Latest news with #MaxChandlerMather
ABC News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Greens leader Larissa Waters wants a new term of parliament with 'heart'
Larissa Waters never imagined she would end up the leader of her party when she became the first Queenslander to win for the Greens in 2010. Senator Waters was chosen unanimously by her party yesterday to be its fifth federal leader, after days of zealous internal conversations on whether she, Mehreen Faruqi or Sarah Hanson-Young would succeed as leader after the unexpected defeat of Adam Bandt. In one of her first interviews as leader, Senator Waters emphasised to the ABC her desire for the next parliament to be more constructive, and have "heart", but said she would not shy away from the tough stance the Greens took on issues like housing in the past term. "I want to see a progressive parliament, and I want to see politics with heart again. I think people are fed up with the shoutiness, they're fed up with politicians talking about themselves all the time," Senator Waters said. First-term Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather rocketed to prominence over the past term with his uncompromising stance on the government's signature housing commitment to establish a $10 billion fund to enable thousands more social housing properties. But Labor campaigned heavily on the idea that the Greens had obstructed housing progress in the party's three Queensland seats in the months leading up to the federal election. Mr Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates both lost their seats at that election, with the former Greens housing spokesperson also suffering a swing against him. Senator Waters, who has emphasised she will take a "firm but constructive" approach to this term, said the Greens took the right approach with housing. "There are people now who are going to have somewhere to live because of those tough negotiations. I'm proud of that," Senator Waters said. "No one can argue with $3.5 billion extra dollars for social housing." On one of the most heated political issues of last term, the conflict in Gaza, Senator Waters held fast to the Greens' stance. "Anyone watching what's happening in Gaza, their hearts break. And our government at the moment is still in a two-way arms trade with that regime. We need peace, we need a ceasefire, of course we need those hostages released, but we need to make sure that Australia and every other country is increasing the pressure to make sure the genocide which is unfolding before us can stop," she said. "We're not doing this because we think it's good for votes. We're doing this because we think it's the right thing to do." A United Nations report earlier this year accused Israel of "genocidal acts", which was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as false, biased and antisemitic. But while the Greens have a broad policy platform, Senator Waters signalled her focus this term would be on the "daily needs" of people and the environmental and climate concerns at the heart of the party. Senator Waters is considered within the Greens as one of its strongest policy heads, informed by a legal mind developed as an environmental lawyer. While colleagues say she is able to be tough, she is less combative than others within the party, and she is seen as a unifying choice after the Greens lost its leader. Senator Waters said that choice was still sinking in, but it was one that "thrilled" and "humbled" her. In her press conference yesterday, the senator attached two labels to herself, 'environmental lawyer' and 'feminist', that have guided much of her parliamentary career. And over her tenure she has held the environment and women's portfolios for the Greens. The Greens leader said she looked forward to "getting stuff done" in a new term of parliament. "Our emphasis will continue to be making sure people's daily needs are met, and making sure the planet is looked after," the senator said. Senator Waters made headlines globally in 2016 when she became the first woman to breastfeed in parliament. She was a fierce campaigner to end the "tampon tax" — the GST applied to menstrual products that was ultimately lifted in 2019 — and has also pushed for more access to reproductive healthcare and menopause treatments for women. The senator said she would continue to fight on women's inequality as Greens leader. "We've got more than one woman still being killed every week by a partner or a former partner, and those rates are not coming down," she said. "And we still have women's refuges who are having to turn people away because they don't have enough funding to provide a bed for everyone who needs one. "In a wealthy country like ours, that is appalling and it needs to be fixed. I look forward to having some constructive discussions."
ABC News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Senator Larissa Waters won't rule out leadership tilt as Greens claim Ryan
Queensland Senator Larissa Waters won't rule out a tilt at the Greens leadership, as the party claims their first and only election victory. Elizabeth Watson-Brown will now be the sole Greens MP in the House of Representatives after the party failed to reclaim any of its other lower house seats. Asked about whether she would run to become Greens leader after Adam Bandt lost his seat of Melbourne, Senator Waters wouldn't discount it. "We've got a process to go through and I won't be making any comments about that," she said. "I'm afraid you will just have to wait until Thursday." Ms Watson-Brown, who first won Ryan in 2022, will retain the electorate with a two-party preferred swing towards her, despite a drop in her primary vote. She said she was going to "desperately miss" her former colleagues Adam Bandt, Max Chandler-Mather, and Stephen Bates. "It might be a little bit lonely on the floor [of the House of Representatives]," Ms Watson-Brown said. "That is a pretty difficult place. You can be feeling a bit lonely there when you're being screamed at by 149 other people. "There's nobody else now to take that buffer. But I've got to remind people the Greens party room is our strength."
