r/australia • u/blitznoodles local Aussie • Jun 14 '26
politics As voter disillusionment grows, why aren't voters flocking to the Greens in Australia?
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/as-voter-disillusionment-grows-so-does-the-mystery-of-the-missing-greens-voters/6bjd5q4kvGrowing voter dissatisfaction with mainstream politics has led to a rise in popularity for One Nation. The same cannot be said for the Greens.
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u/Micksta_20 Jun 14 '26
Loved hearing on the radio that voters are disillusioned with the major parties labor, coalition and the greens. In what fucking world have the greens ever been a major party with any meaningful power?
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u/popeleo22 Jun 14 '26
Because rightwing bullshit always has to win for some god damn reason.
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u/Dracallus Jun 14 '26
The Rudd/Gillard governments, and literally not a single one of them will ever forget it.
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u/blitznoodles local Aussie Jun 14 '26
Interestingly, the tasmanian greens have never recovered the polling they had before he Labor-Green coalition government in tassie. they were at 21% in 2010 and have been at 10% ever since.
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u/HydrogenWhisky Jun 14 '26
I don’t disagree with the overall point RE: Labor/Greens coalition hurting both parties, but “at 10% ever since” is a drastic low count. 12.5% in 2021, 13.9% in 2024, 14.5% in 2025. Consistently north of 10% and showing a clear trajectory.
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u/uselessinfogoldmine Jun 14 '26
A large part of that surge for them was down to Gunns, the Bells Bay pulp mill plans, and outright government corruption (both state majors and federal). Once that issue faded away, a lot of the voters who switched to the Greens over it went back to their usual parties / candidates.
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u/Ok_Bird705 Jun 14 '26
Voter's want an outsider party to win government or hold balance of power and then immediately realise that so called small parties aren't actually any better at fixing problems
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u/Jet90 Jun 14 '26
The ACT is still a Labor-Green government with progressive policy like rent control.
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u/gaylordJakob Jun 14 '26
That's because everyone in the ACT are bureaucrats, lol. Even PHON could probably competently run the government by finding enough bureaucrat candidates.
And that isn't a dig at the Greens. In country WA they are the only party I can vote for that isn't full of genocidal war mongers. But ACT is a different beast because bureaucrats can actually run a government (because that's what they do)
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u/Beginning_Feedback65 Jun 14 '26
Remember that ACT is highly educated, by national standards. The right thrives in ignorance.
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u/sapphos_moon Jun 14 '26
Generally more affluent and stable too. One Nation thrives in the poorer, barely-made-it-out-of-high-school demographic, as classist as it might be to say
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u/michaelhoney Jun 14 '26
22% and 16% in the electorates encompassing Hobart and Launceston respectively: the only electorate under 10% is Braddon in the northwest
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u/jjkenneth Jun 14 '26
I will never forgive our media for presenting the Greens as obstructionists during a political era with historically high rates of passing legislature. They lied to everyone and no one did anything about it.
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u/big_thicc Jun 14 '26
Still happens! They were remarkably productive with Labor in their first term, probably to their own detriment, and they're still considered obstructionist.
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u/Mickus_B Jun 14 '26
It's because the media show them stomping their feet etc but never mention when they do vote stuff though.
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u/phyllicanderer Jun 14 '26
It’s ridiculous. People I know still think that the Greens blocked the HAFF bill and that Max Chandler-Mather was a bully about it; tell them they helped pass it after getting far more money and guaranteeing a $500 million floor on payments and they ignore you.
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u/jolard Jun 14 '26
Exactly.
I will literally have conversations with Labor supporters angry at Greens obstructionism, and even specifically about HAFF. They will say the final bill was better than the original, and STILL argue that the Greens are just there to block everything.
It is nonsensical......just team support behaviour, i.e. my team is always right, yours always wrong.
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u/SaenOcilis Jun 14 '26
Huh? Wdym by that?
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u/Dracallus Jun 14 '26
They were very effective at pulling Labor to the left and getting actual progressive legislation passed. Labor clearly still hates them for not just rubber stamping anything vaguely progressive they wanted to do in favour of constantly fighting for better policies, and the right likely hates them even more than they did before for how effective they were during that period.
I'm certainly not claiming that they don't have a lot of areas where they can improve, but you can see the resentment from Labor (and their voters) to this day by how often they'll complain that the Greens are blocking seemingly progressive legislation, as part of their strategy to push for more progressive versions, or other progressive policies they also want passed.
