Transcript of media conference with Acting Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Nick McKim, Parliament Lawns, Hobart, 9 May 2025.
Nick McKim
I’ll just offer a few thoughts on the election outcome, our loss of Adam (Bandt, outgoing Leader of the Australian Greens) yesterday, which was sad to see. Then some next steps for the Greens and some political observations.
Firstly, a really sad and emotional day for us all yesterday, losing Adam, on top of already losing Stephen and Max. That’s a really bitter blow for our party, and they’re all outstanding humans who have done a tremendous job for our party and our movement. In particular the loss of our leader is obviously a really sad day.
Adam’s an awesome human. He’s an inspirational and outstanding leader, and I genuinely hope now that Adam can take the time to kind of reintroduce himself to his wife and kids after a really terrific stint as as Greens’ leader. He’s one of those leaders that combines a really big heart and capacity for care and compassion with a high degree of intelligence and a real vision for the future of our country and a theory of change to get us to the place where he thinks we should be as a society. So thanks for your service, Adam, you’ve been an amazing and inspirational leader and and all the best for the future.
Having said all that, there are a number of really terrific candidates for leadership in the Australian Greens. They’ve done me the honour of asking me to be Acting Leader of the Greens, just to shepherd us through the next little while, and I thank my colleagues for that. We’ll be meeting next Thursday to determine our next leader, and obviously there are already conversations underway about about who that will be and what our leadership structure will look like. And I’m not going to make any predictions or endorse any candidates. I’m simply one member of the party room, and those discussions will be ongoing. I’m very happy to take questions on those issues, but before I do, can I just offer a couple of, I guess, political reflections about the campaign and about some things that have happened since.
Firstly, there’s no doubt that the big tide that was running in this campaign was a firm rejection of Peter Dutton’s Trumpian agenda, and the rise in Labor’s vote was a byproduct of that.
The Greens are really happy that Australia has rejected Peter Dutton’s Trumpian agenda, but Labor’s increasing vote is by no means a ringing endorsement of Labor or the Prime Minister. It was simply a firm anti-Dutton vote, and we’re very happy to see a firm anti-Dutton vote. The reality for us was that that increased Labor’s vote to a place where, in some seats, they either got over us on primaries, and were elected on our preferences, or in parts of the state like Melbourne, Labor got enough primaries to be elected on Liberal Party preferences.
We’ll review this election, as we always do, and we’ll assess whether there are any other issues at play. But I just want to finally, before I take questions, respond to some of the things that the Prime Minister has been saying.
The Prime Minister can issue his writing instructions to the Senate all likes, and he can demand that the Senate get out of his way. The Greens were not elected to the Senate to get out of Anthony Albanese’s way. We were elected to hold into account and make him act on issues like climate, environment and social and economic justice, and that is exactly what we will be doing.
The Prime Minister’s comments have more than a whiff of arrogance and hubris about them, and we have no intention of taking our writing instructions from an arrogant Prime Minister. We were elected with a strong vote in the Senate to hold Labor to account and make Labor act on climate, on environment, on social and economic justice, and that is exactly what we will be doing. And the sooner Mr Albanese understands that, the easier things will go for him and for his government and for the country.
Journalist – unidentified
Can you give us any information about the candidates for the leadership?
Nick McKim
Under our processes, we haven’t yet called for nominations for our candidates, and I know that there are a number of my colleagues who are considering throwing their hat into the ring. Just to be clear, I won’t be one of those, and I’ve made the decision on my own behalf and on the party’s behalf, that this is not the time for me as leader.
I’ve always believed that if you’re going to lead a political party, you have to be prepared to give it 120%.
I don’t want to let my party colleagues down, and I don’t want to let our party down, our members, our voters and supporters and the broader movement that we represent by taking on a job that I’m not 100% sure I can give 120% of my effort to.
So that’s the basis that I’ve made that decision. Having said that, I know there are a number of my colleagues who are considering throwing their hat into the ring, and I’m certainly not here today to offer any kind of running commentary on who that might be.
Journalist – unidentified
The Greens will have balance of power in the Senate, but you’ve gone backwards in the Lower House. What do you put that down to? Has there been a bad campaign from the Greens?
Nick McKim
If you’re putting that to me as a proposition, I don’t accept that proposition. Our vote has held up very well in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. And what has happened here is that the Australian people, in firmly rejecting Peter Dutton’s Trumpian agenda, have in fact, raised Labor’s vote in some Lower House seats, not all, but some to an extent where they’ve either been ahead of us on primaries and then got in on our preferences, or they’ve got close enough on primaries to surf in on Liberal and far right preferences, as they have done in a seat like Melbourne.
Now let’s be very clear about a couple of things. Our Senate vote is very, very strong, and the Australian people have chosen to put us, by the look of it, in sole balance of power in the Senate. That is a mandate for us, and it’s a mandate to hold Labor to account and make them act on things like climate, environment and social and economic justice, including housing, and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.
Journalist – unidentified
Is there a reason why we say there’s a reason why you aren’t standing for the leadership?
