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Larissa Waters has announced she is stepping down as leader of the Australian Greens due to ill health, citing a pre-existing kidney disease that has declined significantly in recent months.
Larissa Waters has announced she is stepping down as leader of the Australian Greens due to ill health. A party room meeting is scheduled for next week to choose her successor.
Waters revealed on Monday night that she has been managing a pre-existing kidney disease, but her health had declined significantly over the course of recent months. She said her prognosis for recovery was positive. The pressure of the party's leadership, including additional travel demands, was detracting from a focus on her health. Waters said she would take a period of medical leave before returning to parliament to represent Queensland in the Senate.
Waters Cites Illness And Leadership Pressure
It has been a tremendous honour to be leader of the Greens, fighting for people and the planet, she said in a statement. I am really sad that illness means my time as leader has been cut short, but our movement needs a leader in good health to lead us to success at the next election.
Passing the torch on to the next leader of the party will put them in the best position to take the Greens to the next election, fighting for people, not the corporate interests that run Labor, Liberals and One Nation, she said. Our fight is too important, and it needs more time and energy than I am able to give while I focus on my recovery. Waters thanked her colleagues and doctors for their support.
She cited successes including negotiations with Labor on environmental law reforms and tougher gun laws introduced after last year's Bondi Beach terror attack. I will keep working for the people of Queensland, for women's safety and for climate action when I am able to return to parliament. The Queensland senator took on leadership in May 2025, replacing Adam Bandt after he lost his lower house seat in the 2025 election.
Partyroom Meeting To Decide Greens Leadership
She was elected in a race against current deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi and manager of business in the Senate Sarah Hanson-Young. A partyroom meeting will be held in coming days to discuss the leadership, with ABC told a decision will be made sooner rather than later. Deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi, and high profile senators Sarah Hanson-Young, David Shoebridge and Nick McKim could contest the leadership ballot.
Senator Waters was first elected as a senator for Queensland in 2010, making her the second longest-serving member of the Greens partyroom behind senator Sarah Hanson-Young. She was forced to resign in July 2017 after renouncing her citizenship, and returned to the upper house in September 2018 to fill a vacancy. Waters was a co-deputy leader to Bandt, and to former leader Richard Di Natale at various times between 2015 and 2022.
Waters Background And Greens Electoral Struggles
As the party's spokesperson for women, Waters played a role in shaping the independent parliamentary workplace watchdog based on recommendations. But some Greens members have expressed frustration with the party's position under Waters, including its cut-through with voters as the major parties haemorrhage support to One Nation. The Greens have been reduced to a single lower house MP, Ryan's Elizabeth Watson-Brown, after the May election.
There were minor primary vote swings against Bandt and two Queensland incumbents, Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates. The party maintains the losses were due to a drop in votes for the Liberal party favouring Labor candidates, as well as a reduction in favourable preference flows.
abcnews
GuardianAus:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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