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Queensland Greens senator Larissa Waters has ascended to the leadership role following the loss of former leader Adam Bandt’s seat in the federal election.
Waters was unanimously chosen as leader on Thursday when the party’s 11 senators and one MP gathered in Melbourne. Her election came in the wake of media speculation about a potential co-leadership of Waters, NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi, and South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Faruqi has been elected as deputy leader, while Hanson-Young — the longest-serving Greens member in federal parliament — continues her role as manager of business in the upper house.
Waters is the second woman to helm the , following Christine Milne. Her leadership comes after during the 3 May federal election.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Waters signalled the party would continue to push the government on the same key issues it has in recent years as she called for a “progressive parliament with heart”.
“The issues that people are facing are getting harder and are getting worse,” she said.
“We need strong action on , on nature, on , on , and we need our parliament to work to actually meet the needs of the people that it’s been elected to represent.”
But she also said she would take “a different approach” to Bandt, as she paid tribute to the former leader saying the party missed him “desperately” and hoped to welcome him back.
“I’m really proud as a woman to have worked on issues for and equality,” she said, adding the Greens would be “firm but constructive under this government and any future government”.
She said voters had elected the Greens to “get shit done” and challenged the second-term Albanese Labor government, saying it could either choose to work with them to “pass good reforms that help people and the planet”, or the Coalition.
“They’re going to need to pick because they don’t have the numbers in the Senate to pass the legislation that they want to work on,” she said.
Faruqi said it was “exciting” time for the party, with two women in leadership positions.
She said the Greens were not “going to take a step backwards on action on climate, on the environment, on housing and for justice for Palestine”.
(Left to right) Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne, deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi, party leader Larissa Waters, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, and Senator Nick McKim. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett
Asked why she didn’t contest for the party’s leadership, Hanson-Young said: “This team that we have had elected by our party room today, I think is the best team for us at this moment.”
She added: “This team provides stability. This team provides the skills and the grunt that we are going to need for this next three years.”
The number of Greens MPs in the House of Representatives collapsed at the recent poll, with Bandt, housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather, and Queensland MP Stephen Bates losing their seats.
in the lower house, but the Greens are still set to hold the balance of power in the Senate.
Waters — a former environmental lawyer, who was the party’s leader in the Senate while holding its democracy and women portfolios — was first elected in 2012 and served until 2017 when she was , along with several other politicians, for unknowingly holding dual citizenship with Canada — where she was born.
She subsequently renounced her Canadian citizenship and returned to parliament in 2018 when she was selected to fill a Senate vacancy.
Her elevation to party leader this week comes after the Liberals decided former deputy leader , while its junior Coalition partner the Nationals .
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