The Greens leadership is elected by a Caucus vote for all members of the party sitting in Parliament, All Green leaders have been elected Unopposed.
In May 2020, 62% of rank-and-file Greens party members voted for democratically Leadership election, However it failed to meet the two-thirds majority of 66.67% which is required to force a change.[1]
The Greens had their first leadership election on 29 November 2005; prior to this they did not have a party leader, preferring a consultative model of government.
At a party conference in Hobart, the Greens announced their intention to formalise their party's structure in anticipation of a growing presence in Federal Parliament.
The role was contested by Senator for Tasmania Christine Milne and Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young.[5] Hanson-Young was critical of the Greens supporting the minority Labor Gillard government, and wanted the party to negotiate with the Liberal Party, while Milne wished to critically maintain the agreement.[6]
Brown served as party leader until 13 April 2012, when he announced his retirement from politics.[7]
The Greens parliamentary party room was immediately convened to appoint a new leader and deputy leader. Christine Milne, Senator from Tasmania, was elected unopposed to the leadership.[8]
The deputy leader seat was contested between Adam Bandt, the member for Melbourne in the House of Representatives, and Sarah Hanson-Young.[9] Bandt became the second Greens MP to be elected to the position of deputy leader of the party, Milne having previously filled the role after its establishment in 2008.[7]
The leadership election had no effect on the deal that existed between the governing Gillard Labor Government and the Greens, to which Milne remained a signatory.
On the morning of 6 May 2015, Christine Milne announced on Twitter her resignation from the position of leader of the Greens, prompting a meeting of the Greens' parliamentary party room to fill her replacement.[10]
Shortly after her announcement, Victorian senator Richard Di Natale revealed he would stand as a candidate for the leadership, whilst the media speculated incumbent deputy leader Adam Bandt would seek re-election to the position.[10]
At the party room meeting however, Bandt did not seek re-election to the deputy leadership, later saying he was "happy" to hand over the role and instead focus on the birth of his partner's baby.[11] Consequently, the party decided to elect two senators as co-deputy leaders; Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters.[12]
Di Natale was elected to the leadership unopposed and he became the first leader of the Australian Greens to represent a state other than Tasmania.[12][13]
On the 10 June 2022, almost three weeks after the 2022 Australian federal election, the Australian Greens members of parliament met and re-elected Adam Bandt as federal leader of the Greens, "by consensus".[14]
Bandt was sick with COVID-19 and was unable to attend the meeting. The party elected Mehreen Faruqi as deputy leader, replacing Larissa Waters,[15] as well as Larissa Waters as the party's Leader in the Senate, Lidia Thorpe as the Deputy Leader in the Senate, Sarah Hanson-Young as Manager of Greens Business in the Senate, Janet Rice as Party Room Chair, and Nick McKim as Senate Whip.
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