Greens leader Adam Bandt becomes second party chief to lose seat after Peter Dutton ousted
A second party leader has been ousted in Labor’s landslide election victory.
Federal Election
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Labor’s bombshell election win has ousted a second party leader, with the Greens’ Adam Bandt losing the seat of Melbourne.
However the party says it’s still too early to concede, with NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi saying they will cannot “declare a position” until every vote is counted.
“I have everything crossed and hope that Adam gets across the line,” she told the ABC on Wednesday.
“In Melbourne the situation is this, 15,000 votes still have not been counted … and those votes often have a very positive outcome for the Greens.”
Sky News called the seat for Labor candidate Sarah Witty about 3.30pm on Wednesday.
Mr Bandt was first elected in 2010, became deputy leader of the Greens two years later and had led the party since 2020.
Senator Faruqi said she didn’t “want to think about” the ramifications of the party losing its leader, and said the ousting of Max Chandler-Mather in Griffith and Stephen Bates in Brisbane were a “loss” to the Greens.
She attributed the losses to voters who were intent on “keeping Peter Dutton out” which resulted in people voting for Labor, instead of the minor party.
“We’ll keep a close eye at the results of Melbourne, Ryan and Wills. (Votes) are still being counted. We’ll cross those bridges when we have a final result,” she said.
The Greens secured their biggest national vote in history in the 2025 election, but failed to retain three of their four seats in the House of Representatives, or pick up any new ones.
The party had set expectations sky high ahead of the vote, projecting they would not only retain their four existing seats, but pick up another five – two in Melbourne, one in regional NSW, one in WA and one in SA.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr Bandt appeared to remain confident he could still cinch his seat, stating it was still his intention to remain as party leader.
“Obviously, that’s up to my colleagues. Under my leadership over two elections now, we’ve delivered a record high House (of Representatives) vote for the last election and a record high Senate vote at this election,” he said.
Mr Bandt also denied that Australian voters had abandoned the Greens, and urged people to look at its performance in the Senate, where the party is posed to hold 11 seats.
“The Greens have actually a record senate vote. We’re nudging 14 per cent at the moment, and we’ll see where it gets to at the end,” he said.
“And I think that’s a reflection of the true Greens level of support in Australia, and it’s a pretty remarkable achievement.”
He also denied the Greens had suffered due to their pro-Palestinian stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
“We were the only ones talking about real action on climate change and calling on the government to stop opening new coal and gas mines,” he said.
“We wanted to see an end to the invasion and … an end to the bombs being dropped on children.”
On Saturday night, Max Chandler-Mather was removed from the seat of Griffith, and Stephen Bates was ousted from Brisbane.
It appears Elizabeth Watson-Brown will retain the seat of Ryan.
Mr Bandt’s seat remained too close to call when counting stopped on Saturday night, but he remained positive when addressing supporters, declaring: “We have kept Dutton out.”
He conceded, however, it was a possibility some seats would turn to Labor after receiving preferences from Liberal candidates.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was also ousted by voters on Saturday, losing not only the election as a whole, but also his seat of Dickson, in Brisbane’s north.
Originally published as Greens leader Adam Bandt becomes second party chief to lose seat after Peter Dutton ousted
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