NSW Senator David Shoebridge Elected New Greens Leader

New South Wales (NSW) Senator David Shoebridge has been elected leader of the Greens after Larissa Waters stepped down due to health reasons.

Victorian Senator Steph Hodgins-May has been chosen as deputy leader, while Shoebridge defeated NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi and South Australian Senator Sarah Hanson-Young in the leadership ballot.

Shoebridge revealed he had not been expecting to take over as leader earlier in the week, but expressed it would be a joy to work with his colleague Steph over the next 18 months.

“We’re going to deliver that sense of hope and opportunity that Australians are begging for and we are also going to meet the climate crisis,” he told reporters on Sep. 30.

Shoebridge also paid tribute to outgoing Greens Leader Larissa Waters, saying she “led with compassion, led with principle, [and] showed what collective leadership can do.”

“We were privileged to be led by Larissa,” he said.

The Greens lost three of their four lower house seats at the 2025 election, while holding 11 seats in the 76-member Senate. The party is facing a rise in support for One Nation on the right and competition from Labor on the left.

Ahead of the internal leadership ballot, Shoebridge and Hodgins-May outlined a plan to take over the Labor as the main progress force in Australian politics.

“We do not seek to reform Labor, but to replace them,” they said.

The pair also sought to counter One Nation and target U.S. big tech and AI data centres.

“The answer to the rise of One Nation and the far right is giving people hope, and making people’s lives better with real economic and environmental security,” they said.

“It is as simple as a meal before school, as clear as no new coal and gas, and as challenging as holding back the wave of U.S. billionaire tech bros and their vampire AI data centres.?”

Meanwhile, Faruqi expressed her disappointment at the result after the ballot and pushed for Greens members to have a vote.

“I share members’ frustration that the opposite happened this week,” she said on Instagram.

Shoebridge, a former barrister, served in the NSW Legislative Council for 11 years before moving to federal politics in 2022. He has been a vocal opponent against AUKUS, a security and submarine pact between the United States, Australia and Britain.

Recently, the Greens senator has questioned the Albanese government over the Trump administration’s request to access Australian biometric data at the border as a condition of visa-free travel.

“Still so little information from the Albanese government over what data they are planning to hand over to Trump,” he said on X on Sep. 27.

“This agreement will cover our information, surely the public should know about negotiation.”