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Inside the Greens' delusional plan to take over Australia in 18 YEARS - and how it all went so wrong for Adam Bandt and 'Albo's nemesis'
Four years ago, a fresh-faced Max Chandler-Mather spoke passionately about his '18-year plan for a Greens government'. The former union organiser and Greens firebrand said his ambitious plot relied on a simple equation: you get one vote for every three meaningful conversations you have with Australian voters. If, he argued with hopelessly naïve logic, Greens volunteers just had 1,866,216 meaningful conversations with Australian voters, they could seize power by 2040. His equation would deliver them a total 45 seats, making them the senior party in a Coalition with Labor on just 44. But, in the words of Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face - and Mr Chandler-Mather got well and truly knocked out on Saturday. The 33-year-old lost his Brisbane-based seat of Griffith after a 5.8 per cent swing to Labor candidate Renee Coffey. Similarly, Adam Bandt's humiliating defeat in his seat of Melbourne to Labor's Sarah Witty will send shockwaves through the Greens as the party is forced to pick a new leader. While the count is ongoing - and his likely replacement Mehreen Faruqi has insisted he is 'still leader' - no one expects him to make up the 4,300 votes his Labor rival Sarah Witty leads by as of Thursday morning. This is despite a Greens' press release claiming prematurely on Saturday night that he 'expects the count to elect him in Melbourne' and their national vote falling slightly from their 2022 high. So where did it all go so wrong for the Greens leader and his ailing party? Seat redistribution As much as his critics – and there are many – would hope it was all down to voters taking against him personally, the main reason Bandt lost took place long before any votes were cast. The boundaries of Bandt's Melbourne seat were redistributed last year. This redrawing of the electoral map meant that the Greens leader lost several suburbs in the inner north, where he was popular, while also absorbing more Liberal-supporting areas. This significantly narrowed his chances of retaining the seat he has held since 2010. But Bandt cannot lay all of the blame with the decision to redistribute his seat. Blockers rather than builders The Greens leader shoulders responsibility for positioning the Greens so obviously in opposition to Labor. Renee Coffey, the Labor challenger who ousted Max Chandler-Mather in Griffith, said that voters were most concerned with cost of living and housing issues. But the Greens were seen as a barrier to progress on the latter after they joined forces with the Liberals to block some of Labor's housing reforms, in particular the negotiations around its $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. Mr Chandler-Mather constantly locked horns with the Prime Minister in very public spats over Labor's housing policy, earning him the designation of 'Albo's Nemesis' in this publication. 'Griffith is fundamentally a progressive electorate and people were wanting to see real change and progress, so I think there was some disappointment with some of the blocking that went on and this idea of protest,' Ms Coffey told the ABC. A militant movement, not a party Kos Samaras, a former Victorian Labor strategist and Redbridge Group director, said the Greens had turned into a 'movement fuelling civil unrest and disruption'. 'The party clearly recognised this too late after a string of poor results at state, territory, and local government elections,' he added. 'By the time they adjusted course, the damage was done. Their leader is now gone. 'I never imagined that I would see the Greens lose Melbourne in my lifetime.' Drew Hutton, founder of the Queensland Greens, echoed these concerns, claiming that the Greens choice of bedfellows often backfired. 'I think Max (Chandler-Mather) fronting that CFMEU rally was a bit of a problem,' Mr Hutton told the ABC. 'The CFMEU is not the sort of union of want to be associated with.' The controversial union was placed into administration by the Albanese government in August last year amid allegations of corruption and violence within its ranks. At the rally Mr Chandler-Mather attended, protesters held up placards of the Prime Minister depicted as Adolf Hitler with the world 'Albonazi' and 'traitor' written across it. 'A lot of people see the Greens as being too militant and representing too much a sort of militant youth vote,' Mr Hutton added. This was a point made by Mr Albanese who hit back at Mr Chandler-Mather's claims he had been bullied in parliament on Wednesday night. 'This is a guy who stood before signs at a CFMEU rally in Brisbane describing me as a Nazi,' the Prime Minister said. Allegations of antisemitism The party's stance on Israel, where they regularly accused the Labor government of being 'complicit in genocide' earned the ire of many Jewish Australians. Julian Leeser, a Jewish Liberal MP for Berowra in Northern Sydney, shared a statement on Facebook on Wednesday where he accused the Greens of antisemitism. 'The loss of the Greens' seats in the House of Representatives is a repudiation of the antisemitism of the Greens and a vindication of Peter Dutton's decision to put them last,' he said. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Penny Wong issued a similar analysis to Mr Samaras, telling Channel Nine that 'Australians rejected the politics of conflict and the politics of grievance'. 'Unfortunately Adam Bandt in some ways is quite like Peter Dutton,' Senator Wong added. And she's not wrong, given Bandt has also suffered the ignominy of losing his own seat. Liberal Party woes Senator Faruqi, the current Greens deputy leader and frontrunner to take over the minor party, blamed the party's electoral drubbing on people's fear of Peter Dutton. 'It's clear that this election a lot of progressive Australians were deeply anxious about a Dutton government and I think that was a factor,' she told the ABC on Thursday morning. She claimed that voters were 'fearful' of a 'divisive, a hate-filled Peter Dutton government'. 'It's clear that Labor and Liberals will always be working together to keep the Greens out,' she added. That analysis rings a little hollow when the Greens campaigned explicitly on 'Keeping Dutton Out'. Meanwhile, veteran Senator Sarah Hanson-Young blamed the party's poor showing in the lower house on the Liberal party's collapse. 