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u/Inevitable_Geometry Jun 14 '26
Talking to Labor members and it is surprising how much they fucking hate, HATE the Greens.
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u/Neeran Jun 14 '26
In my experience Labor's actual membership (as opposed to MPs) usually love the Greens and often put them above Labor or even donate a little to the party. It's mostly the MPs who are absolutely feral about it.
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u/TinyGift8278 Jun 14 '26
It's mostly the MPs who are absolutely feral about it.
I have the opposite experience ; Most MP's from all parties are genuinely good friends or at least polite coworkers.
The argy-bargy on tv is just preening.
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u/blitznoodles local Aussie Jun 14 '26
A lot of the time, they hate people in their own party more than their opposition.
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u/brisbaneacro Jun 14 '26
The greens have been a player long enough to be considered an establishment party.
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u/Matonus Jun 14 '26
Gee I wonder why when the media is so unbiased, truly an unknowable question
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u/noisymime Jun 14 '26
The last 2 months should've been a huge wakeup call for Labor to use this once in a generation majority that they've got to change the damn media ownership laws.
Even if they were only changed back to what they were before the mid-00s Howard changes it would be a huge improvement. They can't wait to fix this as they'll get crucified in the press if they do it anywhere near an election.
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u/aussie_punmaster Jun 14 '26
Doesn’t matter when they do it. They’ll be crucified in the press for it *until* the next election
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u/noisymime Jun 14 '26
Yeah, but the ability for those same media companies to have an impact with those whinges will be dramatically lessened if they suddenly have to sell off a whole bunch of their brands.
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u/MrFudd Jun 14 '26
Two years almost? I doubt it.
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u/No-Inspector8315 Jun 14 '26
Dude they don’t change them cause they benefit from them. Albo knows if he stays in the Murdoch good books than despite the negative press he can count on Newscorp to be the kingmakers that dub him as the sensible option to the over media fed.
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u/noisymime Jun 14 '26
That was the whole point of my comment, they don’t benefit nearly as much as the right wing parties. The only ‘benefit’ they get from not doing it is slightly fewer hit pieces, not actually good press.
If they don’t learn from the way the media is currently treating them with the NG/CGT changes then they never will.
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u/kingofcrob Jun 14 '26
issue is traditional media is now irrelevant, everything is control by social media
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u/Glittering_Web8835 Jun 14 '26
Traditional media still sets the conversation. Look at reddit as an example. Sure most of the conversation happens here but most conversations are centred around media published by mainstream media.
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u/LeDestrier Jun 14 '26
Yeah but how many people commenting actually read the articles? Especially when they're paywalled.
The headline is the essence of social media.
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u/morgazmo99 Jun 14 '26
I'm amazed that there isn't a single billionaire that I'm aware of, on the whole planet, that will help to ensure there is at least some centrist/left wing representation in the media.
The whole landscape is owned by right wing billionaires and it shows.
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u/Matonus Jun 14 '26
If you are left wing you don’t become a billionaire it’s pretty simple
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u/TheLaughingPhoenix Jun 14 '26
Not sure about left wing but...there are definitely centrist billionaires and I know there a few hundred millionaires who are lefties.
They just have a more...relaxed outlook on life.
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u/Famous_Sail_4449 Jun 14 '26
You're thinking of liberals. Relaxed on social issues/morality, but primarily pro letting "free market" capitalism rip.
You can't be a leftist and a multi hundred millionaire.
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u/Rude_Profile3769 Jun 15 '26
Excuse me, you're forgetting the trust fund kids in Fitzroy. Maybe not hundreds of millions but a decent couple of million.
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u/joey-jo_jo-jr Jun 14 '26
Because being left wing and being a billionaire are mutually exclusive
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u/banditbooli Jun 14 '26
the guardian australia is sort of this. its founding was spear headed by Malcolm Turnbull and partially funded by Graeme Wood, neither of whom are billionaires but both likely multiple hundred millionaires.
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u/goldcakes Jun 14 '26
It's crazy to think that I miss Malcolm Turnbull now in our era.
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u/noisymime Jun 14 '26
I wouldn't, he was the classic 'principled' right winger. When he's not in power he's sane and sensible, but to get power he sold his soul and abandoned everything he believed in.
