Latest news with #Bandt
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Their founder now calls them unlikeable and authoritarian. Can the Greens change their spots?
Not so long ago, Adam Bandt was a very happy man. It was the winter of 2022. The Morrison government had been defeated and Bandt, in his fifth term as the member for Melbourne, was accompanied in the lower house by three new Greens colleagues who'd won seats in inner-city Brisbane. The 'old' parties – Labor and the Coalition – were in terminal decline as far as the Greens leader was concerned. 'We created a Greenslide, and we've put down even deeper roots in Greensland,' he declared. 'Next election, I know we can grow again. I think we can win even more lower house seats.' Bandt stayed on his high for the next three years. He looked ahead to the prospect of Labor falling into minority government status in 2025 and how that would enable the Greens to have a direct role in setting national policy. He worked with his housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, to block the Albanese government's housing policies, deemed to be insufficient, by joining with the Coalition in the Senate. Bandt and Chandler-Mather convinced themselves they were creating a whole new Greens-supporting political constituency of mostly young, angry renters. They overplayed their hand. The government stared them down and the Greens eventually folded late last year, waving through Labor's legislation. But the damage was done. The Greenslide was going into reverse. Most renters don't want to stay renters forever. They wanted action on building more houses; Labor's prescription might not have been ideal, but it did offer action while the Greens for too long delivered inaction and boasted about it. It was a shocking failure of strategy. Much of the talk in politics, encouraged by Bandt publicly, was about a possible Labor-Greens minority government. At the May 3 election, voters with the power to make a definitive difference acted assertively. Two of the 'Greenslide' seats went to the ALP, and Bandt himself was turfed out of Melbourne, which Labor's Sarah Witty won with a swing of more than 8 per cent. There is now just one Greens MP in the lower house, Elizabeth Watson-Brown. A couple of points need to be made. One is that although the Greens lost three of their four seats, the party's lower house vote was still 12 per cent, just as it was in 2022. The other is that while the party was hurt in the lower house, it is by no means irrelevant. One of the biggest running stories about the Albanese government's second term is that it will have to rely on the Greens in the Senate to get its legislation passed. The Greens have 10 senators and the balance of power. They are the legislative gatekeepers. But they have been on a long march to try to fulfil the wish of one of their founders, Bob Brown, to replace the Labor Party as the pre-eminent 'progressive' party. That venture is not going well and took a bad hit at this election. In fact, the 2025 outcome could well come to be seen as a watershed for the Greens. It suggested very strongly that while the public is OK with the Greens having a substantial presence and role in the upper house, it's much less interested in entrusting them with a direct role in government. Loading Just to put the Greens' new single-seat status in context, the party's 12.2 per cent share of the national primary vote is certainly substantial. But the other parties holding one seat are Centre Alliance, with 0.2 per cent of the vote, and Katter's Australian Party, with 0.3 per cent. The Greens' lower house vote share has hovered around 12 per cent for six consecutive elections. And on May 3, many of its older, cashed-up supporters in gentrified suburbs, put off by the performative politics of Bandt and Chandler-Mather as well as its aggressive stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict, flipped to the Labor Party. In my local polling place, a hitherto heavily Green part of the seat of Wills, there was a 7 per cent swing away from the Greens, which, along with similar vote shifts elsewhere, was enough to keep Wills in Labor's hands. Bandt's successor as leader, Larissa Waters, has a massive job ahead of her in navigating the responsibility of holding the balance of power in the Senate while also recalibrating the tone and behaviour of the party. There is a key question about the Greens' mission. The party grew out of the environmental movement, a global phenomenon, and is still struggling with broadening itself. The split over transgender rights and restrictions on discussing the issue within the party, which has led to the expulsion of a co-founder, Drew Hutton, is an example of this. Hutton has described the modern Greens as aggressive, weird, unlikeable, authoritarian and doctrinaire.
The Age
a day ago
- Politics
- The Age
Their founder now calls them unlikeable and authoritarian. Can the Greens change their spots?
