Adam Bandt Elected Leader of Australian Greens Party

AAP
By AAP
February 3, 2020Australia
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Adam Bandt Elected Leader of Australian Greens Party
Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt during a press conference in the Senate courtyard at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Oct. 14, 2019. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)

The Greens have elected Adam Bandt to replace Richard Di Natale as leader of the party, with Larissa Waters and Nick McKim to serve as his deputies.

Richard Di Natale announced his resignation Monday, saying he would like to dedicate more time with his family.

Bandt was formally endorsed by his federal party room colleagues in Canberra on Tuesday morning.
Larissa Waters has been re-elected co-deputy along with Nick McKim.

Bandt has made his intentions clear. He wants to fight for a “green new deal” and wean Australia off fossil fuels in favour of renewables.

“We are in the middle of a climate emergency and long-running jobs and inequality crises,” Bandt said.

“People are angry and anxious because the government has no plan for the big problems facing the country.”

Senator Waters was elected for the first co-deputy position unopposed.

The other was a three-way contest between Sarah Hanson-Young, Mehreen Faruqi and Senator McKim.

Who is Adam Bandt?

Adam Bandt was deputy leader of the party between April 2012 to May 2015 and has been serving as co-deputy party leader since June 2019.

Once a member of the Labor Party, Bandt was born in Adelaide, and is married with two daughters. He has lived in Whyalla, Perth, Fremantle, and Melbourne.

A student unionist and member of the ALP from 1987-89, Bandt graduated with an arts-law degree from WA’s Murdoch University in 1996 after which he practised as an industrial law solicitor and partner with Slater and Gordon.

He joined the Greens in 2004 and completed a PhD thesis at Monash University in 2008 entitled: “Work to Rule: Rethinking Marx, Pashukanis and Law.”

First elected to a federal seat for Melbourne in 2010, Bandt was re-elected in 2013, 2016, and 2019. His key policy interests are environment, human rights, refugees, and economic inequality.

By Daniel McCulloch, Finbar O’Mallon, and Paul Osborne

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