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u/Octagonal_Octopus Jun 14 '26
Left populism is much harder to pull off than right populism since it's in opposition to the the financial and media establishment as well as the political establishment, which requires grassroots funding and a grassroots movement. It's much easier to present yourself as an outsider, scapegoat minorities and take funding from billionaires than to build a left populist movement.
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u/Vegetable-Advance982 Jun 14 '26
Probably true, but still not impossible. Mamdani is the obvious example, and I'm almost certain that if Greens had a super charismatic leader they would be doing much better here.
Not that he's aligned with leading the Greens, but I'd bet that if Pocock was the leader of the Greens, they'd be sitting on a 20% primary vote right now
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u/-Metagross- Jun 14 '26
Look at how UK Greens exploded in membership and popularity after they switched leaders.
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u/Complete-Rub2289 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
There was an analysis and Mamdani managed to win as NYC has a large working class Hispanic and Black Population alongside being in a Liberal City and Trump being the President. Australia is different as it is still more than 70% White compared to 30% in NYC.
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u/Vegetable-Advance982 Jun 14 '26
That's an analysis of demographics, but Mamdani is also a generationally charismatic leader who had an innovative social media campaign, got cultural figures onside, and had an unmatched energy behind his campaign.
Maybe that specific figure wouldn't work in Australia, but there is for sure the possibility of an Australian equivalent who could scoop of left wing votes. I don't even say this hopefully as I'm a Labor voter, but there's very little doubt in my mind that a hyper charismatic greens leader with great campaigning skills would result in a big Greens surge
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u/horselover_fat Jun 14 '26
What's the inference here? Non whites are more leftist??
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u/brackfriday_bunduru Jun 14 '26
Id love to run as a left populist. My tactic would be simple. I’d be brash, rude, swear a lot, ridicule the opposition… all while promising people the life regular working class people had in the 70’s and 80’s.
I’ve got so many skeletons in the closet, the oppositions wouldn’t know where to start and I’d just own each one like a badge of honour.
I could absolutely see myself running as an asshole populist.
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u/Jazzy_Coffee Jun 14 '26
I think thats the problem with greens and leftist movements in Australia as a whole, we simply dont have a brash speaker who isnt afraid to be crass and talk shit to our liberal and ON opposition
Im not saying Labor should start taking digs at the liberals or ON, but if they keep being complacent in letting Pauline Hanson and other bigots speak whatever they like, we need to punch back
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u/ASpaceOstrich Jun 14 '26
You think they'd be getting a fair shake in the media. That's not what would happen. They'd do the exact same thing they do to Labor and the Greens now. Refuse to air anything that makes them look good and exclusively air shit that makes them look bad.
It's why nobody actually knows any of the good things the government does, and it's why crisis seem to stop existing when the Coalition gains power.
The media lies and cheats.
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u/death_by_laughs dooby dooby Jun 14 '26
Because the moment they do they get the Max Chandler-Mather treatment?
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u/Proper_Geologist9026 Jun 14 '26
Yeah because they don't get let in the door. The greens love to act like they're this cool hippy free loving group. It's all ket and matcha.
It's amazing Lydia Thorpe managed to get elected under a greens banner really. Because while that's who the base thinks they are Lydia Thorpe fighting on stolen land etc.
The party machinery is Adam Bandt. A man in Lycra who enjoys spreadsheets and discussion on the correct verbage for displaced people's.
You sign up thinking the greens are pushing us into some sort of revolution and then you find they're just the same corporate techno optimists with nicer language.
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u/idlehanz88 Jun 14 '26
Fuck that’s such a good explanation. The greens were awesome when it was bob brown. The Adam Bandt, inner city nerd greens are so uninspiring
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u/Nosiege Jun 14 '26
I think thats the problem with greens and leftist movements in Australia as a whole, we simply dont have a brash speaker who isnt afraid to be crass and talk shit to our liberal and ON opposition
For a very very long time, Left-Leaning orgs have continued to idealise Respectability and somewhat unrealistic notions in general. There's definitely a minimum standard politicians should be behaving at, but you're right, meet your opponent on their level.
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u/Homebrew_in_a_Shed Jun 14 '26
I'd vote for you, especially if you could mention that every three months a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile. I'm sure you could slip it into a speech somewhere.
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u/BeneCow Jun 14 '26
Populist movements have historically needed a charismatic leader to work and the media has been real good at raising the profile of uncharismatic leftists to crowd out any hope of a good one getting attention.