Not so long ago, Adam Bandt was a very happy man. It was the winter of 2022. The Morrison government had been defeated and Bandt, in his fifth term as the member for Melbourne, was accompanied in the lower house by three new Greens colleagues who'd won seats in inner-city Brisbane. The 'old' parties – Labor and the Coalition – were in terminal decline as far as the Greens leader was concerned. 'We created a Greenslide, and we've put down even deeper roots in Greensland,' he declared. 'Next election, I know we can grow again. I think we can win even more lower house seats.' Bandt stayed on his high for the next three years. He looked ahead to the prospect of Labor falling into minority government status in 2025 and how that would enable the Greens to have a direct role in setting national policy. He worked with his housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, to block the Albanese government's housing policies, deemed to be insufficient, by joining with the Coalition in the Senate. Bandt and Chandler-Mather convinced themselves they were creating a whole new Greens-supporting political constituency of mostly young, angry renters. They overplayed their hand. The government stared them down and the Greens eventually folded late last year, waving through Labor's legislation. But the damage was done. The Greenslide was going into reverse. Most renters don't want to stay renters forever. They wanted action on building more houses; Labor's prescription might not have been ideal, but it did offer action while the Greens for too long delivered inaction and boasted about it. It was a shocking failure of strategy. Much of the talk in politics, encouraged by Bandt publicly, was about a possible Labor-Greens minority government. At the May 3 election, voters with the power to make a definitive difference acted assertively. Two of the 'Greenslide' seats went to the ALP, and Bandt himself was turfed out of Melbourne, which Labor's Sarah Witty won with a swing of more than 8 per cent. There is now just one Greens MP in the lower house, Elizabeth Watson-Brown. A couple of points need to be made. One is that although the Greens lost three of their four seats, the party's lower house vote was still 12 per cent, just as it was in 2022. The other is that while the party was hurt in the lower house, it is by no means irrelevant. One of the biggest running stories about the Albanese government's second term is that it will have to rely on the Greens in the Senate to get its legislation passed. The Greens have 10 senators and the balance of power. They are the legislative gatekeepers. But they have been on a long march to try to fulfil the wish of one of their founders, Bob Brown, to replace the Labor Party as the pre-eminent 'progressive' party. That venture is not going well and took a bad hit at this election. In fact, the 2025 outcome could well come to be seen as a watershed for the Greens. It suggested very strongly that while the public is OK with the Greens having a substantial presence and role in the upper house, it's much less interested in entrusting them with a direct role in government. Loading Just to put the Greens' new single-seat status in context, the party's 12.2 per cent share of the national primary vote is certainly substantial. But the other parties holding one seat are Centre Alliance, with 0.2 per cent of the vote, and Katter's Australian Party, with 0.3 per cent. The Greens' lower house vote share has hovered around 12 per cent for six consecutive elections. And on May 3, many of its older, cashed-up supporters in gentrified suburbs, put off by the performative politics of Bandt and Chandler-Mather as well as its aggressive stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict, flipped to the Labor Party. In my local polling place, a hitherto heavily Green part of the seat of Wills, there was a 7 per cent swing away from the Greens, which, along with similar vote shifts elsewhere, was enough to keep Wills in Labor's hands. Bandt's successor as leader, Larissa Waters, has a massive job ahead of her in navigating the responsibility of holding the balance of power in the Senate while also recalibrating the tone and behaviour of the party. There is a key question about the Greens' mission. The party grew out of the environmental movement, a global phenomenon, and is still struggling with broadening itself. The split over transgender rights and restrictions on discussing the issue within the party, which has led to the expulsion of a co-founder, Drew Hutton, is an example of this. Hutton has described the modern Greens as aggressive, weird, unlikeable, authoritarian and doctrinaire.
The Age
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Age
What former Greens leader Adam Bandt did next
The association is longstanding. The UFU backed Bandt in his 2010 election campaign for Melbourne when he took the seat off Labor, and several times since. Bandt was elected five times before losing his seat to Labor this year in a loss neither side saw coming. In 2013, Bandt introduced legislation to the federal parliament extending protections for Commonwealth firefighters who contracted cancers. Support was unanimous. A nice win. The Age reported in 2014 at the height of the dispute between the UFU and volunteer CFA and the Andrews Labor government: 'Marshall is renowned for his loyalty to those who back him – like Bandt – and fierce on those who cross him.' Neither man got back to us when CBD got in touch. We have said it before, and we will say it again: everything is connected, folks. Public sector surprise There has been an almighty union boilover at the Community and Public Sector Union Victorian branch, where secretary Karen Batt was composing a concession email to staff on Wednesday after nearly 33 years in the post. Sources say Batt has lost the contested ballot to left-wing firebrand Jiselle Hanna, a Corrections Victoria project officer, who scrutineers say garnered about 66 per cent of the vote among 15,000 members. The result is yet to be officially declared by the Australian Electoral Commission. Batt's surprise was matched by those in the Allan Labor government, who are scratching their heads about how to take the loss. The election campaign was one of the fruitiest in recent times. Regular readers will recall how Hanna was attacked by an anonymous email sent to prison officers about her supposedly 'troubling campaign' that pointed out it had received a donation (later returned) purportedly from underworld identity Mick Gatto. Supporters of Hanna were able to trace the email back to the account of a staff member of the CPSU. Awkward. It was the first fully contested election in more than 30 years, and there were 38 positions up for grabs. Batt was apparently clearing out her desk on Wednesday, a source said. Loading 'She was astonished,' one source told CBD. 