Can a refreshed Greens take it up to One Nation?

The Greens are adopting tougher language with calls to end the duopoly — in both the supermarket and political market

Credit: Rachel Bradley - the Victorian Greens launched their state election campaign on 8 October

A few things happened in quick succession after NSW Senator David Shoebridge took over the Greens leadership, alongside new deputy Steph Hodgins-May.

As the dust was settling, the pundits still analysing what it meant for the direction of the party, the Green Institute — the Greens think tank, led by former MP Max Chandler-Mather — proposed the idea of publicly owned supermarkets, in order to challenge the Coles-Woolworths “duopoly”. It was a policy directly inspired by Democratic Socialist mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and formed the Institute’s first mainstream headlines since Chandler-Mather’s April appointment, with even News24 reporting on the proposal.

The idea was immediately “given the nod” by the new leadership, with Shoebridge welcoming the proposal, which dovetailed nicely with his plans to refocus the party on voters’ material conditions. “This is the sort of policy that we should be discussing right now,” Shoebridge told Guardian Australia. “While 99 per cent of us are paying more for food, and many are making decisions about enough food or some other essentials, the 1 per cent who own Coles and Woolies are laughing.”

Within days, the Victorian Greens announced their version of the policy, using their election campaign launch to pledge $300 million towards building 10 state-owned supermarkets — meaning both the Greens and the Victorian Socialists now require a tick on this table of Mamdani policies Deepcut produced in July.

‘Rekindled hope in politics’

These concrete announcements added to the renewed sense of optimism in the Australian Greens, amid a fresh swell of energy and — as the party has been eager to highlight — an influx of new members. The Greens gained 884 members in the week following the leadership change, though as the Nine papers note, their 15,000 total is seemingly dwarfed by One Nation, which claims to have between 60,000 and 70,000 members.

That optimism was undeniable at the Victorian launch on Thursday night, a bright, friendly, ticketed event held at a queer-affirming community church in Melbourne’s inner north. MCed by a comedian, with a vegan buffet and raffle, the launch had the air of a celebration, as the Greens launched a campaign they say could net them as many as nine seats — “more seats than any state Greens party has ever won before”, declared state leader Ellen Sandell.

There were huge cheers for Sandell and former Grayndler candidate Hannah Thomas, who referred to Labor not as the “light on the hill” but as a “binfire at the bottom of the barrel”. The biggest cheers were reserved for Hodgins-May and Shoebridge, who took to the stage last (well past when the event was meant to have finished) and delivered a fiery sermon, equal parts fury and hope.

Credit: Rachel Bradley - new Greens leader David Shoebridge

“We have rekindled hope in politics,” Shoebridge proclaimed to the still crowded room. “This is our moment,” he added, echoing lines from other speakers about the need to seize it.

Observers at the launch said it was the biggest and most hyped up they’d attended, noting that a lot of new people had come in via Samantha Ratnam’s 2025 campaign for Wills (the event was held in the very Greenest part of Wills). There was no sense of any of the bitterness that had been displayed by members of the federal partyroom following the leadership vote, the Greens’ first contested ballot.

People were excited about the new leadership, said one attendee, “not out of disrespect for Larissa [Waters]”, but because the party had needed a refresh.

The refresh is real, as is the pivot to a more combative approach, one the party hopes will grow their vote, which has remained stuck around the 12 per cent mark for years. Shoebridge and Hodgins-May have talked at length about wanting to build a movement that can replace the lifeless Labor Party, which they argue have directly contributed to the rise of One Nation.

Mistakes made

Speaking over the phone ahead of the launch, Shoebridge says the Greens initially internalised the wrong lessons after the 2025 poll (he remains, like almost everyone in the party, effusive towards Waters, praising her leadership style).

“The experience of the 2025 election was really tough for the party,” says Shoebridge. “In the heat of the moment, sometimes you learn the right lesson, sometimes you learn the wrong lesson. But often those decisions then need to be reviewed …

“With the benefit of a little bit of hindsight, the worst lesson you could take out of it would be to go soft on Labor.”

The Greens believe this is their “moment”. But it’s still not clear why things are going to be different this time, given this was the approach taken by the federal Greens before that disappointing 2025 result, which cost them their former leader, Adam Bandt. Shoebridge in many ways resembles Bandt, a whip-smart, bespectacled, inner city lawyer who speaks compellingly on the need to take the fight to the 1 per cent — compellingly for those who are already listening.

Shoebridge initially bats away the comparison to Bandt (“a handsome man”, he jokes), saying he and Steph’s leadership “will stand or fall on its own merits.” But after a few more questions on why their message will cut through where previous attempts haven’t, he nominates their new call to “replace Labor”, arguing people are hungry for this.

“That has been, I think, the distinct change in tone,” he says. “The idea that we are here, ready, willing and able to fill that progressive void in Australian politics.”

Pivot to grassroots

Shoebridge lays out his ambition to build a “mass movement,” in which thousands of new members join, and “having a political party bankrolled not by corporations, but supported by the hope and generosity of Australians across the country”. The goal is to build a “ground game to defeat Labor, not in a handful of seats, but with a well-developed strategy over time to gain serious political power in both houses of parliament” — very much in line with the Chandler-Mather school of thought.

Unfortunately for the Greens, a large number of those fed up with politics as usual have already found new homes — both within One Nation and an array of alternative leftwing movements, such as the Victorian Socialists, whose August campaign launch was better attended (the Greens’ event was ticketed and in a smaller venue, with multiple speakers noting it was sold out).

The Victorian Socialists, whose membership has also grown in recent months, argue the Greens’ middle class base won’t pursue the radical solutions required, though it will be interesting to see what effect Shoebridge as leader will have on this sentiment, given he comes from the most socialist faction of the Greens.

VS has since posted a cheeky swipe at the Greens’ supermarkets policy, noting they “Didn’t need a think tank to come up with this one for us,” while admitting “A good idea is a good idea. 👍”

Does Shoebridge have a message for those progressives who have or are about to turn to more radical alternatives?

“The Greens are this unique national movement,” he says. “Councillors across the country, MPs across the country, federally elected representatives, but fundamentally connected to a mass movement all across Australia. This is how you get serious national change, by being part of a national movement that is absolutely connected to its grassroots.”

The Greens are indeed a national movement with a passionate grassroots base — the Victorian launch showcased the best of both, though it’s worth noting that Shoebridge was preaching directly to the choir in Fitzroy North. The past fortnight has produced a rush of excitement for the Greens, amid plans to upend the supermarket duopoly and the political duopoly. The goal for Shoebridge and Hodgins-May now is to grow that movement beyond the bounds of the 12 per cent that are firmly wedded to them, to find ways to cut through where neither Bandt nor Waters could.

Vibes are high in the Greens right now. But it’s those outside the Greens that will need convincing, and it won’t be quite as easy as reinvigorating the base.