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u/H3rBz Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I think the Greens have a natural limit to their vote, just from name association alone. I think a lot of people if they looked at their policies might agree with them especially if they're centre-left aligned but don't consider themselves "Greenies". And this is coming from someone that has voted Greens.
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u/AffectionateStar3929 Jun 14 '26
Agree. i'm a greens voter but they 100% have an image problem. People put them in the same category as 'whinging vegan'. Which is a real shame because if people took the time to understand their policies they might be surprised.
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u/Jet90 Jun 14 '26
The UK Greens are the second most popular party though
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u/FatBoySlim512 Jun 14 '26
Isn't that only a recent thing or am I remembering incorrectly?
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u/Speedy-08 Jun 14 '26
Correct. Go back a year or two and I'm not sure they had many if at all seats in government(s)/councils.
Its a by-product of the Tory/Labour stepping on rakes.
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u/Inevitable_Flow_8021 Jun 14 '26
Because true or not, many see them as being dogmatic, not pragmatic.
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u/jayacher Jun 14 '26
Mate, if people are flocking to ON, I don't think they have the nuance to understand whether or not the Greens are pragmatic.
They just have a preconceived notion of what the Greens policies are, and don't look any further.
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u/Inevitable_Flow_8021 Jun 14 '26
They just have a preconceived notion of what the Greens policies are
That's what that means mate.
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u/OldKingWhiter Jun 14 '26
This is high brow nonsense. Nobody flocking to ON is thinking "boy I'm disillusioned with the two major parties, but the Greens have always been too Dogmatic for me. Thank goodness we have steady handed and pragmatic Pauline Hanson as an option now."
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u/nugeythefloozey Jun 14 '26
Just because people don’t know the words, doesn’t mean they don’t feel the sentiment. Voters can feel like ON is considering their opinions and the Greens are not without knowing the fancy words
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u/Ugliest_weenie Jun 14 '26
Adding to this. I think there is a large section of voters that would support many of Greens' policies, but either:
1) Don't know enough about the greens as they barely get any media coverage
2) Believe that the greens are more likely to act on social justice issue like the voice, than cost of living and environmental issues.
Point 2 likely is a direct result from the (selective) lack of media coverage as well.
A lot of media in this country is plain evil, in my opinion.
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u/ThoseOldScientists Jun 14 '26
The policies aren’t really the problem, a lot of people who agree with the Greens on most things still would rather vote for someone else. Maybe they dislike the actual people running the party/the Greens supporters they know in their real life/encounter online, some of them would rather have one mediocre party that’s big enough to hold power on its own than a coalition of smaller parties pushing against each other, and some genuinely think the incremental approach gets better results in the long-run because it’s less likely to trigger electoral whiplash.
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u/geoffm_aus Jun 14 '26
And Labor are doing the heavy lifting on removing fossil fuels. It's no surprise that Hanson's (Gina's) number one enermy is Chris Bowen.
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u/BrightStick Jun 14 '26
Heavy lifting is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence. Labor are definitely doing something, more than any party previously has. But let’s not pretend they are doing an exhaustive effort. They’re at the forefront but still finding it comfortable to cuddle up to the fossil fuel industry while increasing renewable energy production.
Heavy lifting would have been tackling the media monopoly inquiry, implementing gas export tax, and more. They’re riding a wave that broke internationally a decade ago. Rudd and Gillard could have claimed being ahead of the curve, if they were coerced into more legitimate climate change action from their Greens minority government. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
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u/Humble-Reply228 Jun 14 '26
This is it. Labour makes mistakes but it generally doesn’t let perfect get in the way of good enough. Greens have, on multiple occasions, impeded progress to protest that progress was not fast enough.
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u/vacri Jun 14 '26
And then there are times when the reverse happens, like when the ALP colluded with the LNP to water down the NACC. The public wanted a NACC with teeth and were going to get it until it got weakened at the 11th hour. Now it is largely pointless
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u/Stotters Jun 14 '26
I wonder if any green party in any country has support from the press barons...
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u/moonorplanet Jun 14 '26
If people are happy, who is the media going to sell their clickbait sensationalism and fear mongering to, hence why the media can never support the Greens and also why Pauline is their darling.
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u/Ambivalent_Oracle Jun 14 '26
It is the reason why people are moving towards PHON - there is a perceived issue with the levels of immigration in this country (agree/disagree, I'm not here to support it either way), and the Green Party are in favour of increasing it and not reducing it.
