The Greens party room has elected New South Wales senator David Shoebridge as party leader, with Victorian senator Steph Hodgins-May as deputy, after Larissa Waters stepped down citing ill health.
The vote on Wednesday was the party’s first contested leadership ballot, coming midway through a Senate term in which the Greens hold the balance of power on bills the Coalition opposes.
The Result
The ballot was held on Wednesday 30 September at the party’s two-day policy meeting in Sydney.
SBS News reported that Shoebridge took six votes in the first round, with Mehreen Faruqi on three and Sarah Hanson-Young on two.
AAP reported that he went on to defeat Faruqi 7 to 4 in the final ballot.
Steph Hodgins-May, a Victorian senator, was elected deputy alongside him.
Nick McKim is Whip, Sarah Hanson-Young is Manager of Greens Business, and Penny Allman-Payne is Party Room Chair and Deputy Whip.
The leadership is decided by the party room, which is made up of the party’s federal parliamentarians, rather than by a vote of the party’s members.
He takes the leadership with the party facing the rest of the Senate term.
Waters’ Exit
Waters has led the party since May 2025, when she took over after Adam Bandt lost the seat of Melbourne at the 2025 federal election.
Her time in the job covered the party’s work through the current parliament, where it has argued its case from the crossbench.
She stepped down this week citing worsening kidney disease, will take medical leave, and will remain a Queensland senator.
While on leave she is not expected to take part in the Senate’s business.
She said she would be “very proud to be a humble backbencher” (AAP).
Shoebridge paid tribute to her, saying: “There are few politicians that you can really point to who so clearly put the planet and the public ahead of their own interests” (AAP).
What Shoebridge Says
The Greens are “not here to manage a broken system. We are here to replace it”, Shoebridge said in a party release after the ballot.
He said the party was “here to beat down One Nation and we’re here to replace Labor” (AAP).
He called it a “moment for the Greens to fill the vacuum that has been left by the Labor Party” (The Nightly).
Shoebridge said the party’s priorities would be cost of living, housing and climate, along with taking on corporate power, the gas industry and tech giants.
He is a former barrister who spent 12 years as a New South Wales state MP before entering federal parliament in 2022, and he holds the digital rights and AI portfolio.
He has also been a prominent critic of AUKUS (The Nightly), the security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
As leader he will head the party’s team in the Senate, where its votes matter on contested bills.
His pitch is to replace Labor and take the fight to One Nation rather than manage the system from within.
The Fallout
Mehreen Faruqi, who contested the leadership, said she was “disappointed the party room chose another direction” and called for the top job to be decided by a vote of members.
She said: “Without a member vote, we cannot call ourselves a grassroots party.”
Faruqi did not re-contest the deputy role, which went to Hodgins-May.
Her call for a member vote followed the party room process that elected Shoebridge.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Labor would “play the cards that we’re dealt in the Senate” (The Nightly).
He also said it was “really important that we focus on the risks posed to workers and to our economy”, AAP reported.
The Stakes
The Greens poll around 12 per cent and hold the sole Senate balance of power on bills the Coalition opposes (AAP).
That leaves the Greens’ votes decisive on contested bills, with neither major party able to get its way without them.
Hodgins-May ran on a joint ticket with Shoebridge, and said the focus would be a “bold vision” that includes the gas industry and tech giants (AAP).
The new team will carry that agenda into the Senate when parliament next meets.
Related: Ben Carroll Sworn In as Victoria’s 50th Premier After Labor Spill
Sources: SBS News, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/greens-choose-david-shoebridge-to-lead-party-following-larissa-waters-resignation/nmo5bwg8h; The Australian Greens, https://greens.org.au/news/media-release/david-shoebridge-and-steph-hodgins-may-lead-greens-fight-against-corporate-greed; The Canberra Times, https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9359916/shoebridge-over-troubled-waters-greens-select-leader/; The Nightly, https://thenightly.com.au/politics/greens-elect-david-shoebridge-a-new-party-leader-after-larissa-waters-steps-down-c-22946254
Photo: Australian Greens, CC BY-SA 2.5 AU, via Wikimedia Commons.
David Shoebridge, photographed in 2025. Supplied by the Australian Greens.
