Greens Leader Closer to Losing Seat as Labor Leads Count by 4,000 Votes

The 2025 election has been challenging for the left-wing party.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt speaks to media in the seat of Wills in Melbourne, Australia, on May 3, 2025. Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

In a surprise moment for the federal election, Greens leader Adam Bandt is on the verge of losing his 14-year hold on the seat of Melbourne.

As of the latest Australian Electoral Commission count, Bandt is trailing Labor’s Sarah Witty by 4,159 votes.

Held by Adam since 2010, the seat is now swinging red, with preference flows sitting below the 33 percent Bandt needs to close the gap.

Official AEC data shows Labor maintaining a lead on the two-candidate preferred count.

Witty’s strong showing caps off a surprising Labor resurgence in seats previously dominated by the Greens.

Melbourne was previously held by Bandt with a 6.5 percent margin.

Greens Wipeout in Lower House

Bandt’s near-defeat follows the collapse of the Greens’ inner-Brisbane bloc.

MPs Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates lost their seats of Griffith and Brisbane, while only Elizabeth Watson-Brown is expected to retain Ryan.

The party had entered the election optimistic, claiming it could grow its four seats to nine. Instead, it now risks being left with just one representative in the House.

Bandt’s loss also marks the second major leadership casualty of the election after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton lost Dickson in Queensland.

Bandt Yet to Concede

Speaking on May 5, Bandt chose not to concede defeat.

“Obviously, that’s up to my colleagues,” he told reporters. “Under my leadership over two elections now, we’ve delivered a record high House vote for the last election and a record high Senate vote at this election.”

He dismissed suggestions that voters had abandoned the Greens, pointing to the party’s performance in the Senate, where they are expected to retain 11 seats.

The left-wing party had experienced a challenging 2024 across three major elections where it expected to make extra gains.

The party’s vote largely remained stable, but it did not manage to expand the number of seats it held, while losing some in the Queensland and Australian Capital Territory elections.

The party has pledged radical plans to expand the welfare state, including cancelling student debt, while also pushing for rent controls to help with the housing crisis.

A former industrial lawyer and academic, he became the first Greens MP elected to the House of Representatives at a general election in 2010 and took over party leadership from Richard Di Natale in 2020.