We’re not done yet

Image. Launch of the North West Patch Community Garden in North Melbourne, 2018

Victorian Greens Leader Ellen Sandell rejects Labor’s triumphalism and media spin, reminding us that in a world on fire our purpose-driven politics seek transformation, not minor tinkering.

Many of us are feeling deep sadness right now, waking to the realisation that our leader, climate champion and friend, Adam Bandt, is no longer in Parliament. I feel this grief acutely, having served alongside Adam in our electorates of Melbourne since 2014. Adam was a guiding light to many of us: breaking new ground for the Greens in the lower house, expanding our appeal to new audiences, and redefining what was possible for our party and our movement.

He (and his wife Claudia) also worked harder than anyone I know. On any given Saturday, after two events together, I’d go home to my kids while he headed off to a third or fourth community event for the day, constantly showing up for his constituents. Adam is also the reason I ran for politics in the first place, having seen the step-change in climate policy he achieved through his role in the 2010 Gillard minority Government. 

So yes, this hurts. Many of us are asking: where do we go from here? 

It’s the right question. We must reflect, review, listen to each other, and learn the right lessons. Any political party would be foolish not to learn from a moment like this. But it doesn’t mean our strategy was wrong, or that we need to throw out everything we’ve built over the last 15 years. In fact, it’s important to be clear-eyed about the spin and analysis we’re now hearing from Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and other political pundits who have a vested interest in our demise.

The main story of this election is clear: Australians voted overwhelmingly to keep Peter Dutton and Trump-style politics out of our country. That’s a good thing! Labor successfully used the global political circumstances to convince people they were the most viable alternative to Trump-style chaos.

Global timing also helped Labor’s case. Trump’s tariff announcement came at just the right time to make the threat feel even more real. Cyclone Alfred delayed the election and helped give Labor time to make the case. Without these factors, we might have seen a very different result.

…to be successful, MPs need to build broad coalitions in their electorates to appeal to 50% of voters across different generations, cultures, and backgrounds. Labor MPs often do this by standing for as little as possible, and some commentators will now tell us that we need to do the same. But Adam showed us a different way. He built those coalitions without compromising our values.

The other lesson to be clear about is that lower house seats are incredibly hard to win for minor parties, even at the best of times. In places like Melbourne and Wills, we have to outpoll both major parties combined. That’s always been a huge ask. Remarkably, we’ve done it before, not just in Federal Melbourne but also in state seats like Melbourne, Richmond, Brunswick, and Newtown. But it’s no small task.

In order to be successful, MPs need to build broad coalitions in their electorates to appeal to 50% of voters across different generations, cultures, and backgrounds. Labor MPs often do this by standing for as little as possible, and some commentators will now tell us that we need to do the same. But Adam showed us a different way. He built those coalitions without compromising our values.

His team paired smart and genuine grassroots ground work with values-based work in Canberra and the media. Adam stood up for young people and renters, and for our poor and multicultural communities in public housing, while also building trust with older voters who care about the future, the environment and their local neighbourhood. It wasn’t either or.

Political pundits right now are full of advice about how the Greens should change our ways to appeal to this broad coalition — that we should talk less about Gaza, renters, or coal. Curiously, these are often the same people who used to tell us to talk more about the economy and less about climate change! 

What they don’t understand is something fundamental to who we are as Greens: unlike the major parties we’re not here to win for winning’s sake. 

Adam and I didn’t leave our jobs and take on the uncertain and brutal world of electoral politics for a career move. We did it because we saw the looming crises facing our world, and felt we had to act, even if it meant doing something very hard.

The Greens are guided not just by polls, but by purpose. Labor, on the other hand, exists to manage issues, not solve them. When they see a political problem they take just enough action to neutralise it in order to retain power, then move on. But fighting to protect the status quo doesn’t make big problems disappear.

Right now, we’re seeing 20 degree overnight temperatures in Melbourne in May. The planet has already passed 1.5°C of warming and we only need to look to last winter’s LA fires to see a terrifying glimpse of what’s to come.

The world is literally on fire, and amidst all this, billionaires are happily profiting off this destruction. Not to mention the fact that our systems are deliberately set up to lock young people out of housing, and we’re seeing horrific war crimes being committed against Palestinian people, aided by governments like ours who refuse to push back against it.

Labor MPs can talk all they like about how the Greens need to be more “moderate” — but that misses the point. We’re not trying to tinker at the edges to stay in power like they are. We’re trying to change the fundamentals — to fix the things that stop future generations having a fair chance at a good life.

That kind of change is always harder than defending the status quo. It creates pushback, but the pushback shows we’re having an impact. When Tony Abbott and Gina Rinehart spend millions to stop us, when Labor is so keen to portray us as the fringe and celebrate our losses, it’s not because we’re irrelevant. It’s because we’re powerful. Otherwise why would they bother?

The good news is that when you’re here for the purpose of making change, our success isn’t just defined by the result in one seat or one election. That said, we are winning seats! And we need to keep doing so in order to keep having impact.

We’ve achieved one of our highest Senate votes ever. All our senators were re-elected. We hold the sole balance of power in the Senate. And we will retain Ryan in the lower house — no small feat in an election with a national swing to Labor.

The challenge now is to not lose hope, but to keep building to win more seats. The next test for us is the Victorian state election in November 2026.

We currently hold three lower house seats and are within striking distance of many more. But this election shows we’ll need to work harder than ever against an emboldened Labor Party and right-wing lobby groups who will throw everything at us, seeing an opportunity to stop this movement in its tracks.

We must rise to that challenge. Yes, this moment hurts. Setbacks always do. But we are not defeated.

As Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done”. And we are not done yet.

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Ellen Sandell is Leader of the Victorian Greens and state MP for Melbourne. She was previously a scientist, climate policy adviser, and National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

Image credit. Feature image courtesy of Ellen Sandell.