David Shoebridge is one of parliament’s best operators. His new task as Greens leader is far broader

September 30, 2026 — 7:09pm

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David Shoebridge is a brutal interrogator who knows his way around parliamentary process.

Many Australians would best know his face from viral clips of his back-and-forth with ministers and senior bureaucrats during upper house hearings. The former barrister holds a reputation, among both colleagues and rivals, as one of the most effective crossbenchers in Australian politics.

But he now has a much broader mission. It’s one that will take him out of the Senate chamber and adversarial day-to-day politics, and into the reaches of ordinary households and communities across the country.

The hard-left senator from NSW wants to replace the federal Labor Party with a mass movement of everyday Australians.

While the ambition is lofty, it is not new, having often been articulated by Greens founder Bob Brown. The question is whether Shoebridge, 55, can deliver – or even get close – given the Greens have stalled at a 12 per cent vote share between the last two elections.

Shoebridge vows to ‘replace’ Labor as Faruqi vents after Greens leadership defeat

Shoebridge took the helm of the left-wing minor party in a rare contested vote on Wednesday, surging through the middle on a ticket with deputy Stephanie Hodgins-May, 41, to beat senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Mehreen Faruqi for the top job.

Greens MPs have historically been cast as two archetypes – the tree huggers and the watermelons.

Shoebridge is firmly in the........

© Brisbane Times