In the 2022 Federal election, the Greens described their party as the “most powerful third force” in Australian politics. This year, the Greens lost three of their seats. On top of that, their leader, Adam Bandt, lost the seat of Melbourne to Labor candidate Sarah Witty. This put Bandt in the same situation as Peter Dutton, who not only lost his seat in Dickson during the Albanese campaign, but also lost his place in Australian politics.

Why are things so different from three years ago? Here’s all you need to know about the Greens’ major loss in the 2025 Federal Election.

So, how bad was this election for the Greens?

The Greens have had a tough couple of weeks in the office this year. Here’s why.

The party was hit hardest by losing their leader of five years. After the seat of Melbourne was called, Bandt conceded defeat in Melbourne and congratulated Witty on her win.

“A short time ago I called the Labor candidate for Melbourne, Sarah Witty, to concede, congratulate her and wish her all the best as the next Member for Melbourne,” he said.

Later, Bandt said he was proud of what he had accomplished as Greens leader.

“Together we have achieved so much and I am sure they are going to achieve so much more. I want to thank them for their really strong support for me over the years, including the time I have been leader,” he said.

On top of losing their leader, the Greens have also gone on to lose most of their influence in parliament. Here’s where they’ve lost seats.

As of today on the Australian Electoral Commission website, the Greens are projected to win just one seat this year in the House of Representatives, with their seats of Griffith, Brisbane and Melbourne all being won by Labor candidates. The seat of Ryan is still being fought for in Queensland by the Greens and the Liberals, but, Greens candidate Elizabeth Watson-Brown is projected to hold onto her seat for another year.

But not all independent parties had a rough time in this year’s federal election, as 2025 has seen the possibility of being the first election in Australian history where more people voted for an independent rather than the two major political parties which saw the voting percentage grow to 33.57 percent for independents and the Liberal National Party drop to 31.8 percent. This appears to be a Greens problem.

So, where did it all go wrong?

The problem seemed to revolve mostly around policies and misinformation.

First off, the Greens rebranded as the party of renters for this election, with their affordable policies for affordable housing for renters. But, they also rejected the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which was intended to fund and support the building of social and community housing, back in May of 2023.

Greens senator Nick McKim heavily criticised the bill and said it wasn’t ready to be voted on.

“The Labor Housing Future Fund is a steaming pile of neo-liberal rubbish, that doesn’t guarantee the building of a single house in this country,” he said.

The Greens eventually agreed to support the bill in September of the same year, after months of bitter negotiations in parliament.

The Greens were also subject to misinformation campaigns from the Conservative Advance Australia lobby group who took credit for taking down the Greens. They have also taken credit for taking down the referendum, and sent out an email to its supporters, titled ‘Greens destroyed by advanced ADVANCE blitz’

A spokesperson from the group made statements, making no apologies for aiding anti-green parties during the campaigns.

“Advance is working with hundreds of volunteers from dozens of community groups to defeat Greens candidates and we make no apology,” they said. They also said Advance did not fund groups directly, but “we absolutely pay for anti-Greens campaign material to be at the disposal of volunteers”.

As well as losing the party’s leader, the Greens have not only received negative feedback from the general public via their vote, but from the PM himself on how they conduct themselves in parliament throughout the year. During the one-on-one interview on ABC’s 7.30 last Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked questions about the Greens, which led to criticism of Greens MP Max Chandler-Mathers in response to Chandler-Mathers’ comments about the culture in parliament.

“He should have a good look at the way that he asks questions in the parliament, and maybe what he needs is a mirror and a reflection on why he’s no longer in parliament,” he said.

Chandler-Mathers then wrote on X the same day, responding to Albanese.

“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 ppl who fight for renters & real change,” he wrote.

So, what now?

With Bandt out of politics, this raises the question of ‘who will lead the Greens now?’.

Leadership will be decided by a meeting of the party room this week, with Senator McKim acting the role of caretaker in the interim. McKim also announced in a media release about the leadership process for the party and on the next term in parliament.

“There are a number of incredible people who would make great leaders of our party, and I have absolute confidence that whoever is chosen will lead us strongly and well,” he said.

Notably, those in the running for leadership are all women, including senators Mehreen Faruqi, Larissa Waters and Sarah Hanson-Young.

Greens insiders suggest that Faruqi will likely win a membership ballot, but some also suggest that Hanson-Young can come out on top in a ballot of MPs and senators.

Although the Greens are in a rough spot for now, is there hope for the party?

Well, there has been plenty of positivity from the party itself. In Bandt’s final public address last week, he told the press there is still hope for the party and to put “hope” in the movement and not in him.

“Our movement has a big future. It is a movement with a lot of heart, and we are going to keep growing,” he said.

McKim also shared similar sentiments.

“We have been given a mandate to use our position in the Senate to hold Labor to account and make it act on issues like climate, environment, housing, and social and economic justice. We will be doing exactly that,” he said.

“We were not elected to get out of Labor’s way and the sooner the Prime Minister understands that the better.”

Photo: Photo(4) by Greens MPs found HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.