The 2020 Australian Greens leadership election was held on 4 February 2020 to elect the leader of the Australian Greens. The election took place after Richard Di Natale announced his resignation as leader and his intention to resign from parliament.
Adam Bandt, the member for Melbourne, was elected to the leadership unopposed, becoming the first Greens leader to sit in the House of Representatives and not the Senate.
In the deputy leadership contest, Larissa Waters was returned unopposed as the party's leader in the Senate. The second deputy leadership position was contested by Mehreen Faruqi, Sarah Hanson-Young and Nick McKim, with McKim emerging successful.
The leadership of the Greens is decided by consensus within the party room (or a party room vote if consensus cannot be reached).
Candidates Leader Declared Candidate Electorate Announced Portfolio(s) Adam Bandt Melbourne (Vic) Co-Deputy Leader of the Greens
Deputy leader Declared Candidate Electorate Announced Portfolio(s) Mehreen Faruqi Senator for New South Wales 4 February 2020 Sarah Hanson-Young Senator for South Australia 4 February 2020 Nick McKim Senator for Tasmania 4 February 2020 Larissa Waters Senator for Queensland Co-Deputy Leader of the Greens
Leadership plebiscite
Following the leadership vote, the rank-and-file membership of the Greens voted in a plebiscite about the party's leadership election process. Voting began on 13 April 2020 and concluded on 11 May 2020.
The formal campaign in favour of a "one member, one vote" model began in April 2018 with the formation of the "Greens for Democratic Leadership" group, led by Brisbane councillor Jonathan Sri.
Options Greens members were presented with three options for conducting leadership elections:
One Member, One Vote (OMOV): "Australian Greens members vote with all votes counting equally in an optional preferential ballot. Candidates for leader must have their nomination supported by a threshold of 20% of Party Room or two MPs including themselves (whichever is the greater)" 50/50 Model: "Australian Greens members vote as a group and Federal MPs vote as a group, with each group of votes given a weighting of 50% when combined towards the overall result" Federal MPs Selection Model: "Federal MPs continue to vote to decide who will be the leader either by consensus decision-making or a vote"
Results Although both OMOV and the 50/50 Model received more votes than the present "federal MPs selection model" system, a two-thirds majority was required to force a change.
For a Greens plebiscite to be valid, a turnout of 20% is required. The leadership plebiscite had 6,065 voters out of 13,143 eligible members – a turnout of 46.15%.
Question Options Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Question 1 One Member, One Vote or Federal MPs Selection Model 3,721 62.00 colspan=2; 2,281 38.00 63 1.03 Question 2 50/50 Model or Federal MPs Selection Model colspan=2; 3,510 62.56 2,101 37.44 454 7.48 Question 3 One Member, One Vote or 50/50 Model 2,902 49.05 3,014 50.95 colspan=2; 149 2.45
Endorsements One Member, One Vote
50/50 Model
References