Opinion Piece Bandt’s night from hell: Greens suffer embarrassing election result

By Chase Christensen 

Election Night 2025 featured one of the quickest results in decades as Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party dominated forming a majority government in a landslide victory that sent shockwaves throughout Australia. As much as it was an election to forget for conservative voters there was light at the end of the tunnel as it turns out the only thing growing for the radical-leftist Greens Party was disappointment. 

The Greens campaigned for climate action, but the only thing heating up was their defeat. Former leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, was highly eager pre-election as his party had more of a presence online than ever before, particularly on TikTok, with young voters throwing plenty of support behind the party. Influencer Abbie Chatfield, the leader of this ‘Greens movement’ on TikTok, led a brigade of young voters who were making their voices heard online. During the pre-election period it looked as if the young voters would have a huge impact on a swing towards Bandt’s party. 

The end result was certainly not what the Greens had in mind. They were demolished, losing three of their four seats in the House of Representatives with one of those three seats being held by Adam Bandt in the electorate of Melbourne, who shockingly lost his seat to Labor candidate Sarah Whitty. On May 6, a news.com.au report revealed that the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) had made a mistake in the two-party preferred count on their official website, therefore requiring a recount. Bandt dismissed the possibility of losing his seat as his scrutineers remained ‘confident’. However this was not the case, as he brutally fell short of retaining his Melbourne seat, leaving Elizabeth Watson-Brown as the only standing member of the House of Representatives from the Greens Party. 

The consequence of this result is that the possibility of a Labor-Greens minority government is out the window and Labor once again has full power in the House of Reps. Even with no majority in the Senate, the Greens 11 senators can still have a high influence in the passing of bills. 

Greens candidate for the local electorate of Longman, Gabrielle Unverzagt, was happy to give her reaction in response to her electorate’s results. Unverzagt was pleased with the Longman swing in the Greens’ favour. 

“I was really pleased to have received a 2.2% swing in Longman, which I think reflects growing support for our people-powered campaign and the popularity of Greens policies such as dental into Medicare, free GP visits and capping rent increases,” Unverzagt said.” 

The Greens candidate was sympathetic with her fellow candidates Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates, who were two of the three Green MPs lost. 

The decline of the Greens’ power may be due to some of their radical policies. Just some of their alarming policies include defunding the police and national defence, decriminalising all hard drugs and indirectly implementing a large inheritance tax. 

Despite holding sole balance of power in the Senate, they were demolished in the House of Representatives sending a clear unpleasant message to the party. A massive overhaul of the Australian Greens is needed. It’s time for them to be more about the environment again and less about the radical agendas that their modern team has been pushing.