'The main reason is the huge drop in the Liberal vote that went directly from Liberal to Labor, the Liberal voters preferencing Labor,' she told the ABC. 'And it was just too hard for our candidates to get over the line' Lost their core message Mr Hutton, who helped Bob Brown found the Australian Greens, said the party had strayed too far from their original purpose. They positioned themselves as party for housing reform and renters, rather than one whose main concern is the environment. Indeed, the leader Mr Bandt rarely missed a media opportunity to pose with his big red toothbrush to highlight the party's bid to add dental to Medicare. When asked to list his top priorities, climate change came fifth behind addressing the rental crisis, dental, universal childcare and ending native logging. 'The Greens have always been about social justice and democracy,' he told the ABC. 'There is a problem though if that comes at the expense of the environment. 'I've been talking to a few of the older Greens … and they have voiced to me that there is a bit of a loss for that concern for the environment that was really the reason we set up the Greens in the first place.' This point was echoed by the ABC's Claudia Long who said that the Greens had lost their 'tree Tories' - well-off older people who are economically conservative but socially progressive with a concern for the environment. Instead, those voters are more likely to cast their ballots for Teal independents who are more likely to represent their interests. The Greens may be down, but they are very much not out. As Daily Mail Australia's Political Editor Peter van Onselen has argued, they have actually increased their power in the Senate. 'That's right, don't be fooled by its poor performance in the lower house where its leader Adam Bandt lost his seat,' he wrote. 'The Greens will hold onto all their senators, and given that Labor has increased its senate numbers - again with more factional left wingers - together they will soon control the senate.' 'Yes, the Greens are about to have the balance of power in the senate in their own right. They will be in a position to decide what legislation Labor puts forward, what gets passed into law, what gets amended according to their desires - and what gets rejected to never take effect.'
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Max Chandler-Mather continues attacks on Albanese's character
Anthony Albanese's arch nemesis Max Chandler-Mather rumbles on despite the Green's exit from parliament, with the pair exchanging more barbs at each other via the media. Chandler-Mather, who lost his re-election bid, said it will be relief not to have put up any longer with the abuse he regularly received in the House. Speaking to Triple J on Tuesday, Mr Chandler-Mather said he was often 'screamed and yelled at' by Labor members in the House - to the point where it made him feel ill - and that Mr Albanese had often levied 'personal abuse' at him. Mr Albanese hit back at those accusations on ABC 7.30 on Wednesday. 'He should have a good look at the way that he asks questions in the parliament,' the Prime Minister said. 'Maybe what he needs is a mirror and a reflection on why he's no longer in parliament. This is a guy who stood before signs at a CFMEU rally in Brisbane describing me as a Nazi. It's a bit rich for him of all has been rejected by his own electorate after just one term.' Following Mr Albanese's attack, Mr Chandler-Mather doubled down. 'I feel like the PM launching into another attack on someone who isn't even in parliament, rather than celebrating a historic win, proves my point, which is this is how the political class treats people who fight for renters and real change,' he said. 'Compare this to his kind words for Dutton.' Following his election win, Mr Albanese said he had spoken to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to apologise on behalf of Labor supporters who booed at the mention of the Liberal leader's name. 'No. What we do in Australia is we treat people with respect,' he said at the time. 'I thank Peter for his generous words at the end of what has been a very hard fought campaign, and I want to take this opportunity to wish Peter and his family all the best for their future.' Mr Albanese and Mr Chandler-Mather have had a long-running feud. While in parliament, Mr Chandler-Mather earned the nickname of 'Albo's nemesis' due to his clashes with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over housing policy. In 2023, tensions first flared up during a debate over the $10billion Housing Australia Future Fund. As Mr Albanese was leaving the House of Representatives chamber, he reportedly turned back and directed an angry remark to Mr Chandler-Mather, saying: 'You're a joke, mate.' Last year, Mr Chandler-Mather questioned why the Prime Minister was able to rake in an extra $115,000 a year in rental income while he lives rent-free at The Lodge and Kirribilli House during a housing crisis. These confrontations led many young Australians to see Mr Chandler-Mather as a strong voice representing their concerns about the housing crisis. Mr Chandler-Mather and the three other Greens in the lower house seem likely to all lose their seats, including party leader Adam Bandt. Daily Mail Australia's Political Editor Peter Van Onselen called the surprising result in the Bandt's seat on Tuesday morning. Latest figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labor's Sarah Witty leading Mr Bandt on a two-candidate-preferred basis by 2,235 votes with only 4,216 postal votes yet to be tallied, and the Labor candidate is winning the postals 63 per cent to 37 per cent. That represents and 8.92 per cent swing against Mr Bandt, who had held the seat since 2010. Of the four Greens MPs elected in 2022, only Elizabeth Watson-Brown remains a contender for the seat of Ryan in western Brisbane. Liberal-National candidate topped the primary vote, but it has developed into a contest between Ms Watson-Brown and Labor's Rebecca Hack, who is likely to be favoured by preference flows. Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Greens' identity crisis: where to now for a party built on protesting the status quo?
