David Shoebridge launches leadership bid ahead of Greens ballot at party retreat

David Shoebridge has been named the new federal leader of The Greens, with Steph Hodgins-May as his deputy, Guardian Australia understands.The Greens will make a formal announcement in Sydney shortly.The party’s ten senators and lone MP met to decide the new leadership team during a pre-planned two day retreat in Sydney, and followed the shock resignation of Larissa Waters on Monday, due to ill health.The leadership became a three-way race after Shoebridge announced his run on Wednesday morning. The South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young had declared her candidacy on Tuesday, followed by a joint ticket of NSW senator and former deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi and treasury spokesperson senator Nick McKim.Shoebridge entered federal parliament in 2022, after more than a decade in NSW state politics. He holds The Greens’ defence and foreign affairs portfolios, and is a forceful presence in parliamentary debates, on social media and in Senate estimates hearings.Before politics, he was a corporate lawyer and then became a barrister specialising in employment law, and at one point was a Labor branch member in Sydney’s inner west. In the early 2000s he met the hard-left Greens MP Lee Rhiannon, who went on to become his mentor.Hodgins-May is one of The Greens’ newest members, and entered parliament in May 2024, filling a casual vacancy created by Janet Rice’s retirement.Under Waters, The Greens supported the government to pass nature laws, including the establishment of a federal environment watchdog, and more recently supported Labor’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax. The Greens also teamed up with the Coalition and crossbench in the Senate to force Labor to drop a controversial $5000 cap for veterans to access allied health services, and compelled the government to bring forward 20,000 aged care beds.In a statement released ahead of the leadership ballot, Shoebridge and Hodgins-May said they were “excited by what we can and must do together as Greens.”“This is the time to build our movement as the home for every Australia who wants action on the climate crisis, a fair return from our resources, a secure home and income, and not to sell out our independence to the US or the 1%.“We do not seek to reform Labor, but to replace them.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“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. 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 US billionaire tech bros and their vampire AI data centres.”Waters revealed she would quit to focus on treatment for kidney disease, after her health had declined significantly since being elected leader in May last year. She is expected to take medical leave before returning to the Senate.The party’s new leader will come under pressure to bring a more forceful approach to the job, amid frustrations with Waters’ more moderate style, and the party’s inability to exploit growing moves by voters away from Labor and the Coalition.The former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather on Tuesday called for the party’s membership to get a vote in the leadership race.