The Greens float a return to their roots with throuple leadership

The Greens have reportedly been ruminating over a pathway forward that would see the party execute a political throuple act.

The Greens are considering a return to their collective roots with a throuple leadership option involving a trio of three female leaders.

News.com.au reported last week that Sarah Hanson-Young and Mehreen Faruqi were firming as the leading candidates to replace Adam Bandt

Questions had emerged over whether Greens Senate leader Larissa Water wanted to take on all the controversy that goes with being the leader.

That left two likely candidates – South Australian Sarah Hanson-Young and the deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi.

But there are now fresh reports that the Greens could declare all three women co-leaders.

In other words, a political throuple act.

It’s not as weird as it sounds given the Greens never had a leader at all for many years until Bob Brown got the gig.

The 2025 Australian Greens leadership will be decided by the party room at a date to be determined but if history is a guide a leadership contest would break with tradition.

Adam Bandt lost the federal seat of Melbourne. Picture: NewsWire/David Crosling

Influencer and Greens supporter Abbie Chatfield. Picture: Supplied

The Greens have never held leadership vote for the top job

The Greens have never had a ballot for the leadership since the inception of the party and the leaders’ have always been elected unopposed.

Twenty years ago Tasmanian Bob Brown was elected unopposed as leader, prior to this they did not have a party leader, preferring a consultative model of government.

In 2008, Christine Milne was appointed as the Australian Greens first deputy leader.

The Greens did have a deputy leadership spill in 2010 following the 2010 Australian federal election.

The contest was between Senator for Tasmania Christine Milne and Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young, who was critical of the Greens supporting the minority Labor Gillard government. She lost.

In 2012, Bob Brown announced he was retiring. Christine Milne was elected unopposed.

Adam Bandt and Sarah Hanson-Young contested the deputy leadership. Sarah Hanson-Young lost again.

In 2015, the Greens got a new leader, Victorian Richard Di Natale. Once again he was appointed unopposed.

In 2020, he retired and Adam Bandt was elected unopposed.

Shell-shocked Greens Senators are reeling

After the leader Adam Bandt lost the seat of Melbourne in the election the party now has one MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown who holds the Queensland seat of Ryan.

Despite going backwards in the lower house, the party’s 11 Senators means Labor will be reliant on them or the Liberals to get the 39 votes required to pass legislation.

That makes the Greens the key voting bloc Labor will need to deal with to pass laws.

After campaigning with influencer Abbie Chatfield and a giant toothbrush, Mr Bandt said after the election that he had no regrets despite recording a 4 per cent swing against him in Melbourne.

“Today, millions of people have voted Greens with hope and ambition,’’ he said.

“We have secured the biggest national vote in our history.

“And together we have kicked Dutton out.”

Abbie Chatfield reacts

Influencer Abbie Chatfield, who campaigned with Mr Bandt during the 2025 election said she was crying tears of joy on election night after it emerged that not only were the Liberal Party struck by a total wipe-out, but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had lost his seat.

“First of all, I’m okay with this outcome,” she said.

“I wish Adam Bandt would have kept his seat. But obviously the greater good was to keep Dutton out. Now that was achieved, that was the main goal.”

PM urges the Greens to “look in the mirror”

But Anthony Albanese has urged the Greens to “look in the mirror” before complaining about the culture at Parliament House in a brutal take-down.

Outgoing Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather said that Parliament House had a “sick culture” and suggested it was a toxic workplace.

“He should have a good look at the way he asks questions in the parliament and maybe what he needs is a mirror and a reflection on what he is no longer in parliament,” Mr Albanese said.

Departing Green Max Chandler-Mather copped some heated parting words from the Prime Minister. Photo: Instagram

“So I think it is a bit rich for him, of all people, who has been rejected by his own electorate after just one term, and indeed, the seat of Melbourne is very much under a cloud, is the best way you could put it.

“His attitude – this is a guy who stood before signs at a CFMEU rally in Brisbane, describing me as a Nazi.”

The outgoing Greens MP accused the Prime Minister of targeting him with political abuse.

“Every time I stood up, I screamed and yelled at,” he told Triple J Hack.

Here are the 11 Greens Senators who will decide the party’s next leader:

Senator Larissa Waters (Qld) 2011 – present

Veteran Senator Larissa Waters is currently the Greens Leader in the Senate and national spokesperson on Women and Democracy.

Before entering politics, she worked as an environmental lawyer.

The Canadian-born politician made headlines in 2017 when she was forced to resign from parliament over the dual-citizenship crisis.

“I’m living in Brisbane/Meanjin with my two young daughters, the younger of whom caused a bit of a stir when she became the first baby to be breastfed in our federal parliament,’’ she says in her official Greens biography.

