In recent years, the Australian Greens have championed a forthrightly left-wing platform, centered on housing, rebuilding social welfare institutions, and taking real action on climate change. Combined with a growing volunteer army and community organizing, it’s a recipe that saw the minor party achieve a breakthrough result in the 2022 federal election.

In 2025, the Greens went into the next federal election with a bigger and more sophisticated ground campaign than ever before. Greens strategists hoped that anger over the cost-of-living and housing crises would help the party win new seats, strengthening their hand against a Labor government that, at the beginning of the year, was suffering badly in the polls.

Despite this, on May 3, the Australian Greens suffered a setback, losing two of the three seats they had gained in 2022, as well as Melbourne, previously held by party leader Adam Bandt. Pro-Labor commentators rushed to blame the poor outcome on the Greens’ alleged intransigence or their commitment to left-wing causes, like Palestinian liberation.