Queenslander Larissa Waters is the new Greens leader

Queensland Senator Larissa Waters will be the new Greens leader after Adam Bandt lost his seat at the election.

Queensland Senator Larissa Waters has been chosen as the new leader of the Greens replacing Adam Bandt who lost his Melbourne seat at the election.

Ms Waters was selected by her colleagues over other leadership contenders, NSW’s Mehreen Faruqi and South Australia’s Sarah Hanson-Young, during a meeting in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon.

The Greens do not formally nominate for positions or openly campaign for leadership, but ahead of the meeting one member said they were “confident” the chosen leader would be a woman.

They believed Ms Waters was a slight frontrunner, but cautioned the outcome was “difficult to predict”.

Larissa Waters, Mehreen Faruqi and Sarah Hanson-Young have been floated as the likely candidates for the Greens’ top job.

The Greens are famously opaque about their organisational processes, with their national conference to decide policies not open to the media like those held by the Liberals, Nationals and Labor.

Mr Bandt lost his seat of Melbourne to Labor after suffering a primary swing of 4.8 per cent against him, while fellow MPs, Queenslanders Stephen Bates in the seat of Brisbane and Max Chandler-Mather in Griffith, also fell.

The remaining Greens caucus of 12 – including 11 senators and remaining lower house member, Ryan MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown – will decide who replaces Mr Bandt, who had been leader since 2020.

During Adam Bandt’s leadership tenure, the Greens significantly expanded their focus beyond environment and climate. Picture: NewsWire/David Crosling

During Mr Bandt’s leadership tenure, the Greens significantly expanded their focus beyond environment and climate, gaining significant support from young Australians for social policies like putting dental into Medicare and increasing renters’ rights.

But Mr Bant last week attributed the loss of three seats, including his own, to voters turning away from the Liberals toward Labor.

“The Greens got the highest vote in Melbourne, but One Nation and Liberal preferences will get Labor over the line,” he said.

Ms Waters, Mr Faruqi and Ms Hanson-Young were contacted for comment.

On Tuesday, when asked about the leadership, Ms Waters said there was a “process to go through” and she “won’t be making any comment”.

Ms Waters said the party would “look closely” at the election result and “seek feedback” from members.

“But what we saw was some very close results,” she said.

“What we saw was when the two big parties gang up together and have the support from the fossil fuel billionaires running dirt campaigns against the Greens, then it’s very hard for a smaller party like the Greens to keep our seats.”

Originally published as Queenslander Larissa Waters is the new Greens leader