The Liberals are not the only party left asking some difficult questions after last weekend's federal election. With the Greens set to lose their leader Adam Bandt in a shock defeat in Melbourne, having already lost three out of four of its House of Representatives seats, the party will need to do some serious soul-searching to determine not only what went wrong, but who they are and who they want to represent. It's not just a disappointing result for the Greens, but an anomalous – even paradoxical – one. While the party looks set to return six senators to maintain its upper house cricket team of 11, Australians were not so generous in the lower. The national first-preference swing against the Greens was just 0.45%, but the statewide swing against the party was higher in Victoria and Queensland – the only states to elect Greens MPs in 2022. While only marginally higher in Victoria at 0.55%, it was significantly greater in Queensland at 1.16%, the state labelled 'Greensland' after 2022. Even more bizarre is that primary swings against Greens MPs were higher still: 1.39% in Ryan in leafy western Brisbane, 1.60% in Brisbane itself, and 2.88% in the southside seat of Griffith. Brisbane MP Stephen Bates and Griffith MP Max Chandler-Mather lost to Labor, while Ryan MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown held on. The Greens finished third on primary votes in Brisbane and second in Griffith, where the third-placed Liberal National party is itself buttressed by the preferences of hard-right populist parties. In Ryan, the Greens were returned on Labor preferences. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In the seat of Melbourne, held by Bandt since 2010, the Greens suffered a 4.18% primary swing. With the Greens dream of picking up Macnamara and Wills in Victoria and Richmond in New South Wales now dashed, the fact that party leader Bandt, who captured 60% of the after-preference vote in 2022, should himself face defeat speaks volumes of the Greens' own identity crisis. No one could have seen this coming. Some polls pegged the Greens' vote at as low as 11%, but others had it as high as 14.5%. The Greens, at least in Brisbane, also repeated their intensive doorknocking strategy of 2022. And given the history of minor parties and independents holding on to – or increasing – their margins for years on end, few genuinely expected the Greens to go backwards. But the Queensland state election of October 2024 did offer a glimpse of the future. While the party's statewide vote increased in 2024 by 0.42%, the Greens lost one of its two seats – far below the widely touted ambitions of winning five additional seats. Moreover, South Brisbane, which overlaps with Griffith, saw a 3.19% primary swing away from Greens MP Amy MacMahon, while Maiwar, which overlaps with Ryan, saw a massive 7.44% drop in support for the sole remaining MP Michael Berkman. The story was repeated in two Victorian byelections earlier this year. In Prahran, the Greens MP was defeated in a 13.4% after-preference swing and, in Werribee, the Greens' primary vote increased by a paltry 0.8%. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Commentary about the Greens' decline has focused on three main issues. First, Max Chandler-Mather sharing a stage with the CFMEU, and whether this was a step too far for moderate voters living in upper-middle class suburbs; second, the party's position on Gaza; and third, what looked like a petulant blocking of Labor's 'Help to Buy' housing legislation. Together, these raise the question: do Australians object to the Greens moving out of their policy lane? While the Greens have found deep support for their commitment to climate change issues, do voters dislike – or even distrust – an environmentalist party playing politics with industrial relations, housing or foreign policy? And if so, where to for the Greens? First, all is not lost. The party will probably be the sole custodian of the balance of power in the Senate after 1 July, and the Greens will surely attempt to pull an already left-leaning cabinet further to the left. But if the Greens dream of becoming a party equal in votes and parliamentary numbers to Labor and the Coalition – and even replacing Labor as the principal 'left' party sometime by the middle of the century – the Greens may need to temper some of its post-material aspirations with material economic relief pitched at a moderate, centrist Australia. That may be difficult for a party built on protesting against the status quo, rather than upholding it.