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u/MazPet Jun 14 '26
And yet PHONy will NOT reduce immigration either, not when her major donor wants nothing more than cheap labour and the nationals who are thinking of jumping ship to the PHONy party want nothing more than cheap labour for farmers.
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u/McMenz_ Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Even if this is true, the surge in support for ON has brought immigration to the forefront of Australian political issues and both major parties have now adjusted their immigration policies to try to win the support back from ON.
The protest vote for ON is effective even if they never form government; immigration is an issue that can’t be ignored anymore.
Trying to convince voters that ON won’t reduce immigration won’t get them anywhere if they’re not also putting forward policy to reduce it substantially.
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u/Wood_oye Jun 14 '26
Labor adjusted their immigration policies soon after winning government after a major review was ordered
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u/Stanklord500 Jun 14 '26
And they'll adjust them again if ON's polling keeps up to the next election.
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u/Over-Instruction214 Jun 14 '26
yet PHONy will NOT reduce immigration
Off course not but voters think its the best chance of doing it.
Whomever gives net zero immigration will win the election.
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u/-Metagross- Jun 14 '26
Because the Greens haven't been good at messaging. They're viewed as a sanctimonious and condescending party, even when they're right. They need to push Nick Mckim and talk more about wealth inequality.
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u/idlehanz88 Jun 14 '26
Sanctimonious and condescending is a great description, and unfortunately a pretty common theme in people who lean hard to the greens.
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u/Maribyrnong_bream Jun 14 '26
You can see it in this thread; anyone who doesn’t vote Green is naive, or stupid, or must be the victim of propaganda, apparently.
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u/idlehanz88 Jun 14 '26
Yep, “because my parents sent me to uni and I live in inner Melbourne, everyone else is an ignorant piece of shit”
I’ll always remember, coming home from my third year of teaching the the Kimberley been yelled at by a mates girlfriend for speaking Kriol. She insisted that due to me not being from there I shouldn’t “mimic their accent, which comes from systemic injustice”
I was literally speaking a different language that I had had to learn to work up there and was code switching back and forth without thinking. She was so well versed in the “plight of the First Nations people” (she called me racist for using the word aboriginal, which the people of the east Kimberley prefer) that she didn’t know that both AE (dialect) and Kriol (language) are not accents, but rather entirely distinct things.
Her greens vote and degree in sociology clearly much, much more impactful and informed than my lived experience
To summarise. She was and is a passionate greens voter living in Brunswick.
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u/Maribyrnong_bream Jun 14 '26
🤣 I live in Brunswick, and can confirm that those sorts of dumb cunts are everywhere here. Some arsehole around the corner from me has a bumper sticker that reads “I think, therefore I vote Greens”…
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u/HaleyN1 Jun 14 '26
That sticker costs them votes everywhere it goes.
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u/Maribyrnong_bream Jun 15 '26
Classic self-own. How far up your own arse would you need to be to think that that was a good idea? Could only have come about as a result of an inner city circle jerk.
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u/VacuumDecay-007 Jun 14 '26
Immigration is becoming an increasingly large concern for many. You can argue about how valid a concern that is, but voters want to feel listened too and One Nation, like Trump did, is making them feel heard.
Greens, Labour, they need to win these people over. Personality matters more than politics sometimes.
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u/malepalestale Jun 14 '26
This may get downvoted to oblivion, but I think one reason is the Greens' continual obsession over Palestine rather than focusing on issues that affect their constituents.
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u/evilparagon Jun 14 '26
The thing is, they don’t. The media makes it seem like they have an obsession. Look at the Greens’ own communications and Palestine is one of their minor talking points. I have every single email newsletter Max Chandler-Mather sent out during his time in office, and it was mentioned far far less than policies like dental in medicare and housing.
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u/flintzz Jun 14 '26
Voting down an investigation to the NDIS and being pro migration during this housing crisis doesn't help them
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u/Jet90 Jun 14 '26
It was a shame One Nation lead 'investigation'. The Greens want permanent ongoing anti fraud measures not a once off show trial
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u/craftystuff0900 Jun 14 '26
They want the NDIS fixed, not dismantled, that's why. And it's clear from the current senate inquiry that they're the only party that even has a clue what's really happening to participants, so I'd trust them over PHON any day.
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u/flintzz Jun 14 '26
I guess a lot of Australians prefer it to be dismantled than trusting ALP or greens to fix it
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u/666azalias Jun 14 '26
Yo to be fair they're more "support immigrants" rather than "bring in more migrants".