Larissa Waters may form part of the throuple. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (SA), 2008 – present

South Australian Sarah Hanson-Young famously pulled out a dead salmon from underneath her desk last year in a protest against a government “stitch-up” over environmental laws.

Hanson-Young then said: “On the eve of an election, have you sold out your environmental credentials for a rotten, stinking extinction salmon”, before pulling out a large, dead fish wrapped in plastic.

She is the longest-serving Greens Senator after entering politics 17 years ago.

Senator Hanson-Young also launched defamation action to force a male MP to pay her $120,000 in damages after she accused him of slut-shaming her after a feud in the Senate when he told her to “stop shagging men.”

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is the longest-serving Greens Senator.

Senator David Shoebridge (NSW), 2022 – present

David Shoebridge, 53, is a former barrister.

He was elected to the Senate as the party’s lead candidate in New South Wales at the 2022 federal election and is active on parliamentary committees.

Highly experienced, he previously served in the NSW state parliament for over a decade and is a public accountability campaigner.

In June 2020 a part-time member of Shoebridge’s staff was charged with defacing a statue of James Cook in Hyde Park, Sydney outside of work hours.

He refused to sack the staffer due to the actions being taken outside of work hours.

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson (Tas), 2012 – present

An environmental campaigner who fought against the Tamar Valley pulp mill, Senator Whish-Wilson is an economist and a lifelong surfer.

In 2016, he proposed that an army sniper should be used to stake out a beach in Tasmania’s north west to protect penguins by shooting dogs.

“I think it is the only thing we can do here,” he explained.

“Our party has spoken to Parks and Wildlife, [and we need to do] what they did in Sydney and bring in a sniper, bring in an army sniper.

He proposed that dog owners should be warned in a letter drop that their dogs will be shot if found wandering on the beach undersupervised.

“If your dogs are going to be down there, they’re going to get shot, this is what we’ve had to do in other areas,” he said.

Senator Nick McKim (Tas), 2015 – present

Asylum seeker campaigner Nick McKimm unleashed on a climate sceptic Liberal National Party rival telling Matt Canavan: ‘Shut your mouth – people are dying because of … sociopaths like you.’

The Tasmanian senator said: ‘I’m usually an optimistic person but I just want to say …’ – prompting Queenslander Mr Canavan to interject, “You hide it well.”

“Mate, you can shut your mouth,’’ Senator McKim replied.

Senator Jordon Steele-John (WA), 2017 – present

Since his election in 2017 Senator Steele-John has advocated for disabled people, including the establishment of a Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of Disabled People.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi (NSW), 2018 – present

Last year a judge ruled One Nation’s Senator Pauline Hanson breached a racial anti-discrimination law by telling Pakistan-born Senator Mehreen Faruqi to return to her homeland.

Faruqi sued Hanson in Federal Court over a 2022 exchange on the social media platform X, then called Twitter, under a provision of the Racial Discrimination Act that bans public actions and statements that offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate people because of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Faruqi, deputy leader of the Australian Greens party, posted, “I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples.”

Hanson, the leader of the One Nation party, replied that Faruqi had immigrated to take “advantage” of Australia, and told the Lahore-born Muslim to return to Pakistan.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire/David Beach

Senator Dorinda Cox (WA), 2021 – present

The Western Australian Greens senator was accused of bullying behaviour last year and issued an apology citing “challenging conditions both politically and personally”.

“There have been many challenges during my first three years in office including the Covid epidemic, taking on the First Nations portfolio alongside the Voice Referendum, and leading many significant committee inquiries,” she said in a statement.

“All while establishing and recruiting two office based teams to secure my six-year term with the ambition of an effective, safe and supportive work environment.

“As the employer, I take responsibility for any shortcomings in what has occurred during this period and I apologise for the distress this may have caused.”

“There are parts of the reporting that reflect staff grievances that were not presented to me, or that were assessed and not progressed by the independent Parliamentary Workplace Support Service,” she said.

Senator Barbara Pocock (SA), 2022 – present

An economist, Senator Pocock was one of a number of MPs and senators who handed back their access to Qantas’ prestigious chairman’s lounge in the name of integrity. She was instrumental in establishing the Senate committee inquiring into the consulting industry.

Senator Penny Allman-Payne (Qld), 2022 – present

A former high school teacher and am an active member of the Queensland Teachers’ Union, she entered parliament in 2022.

Senator Steph Hodgins-May (Vic), 2024 – present

She was preselected by the Greens to replace Janet Rice upon Rice’s retirement in the first half of 2024. An environmental lawyer, she argued that government inaction has caused Australia to become a global pariah when it came to issues around the environment.

She is also an advocate for Australia increasing its foreign aid budget and to focus more on international development.

Originally published as The Greens float a return to their roots with throuple leadership