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David Shoebridge has been elected federal leader of the Australian Greens after Larissa Waters' resignation, promising a red hot fight for voters and a member vote on future leaders.
David Shoebridge has become the new federal leader of the Australian Greens, taking over from Larissa Waters following her shock resignation. The 55-year-old senator declared he is up for a red hot fight and hit out at One Nation's politics of hate, signalling a more confrontational style of delivery under his leadership.
Shoebridge told Guardian Australia that people are looking for a red hot fight in this moment. I think what people are looking for is a red hot fight for them, a red hot fight for their kids, a red hot fight for a safe climate, he said. I think my political career shows that I am up for a red hot fight on these things.
Shoebridge challenges One Nations politics of hate
Entering federal parliament in 2022 after more than a decade in NSW state politics, Shoebridge becomes the sixth federal Greens leader since the party was created in 1992. The one-time barrister and corporate lawyer from Sydney's wealthy eastern suburbs said his mission now is to show voters One Nation is not the answer they are looking for.
When you get out and meet with Australians who are facing these kinds of challenges, working two jobs and still not being able to afford the rent, no one would criticise people for being angry with politics in those moments and searching for whatever answer they can find, Shoebridge said. Our job is to take them away from the politics of hate, the politics of racism that One Nation wants to provide in that moment, and show them who their real enemy is.
It is not their neighbour who is from the Philippines who is working at the local emergency department. It is the elite 1%. Shoebridge gave his first interview since taking over the party leadership on 7.30, where he became emotional speaking about his political mentor, former NSW Greens MP John Kaye, who died in 2016. He described Kaye as a person of incredible principle and incredible courage, and called him a bloody fun friend.
We lost him while we were both in state parliament and I so felt that loss and our party felt that loss, Senator Shoebridge said. He was my political mentor and really sort of took me under his wing for the first four, five years that I had in the New South Wales Parliament.
Recalling mentor John Kayes influence on policy
Kaye taught him about how to do politics with principle, and how to hold firm on campaigns and hold firm on ideas over years, Senator Shoebridge said. I remember him talking about how we could make a 100 per cent renewable NSW, a 100 per cent renewable country, a decade before anyone else was talking about this. Asked if he believed Kaye would have seen him as a future leader of the Greens, Senator Shoebridge could not say.
But he said he had often felt the spirit of Kaye. John took me under my wing and wanted me to succeed in the process and he was an incredibly generous colleague. While the Greens have maintained their primary support at around 10 to 12 per cent, the rise of One Nation has meant they are no longer the main minor party threat to future Labor and Coalition governments.
The party suffered hefty defeats at the last federal election, with former leader Adam Bandt and the vocal Max Chandler-Mather among those who lost their seats. A harder edge came out when Shoebridge spoke about the state of Australia. He was angry about cost of living pressures and scathing of Labor. You only have to travel around the country and talk to people about just how tough it is, Senator Shoebridge told 7.30.
Four years of Labor and people are anxious pushing their trolley down the supermarket aisle if they are going to be able to afford it at the checkout. People are angry at the failure of politics to address their fundamental material concerns, he said. They are angry that their kids future might be meaner and nastier than their own history. People are not interested in incrementalist politics and smart messaging.
One day after interest rates were raised to a 15-year high, he called out the government housing policies but did admit the Greens had supported them at the time. The community has had three years of that housing policy that did pass and passed with Greens support, he said. It has not moved the thing a dial. What we were saying back then, that this would not fix the housing crisis, history has proven 100 per cent we were right.
Criticism over lack of member vote for leader
Shortly after Shoebridge emerged the victor of Wednesday's party room ballot, the former deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, posted a stinging criticism of the process. I have long advocated publicly that Greens leaders should be elected by members with enough time for thoughtful deliberation on who is best to grow our party, Faruqi said. I share members frustration that the opposite happened this week. Without a member vote, we cannot call ourselves a grassroots party.
I call on the new leadership team to set a timeline for one member, one vote. Shoebridge said he would give the membership a real and direct say on the next choice of a federal leader before the next federal election. This is a process that will take months to work through with the party and work collaboratively with the party to deliver, and we are committed to having that in place before the next federal election, he said.
After the election it will trigger an automatic vote for the next leader. That is the timeframe we are working to and that is the timeframe we are committed to. The polarising NSW senator is one of the minor party's newer additions but almost all of his upper house colleagues have an opinion about him. In his four years in Canberra, he has built up a reputation of being one of the most effective senators and political communicators.
Greens senator Barbara Pocock said Shoebridge and his deputy, Steph Hodgins-May, would bring new energy and grow momentum on the issues that Larissa laid the groundwork for. Given the crisis in politics across our country right now, that is very welcome, and I think it will make a difference, she said. The popular independent ACT senator, David Pocock, described him as smart and a hard worker.
He recognises politics in our country is in a time of flux and I am sure he will keep pushing hard and holding the major parties accountable as leader of the Greens, Pocock said. Shoebridge's role as the grand inquisitor of Senate estimates, of which many of his performances are clipped up and shared on social media to a much larger audience, has earned him both praise and criticism.
Shoebridge earns reputation as effective interjector
One of his Senate colleagues said no one gets under Labor's skin more than Shoebridge. Earlier this month, the government's Senate leader, Penny Wong, took issue with his interjections. Oh, the smartest man in the Senate is speaking again! So good to hear from you, she said.
Labor sources, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, described Shoebridge as annoying but very effective in the Senate while others said he had huge ego. In the face of an insurrection among the grassroots led by Mehreen Faruqi, Senator Shoebridge will have to convince the membership and his Canberra colleagues that the straight, white man from Woollahra is their best hope, one Labor source said.
A senior Labor figure said their honest assessment of Shoebridge was that he does not invest in relationships, likes things done his way and is not a natural negotiator. They pointed to a recent scenario where Labor offered the Greens the final seat on a joint artificial intelligence committee, as long as it did not go to Shoebridge. Waters refused, so Labor sent it to a vote in the Senate, where Shoebridge lost decisively to Pocock, 49 votes to 12.
Former party colleague, Lidia Thorpe, said Shoebridge was not a team player. While they had personal differences, Thorpe said she respected Shoebridge's strong support for reducing Indigenous incarceration rates. I just want outcomes for my people and if it means that he is going to platform the same issues, then that is what I will work with, the independent Victorian senator said.
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abcnews:New Greens leader gets emotional as he pays tribute to mentor 
GuardianAus:‘I’m up for a red hot fight’: polarising new Greens leader David Shoebridge is taking on the top ‘1%’ – and One NationThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
David Shoebridge Larissa Waters Greens Leader Bob Brown Christine Milne Richard Di Natale Adam Bandt Mehreen Faruqi Sarah Hanson-Young One Nation Labor Alp Anthony Albanese Coalition Inflation Cost Of Living Interest Rates Auspol 7.30 Sarah Ferguson John Kaye Greens Leadership Labor Criticism Housing Policy Australian Greens Leadership Larissa Waters Resignation Australian Greens
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