Nick McKim
There’s no there’s no particular reason. I mean, I’ve led the Tasmanian Greens for quite a long time. I do know the demands of the job, and I know the level of sacrifice that that the job demands of anyone who’s in it. And I’ve tried to have an honest conversation with myself about that, and that’s the conclusion that I’ve reached.
Tasmanian Times
Paul Smith, of YouGov, made the point that the Greens were part of that ‘we must keep the country out of the hands of Peter Dutton’ messaging. In retrospect, was that a bit of an own goal, because it stampeded voters towards the only party that could form government other than Peter Dutton?
Nick McKim
I think that’s a that’s a fair question. I honestly don’t know the answer to that, but we’ll be considering that as part of our review of this election.
Journalist – unidentified
How will the Greens go forward with your balance of power position on the Senate in regards to reforms to federal environmental laws?
Nick McKim
It’s too early for us to make a call on any particular piece of legislation. We haven’t seen the government’s agenda. We haven’t seen any particular piece of legislation. But again, in broad terms, I am very confident to say to you and to the Australian people that we are not the Labor Party. Anthony Albanese is not our leader. He is the leader of the Labor Party, not of the Australian Greens, and we’re very confident in the mandate that the Australian people have given us by returning us so strongly in the Senate into a position which looks like it will be sole balance of power.
Mr Albanese shouldn’t assume that we are simply going to get out of the way which is his orders to the Senate.
I will say this: if Mr Albanese thinks the Senate should get out of executive government’s way, he should have a read of the Constitution. Because the Constitution is very clear, and that is that the Senate is there to provide a check and a balance on the power of executive government.
The Senate is constituted in such a way that is very, very unusual for whoever has a majority in the House and forms executive government to have that same power in the Senate.
It does happen, as we found with John Howard in 2004 and I will observe that the Prime Minister reeks of the arrogance that John Howard showed in 2004 when he came into power with a majority in both the House and the Senate. I remind the people that John Howard’s government collapsed under the arrogance and the hubris that it showed and lost government at the next election.
I also want to remind the Prime Minister of this: only around a third of Australians voted for Anthony Albanese’s government, and his primary vote was lower than the primary vote that Mark Latham achieved in 2004. Latham is universally derided as probably the worst Labor leader, certainly in recent history. And the arrogance that the Prime Minister is showing is not backed up by his electoral result, where only 1/3 of Australians voted for him, and he got a worse primary vote than Mark Latham, probably the worst Labor leader in recent memory.
Tasmanian Times
What do the Greens think should be the big legislative themes of this next term of government?
Nick McKim
Well, we have critical issues facing our community. We are in a climate crisis, we are in a biodiversity crisis, we’re in a housing crisis. We have a massive social and economic inequality gap in our country. Any genuine progressive government will get much stronger on climate. They will get much stronger to protect our environment, and they will bring in far, far stronger pieces of legislation to address the housing crisis and to address economic and social inequality in this country.
And can I say this.
With the make up of the parliament, with the make up of the parliament as it is, if we can’t get dental into Medicare, if we can’t stop logging our native forests, if we can’t stop approving new coal and gas mines, it will be only because Labor doesn’t have the courage to do it, because Labor plus the Greens equals the passage through both Houses of Parliament.
So if we can’t get dental into Medicare, if we can’t get stronger environment laws to protect nature, if we can’t get stronger climate laws in place, it will simply be because Labor lacks the courage and the ambition to deliver those things.
Tasmanian Times
It feels like Donald Trump has lobbed a few grenades into geopolitics. So do you see foreign affairs and trade relations as being the kind of themes that will also be quite important in this parliament?
Nick McKim
Can I just look firstly on Trump’s impact on this election. I think Donald Trump had a significant impact on this election, and all of his shenanigans around tariffs really led a lot of Australians to focus on Peter Dutton’s agenda, which was Trumpian in nature, and firmly reject that agenda. So I do think that that Trump has had a significant impact on this election.
Let’s face it, Donald Trump is a demagogue and a fascist, and Australians don’t want a bar of that kind of politics, and Peter Dutton embodies that style of politics. His agenda, and that style of politics, was firmly rejected by the Australian people at this election. That’s a very, very good thing as far as the Greens are concerned.
Foreign policy and other things that are happening around the world always play a role in Australian politics, but I genuinely don’t believe they were any kind of primary force other than what I’ve just said about Donald Trump and his actions and their impact on the election campaign.
Just to be very clear about what I’ve said about the make up this parliament: Labor plus the Greens equals the passage of anything through both Houses of Parliament.
Journalist – unidentified
What sort of length of experience is required for a leader? Does the party need a fresh face?
Nick McKim
I’m not going to offer any kind of observations about that, because my job as Acting Leader is to make sure that the process is fair, not just to anyone who might nominate but fair for all of our party room members and our members and supporters who are obviously really invested in the decision that we make. So I’m not intending to offer any kind of running commentary about who should be the leader or what kind of person should be the leader.
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