Key facts
- Greens leader Larissa Waters is stepping down due to ill health.
- Waters has been managing a pre-existing kidney disease.
- A party room meeting will be held next week to elect a new leader.
- Waters will return to parliament to represent Queensland in the Senate after medical leave.
- Waters cited the pressure of leadership and travel demands as impacting her health focus.
- The Greens have one lower house MP after the May election.
Greens leader Larissa Waters announced on Monday night that she will step down from her leadership role due to ill health, citing a significant decline in her condition related to a pre-existing kidney disease. Waters stated that while her prognosis for recovery is positive, the demands of leading the party, including travel, have detracted from her ability to focus on her health.
A party room meeting is scheduled for next week to elect a successor. Waters indicated she would take a period of medical leave before returning to parliament to represent Queensland in the Senate.
Waters replaced Adam Bandt as Greens leader after the 2025 election, where Bandt lost his lower house seat. Some party members have reportedly expressed frustration with the Greens' positioning under Waters' leadership, particularly regarding their voter appeal compared to major parties and One Nation.
Waters, first elected to the Senate in 2011, previously resigned in July 2017 due to holding Canadian citizenship but returned in September 2018. She served as a co-deputy leader and was involved in shaping the independent parliamentary workplace watchdog based on Kate Jenkins' report. The Greens currently have only one lower house MP, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, following losses in the May election, which the party attributes to shifts in Liberal party votes favoring Labor and reduced preference flows.