'The government is obviously very surprised.' Public servants are in a mood after Treasurer Jaclyn Symes flagged a cull in the May budget of about 1200 full-time jobs. Hanna's campaign was launched by Victorian Socialists Senate candidate Jordan van den Lamb, also known as PurplePingers, but Hanna said she was not a member of the Victorian Socialists. And the email? Hanna referred it to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Fair Work Commissioner, claiming breach of privacy and misuse of personal data. We guess when she is formally declared as secretary she can swiftly get to the bottom of the matter. More, more, more Readers might be bemused by the flurry of Labor staffers quitting their jobs just months after helping Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to a landslide election victory. Why help to secure a stonking mandate and then, er, quit? It's like pouring time and effort into baking a delicious cake and then refusing to tuck in. CBD has one theory: staffers who leave in a two-month window after the election get a far more generous severance payout, about four times more, than they would had they left during regular times. Because Canberra. The deadline for those departures came this week, which explains the sudden rush for the exits. And so, here are a few more. Former Labor deputy national secretary Nick Martin, once touted for a federal seat before Kevin Rudd intervened, has left as Health Minister Mark Butler's chief of staff. He's also the ex-husband of Labor strategist turned TikTok lobbyist Sabina Husic. Albanese's digital media guy Lachlan McKenzie is leaving the PMO. His other half, Liz Fitch, departed as the prime minister's top spinner in late 2023, but has since landed a government relations gig at Microsoft. Katie Connolly, strategic communications director, is also out Albo's office door, as is media adviser Irene Oh. By our count, it still leaves eight bodies in the PM's media team to dodge CBD's calls. Meanwhile, Lanai Scarr, formerly political editor at The West Australian has quit as deputy chief of staff and press secretary to Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth. Former ABC political correspondent and one-time press gallery journalist of the year Lyndal Curtis has left Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and jumped ship to assistant treasurer and Labor rising star Daniel Mulino 's office.
Sydney Morning Herald
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Former Greens leader Adam Bandt's new gig revealed
Former Greens leader Adam Bandt is not resting on his laurels. Persistent speculation says Bandt is heading to the Australian Conservation Foundation, which sounds like a great fit. But so far, it is back to the future for the ex-Greens leader, who led the party to unprecedented lower house success in 2022 before it lost three seats – including his own – at the federal election on May 3. CBD hears Bandt is working for the United Firefighters Union (UFU), a Labor-aligned union, where an old mate and client, Peter Marshall, presides as secretary. Bandt has been spotted attending the office from time to time in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, in his old federal seat of Melbourne. Pre-parliament, Bandt was an industrial relations and public interest barrister and solicitor and worked protecting the rights of coal miners in the La Trobe Valley after power station privatisation. He has represented the UFU before, which often clashes with Labor governments, something Bandt definitely vibes with. Loading The firebrand union last put its head above the parapet when it challenged the Victorian state government's plan to increase its fire services levy and convert it into an Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund. Marshall also attacked the federal government's demerger plans for the CFMEU after this masthead's Building Bad series revealed corruption and links with bikies. Bandt also attacked the legislation. The association is longstanding. The UFU backed Bandt in the 2010 election for Melbourne when he took the seat off Labor, and several times since. Bandt was elected five times before losing his seat to Labor this year in a shock turn of events the ALP didn't see coming. And neither did Bandt.
The Age
01-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Whip it good: ‘Devo' Bandt exits, but who will be the new Lord or Lady of the Crossbench?
As the final votes are recounted in Bradfield, and the Coalition parties promise to listen better and go to therapy after their brief separation, CBD's eyes are now turned to the latest position up for grabs in the upcoming 48th Parliament. We're talking about the semi-official role of crossbench whip, or the MP responsible for ensuring their crossbench colleagues all get their voices heard during the chaos of question time. In the past, this task fell to former Greens leader Adam Bandt, or rather, his office. And when the crossbench swelled to a record 16 MPs after the 2022 election, it took on an outsized role, particularly after Labor's leader of the house, Tony Burke, increased the amount of airtime crossbenchers got in question time. It made sense for Bandt to take on the role since, as leader of a designated political party, he had more staff. Unlike the teal independents, who were livid after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slashed their staffing allocations after the 2022 election in a manner that made Scott Morrison seem like Santa. But then Bandt suffered a shock, losing his seat of Melbourne to Labor's Sarah Witty on what was a forgettable night for the Greens. So who will take on Bandt's old role as king (or queen) of the crossbench? Nationals leader David Littleproud's decision to come crawling back to the Coalition makes things a lot easier. And while Bob Katter, famed for his Homeric approach to question time, would be the most entertaining choice, we're not sure anyone else would ever get a word in edgeways. There's been some suggestion out of the teal universe that one of the posse who now occupy the Liberal Party's old leafy turf could step up, with Warringah MP Zali Steggall touted as a possibility. She's been around a bit longer, and has a sharp grasp of parliamentary procedure. But CBD understands that Steggall is yet to decide whether she wants to take on the role. Separately, there's been persistent chatter that some members of the teal movement would like to form a separate political party – perhaps headed up by Steggall – which would solve the staffing question, if anything. 'The notion of party has been thrown around but hasn't got beyond first base,' a teal source said.
