Greens face quick ballot as Hanson-Young confirms bid
Sarah Hanson-Young has confirmed she will run for the leadership of the Australian Greens.
The vacancy was created by Larissa Waters's resignation to focus on treatment for kidney disease. Waters told Greens MPs on Monday that she would quit the leadership. The Guardian
The new leader will be chosen at a two-day party retreat in Sydney. The leadership question was expected to be resolved by Thursday at the latest.
Deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi, defence spokesperson David Shoebridge and Hanson-Young are the frontrunners for the job. Treasury spokesperson Nick McKim could also contest. Hanson-Young is the Greens' longest-serving federal MP.
The process will be a secret ballot of MPs this week, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The party room that votes has 11 members. Adam Bandt, Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates lost their seats at the 2025 election.
The names will be familiar to anyone who watched the last ballot. Faruqi, Waters and Hanson-Young all sought the leadership when it was last decided in May 2025, according to the ABC.
Looking at what this means for the party room, the maths is brutally simple. Eleven votes. Up to four names in play. No big electoral college to hide behind, no membership ballot to spin as a mandate.
In a group that small, the retreat matters. Two days in Sydney gives the MPs time to test combinations, sound out deputies and policy portfolios, and avoid a ballot that leaves lasting bruises. The public frontrunner talk tells you something, but not much. Canberra leadership counts are rarely settled until the door closes.
In my view, the choice facing the Greens is the standard one after a bad election and a sudden resignation, only compressed. The party must pick someone who can hold a diminished party room together, manage relations with Labor and the crossbench, and front the media within days of taking the job. A longer-serving figure offers continuity. A newer face offers a break. The MPs will have to decide which risk they prefer, and they have until Thursday to do it.
