The Greens will today kick off their biggest ever national campaign with a record number of Greens representatives around the country ready to hit the campaign trail.
With the country heading for a minority government, the Greens have ruled out supporting Peter Dutton to form government but will get Labor to take urgent action on the cost of living, the rental and housing crisis and the climate crisis.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt will today reiterate that keeping Dutton out is not enough, as Labor will not take real action on cost of living and climate without pressure from the Greens.
The Greens have not yet announced their final formal list of priorities for minority government, but they have said they will seek action on housing, health and other cost of living issues, as well as ending native forest logging and stopping new coal and gas mines. The Greens' 'Robin Hood reforms' will fund these policies by taxing big corporations and billionaires.
Last time there was a minority government, the Greens got dental into Medicare for kids. This election, Labor has already adopted much of the Greens 'GP for free' policy and partially wiping student debt, and the Greens say their other policies are achievable in minority government as well.
The Greens are targeting five House of Representatives seats around the country in addition to the four currently held by the party, and are seeking to return all Senators up for re-election.
The Greens' priority target seats are Wills and Macnamara (VIC) held by Peter Khalil and Josh Burns respectively; Richmond (NSW) held by Justine Eliot, Sturt (SA) held by James Stevens and Perth (WA) held by Patrick Gormon.
As stated by Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP:
"With a minority government predicted, the Greens will keep Dutton out and get Labor to act.
"This election, we can't keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result.
"Right now, one in three big corporations pays zero tax. We should tax big corporations and billionaires to fund dental into Medicare, cap rent increases and lower mortgages, bring back free GPs and take strong climate action.
"Last minority government the Greens got dental into Medicare for kids, and now we want to get it for everyone.
"If you want change, the first step is to vote for it."
BACKGROUND: GREENS TARGET SEATS
Wills
- Samantha Ratnam resigned from her position as Victorian Greens Leader to contest the seat of Wills
- Redistribution approximately halved the ALP's margin against the Greens: Poll Bludger estimated 4.2% and the ABC's Antony Green estimated 4.6%. By way of comparison, Max Chandler-Mather and Adam Bandt achieved swings of more than 10% when they first won Griffith and Melbourne respectively.
Macnamara
- Candidate is Sonya Semmens, a non profit communications expert and the Greens' previous candidate for the seat of Higgins
- The Greens came within 300 votes of winning the seat of Macnamara at the 2022 election
- One of the highest proportions of renting households in the country: 51.5% of households are rented and a further 24% of households have a mortgage - that's 75% of the electorate being heavily impacted by the rental and housing crisis
Richmond
- Candidate is comedian and long term resident Mandy Nolan
- A swing of less than 1.8% required
- Extremely high level of rental stress - 82.7% of households in rental stress as of February 2025
Sturt
- Currently held by Liberal James Stevens on a razor thin margin of 1% against ALP in 2022
- Greens candidate Katie McCusker ran in Sturt in 2022 as well as the Dunstan by-election and in both contests achieved a swing of more than 5%. Both major parties recorded a negative swing at the Dunstan by-election
Perth
- Greens candidate Sophie Greer, a local councillor and public health expert would need an 8.4% swing to unseat the ALP's Patrick Gorman
- More than 40% of the electorate is rented and the WA election means many issues plaguing the state, such as the hospital and healthcare crisis, are at the forefront of people's minds
