The selection of a new leader comes at a time of genuine debate and disagreement about the future strategic and political direction of the party. That debate couldn’t have higher stakes,” Chandler-Mather wrote in a letter to parliamentary colleagues.

He said the Greens received almost 2 million votes last election, yet the direction of the party’s leadership would be determined by just 11 elected representatives.

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