The Greens leader Adam Bandt has conceded defeat in the seat of Melbourne, his seat being won by Labor’s Sarah Witty.
He is the second party leader to lose his seat in the fallout of Saturday’s federal election following Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s loss in his Queensland seat of Dickson.
Speaking to the media in Melbourne today Bandt said Labor’s success was a result how of much voters disliked Dutton.
“People in Melbourne hate Peter Dutton with a very good reason. They have seen his brand of toxic racism on display for many years, seen his time as immigration minister, seen him make comments about Melbourne and like many, many of them wanted him as far away from power as possible.
“Despite us making it very clear that we shared their position, my initial take is some votes linked away from us as people saw Labor [as] the best option to stop Dutton. I spent a fair bit of time in polling groups in Melbourne, had a few conversations where people told me they usually vote Green but this time they did not because of Peter Dutton, which is disappointing for us.” Bandt said.
Bandt was first elected to the parliament in 2010 and was reelected for a further four terms. He was the first member of The Greens to be elected to the House of Representatives.
He became the leader of The Greens in 2020 following the resignation of Richard Di Natale.
The party will now be looking for a new leader. new South Wales senator Mehreen Faruqi and South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young are considered frontrunners.
The Greens also lost the Queensland seats of Brisbane and Griffith losing Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates from their ranks. It looks like Elizabeth Watson-Brown will be returned in Ryan, leaving her as the only Greens member in the lower house.