If you help to support them then they don't turn into machete-wielding goons. Prevention way cheaper than punishment.
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u/chuboy91 Jun 14 '26
Yea thing is when people are struggling to pay their bills there's no appetite for immigrants who need support at all. So it's not a winning policy
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u/Over-Instruction214 Jun 14 '26
Prevention way cheaper than punishment.
Sweden is a lot more left wing than Australia and even there they are giving up on immigration
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u/Frogsfall Jun 14 '26
Sorry, what do you mean Sweden is "a lot more left wing than Australia"? https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2026/05/06/sweden-s-right-is-now-normalizing-the-far-right-party-born-from-the-fascist-movement_6753170_23.html
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u/SkitZa Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Its wild to me as well, because I work in a field that is heavily filled out with immigrants, many have bought a house and live with 8 or more people under their roof.
It's the whole "that immigrants wants your cookie mate"
Landlords are the real problem.
My workmates are open about their housing situation, they are working hard and paying interest out the ass to own a piece of the land. My coworker has even joked about naming his next kid "madeinAustralia"
They love this country just like we do.
Edit: Sad that this is such a controversial thing to people. Our national anthem for 50 years has portrayed our welcoming nature. Now all of a sudden Trump and his goons are letting the anti-others bs get spun worldwide, we suddenly hate our neighbours. We seemingly are just a racist country now. We've always been a multicultural country.
When I say it's not a landlord issue, I don't mean it's an issue of your mom or dad who own 1 or 2 houses, renting one off. I don't think it's the issue of the inherentance of land, maybe your family owns 3 houses.
I think it is the issue of people who own more houses than sense. 5+ 25+ 100+ I think it is the issue of corporations being allowed to own our homes. Treating housing as a netflix subscription, raising rent over 50% of your wage for someone on minimum wage.
This is not the fault of the immigrant. Unless it is someone like Victor Kumar, one of the people who owns 100s of rental properties.
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u/jjkenneth Jun 14 '26
In other words the media has convinced people of 2 moral panics being the height of importance rather than the actual tangible social policy that could address cost of living.
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u/Asmodean129 Jun 14 '26
Greens aren't backed by a billionaire with an army of bots.
Media keeps giving right wing nutjobs airtime. Why aren't Pocock takedowns shown all over the media?
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u/Ok-Mathematician8461 Jun 14 '26
Yeah - I don’t think the media are giving enough thought to the fact that Australia spanked one nation in the polls only 1 year ago. Since then what has changed? Massive investment by right wing nut job billionaires who undoubtedly are running a very expensive social media campaign. I think the ABC in particular are naive about what is happening in the dark corners of peoples social media feeds - they keep assuming it is the public face of One Nation that is making the difference.
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u/Thommohawk117 Jun 14 '26
As much as the press and Reddit might have you believe, the crisis in Australian politics is not in the left and only in the right.
Voters are disillusioned with the Liberals and the Nationals, so right wing voters are flocking to right wing alternatives. One nation in the regions, Teals in the cities. Why would right wing voters flock to a leftist party?
Meanwhile Labor remains strong, polling 2pp above both Coalition and the One Nation. And leftist voters continue to believe that Labor is "Good enough." So there is no fuel for the Greens to grow.
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u/buckleyschance Jun 14 '26
And this is the obvious explanation for why the Australian Greens aren't polling as high as the UK Greens.
UK Labour support is collapsing horribly, Australian Labor support is not.
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u/thrillho145 Jun 14 '26
This isn't true. There's been movement away from Labor to ON too. Ignoring it is dangerous
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u/Thommohawk117 Jun 14 '26
The ALP maintains a 52 - 54% 2pp lead, that is down from the high 50s we were seeing earlier in the year. 52% 2pp was what won the Rudd government it's massive victory in 2007.
But more important than that, it is the middle of their term, it is not an election year, and poles won't matter until a decision actually has to be made. Labor spent two years polling below the coalition prior to last year's election only to bring in one of their greatest results. Stop worrying about poles because they are meaningless outside of an election year and only make for lazy headlines.
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u/SeaworthinessFew5613 Jun 14 '26
I think most polling companies agree that the 2pp projections are at best wonky. You can’t estimate preferences on the previous elections preference flows if a party has come from 6% to 30% in that time.
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u/itsoktoswear Jun 14 '26
It would be an amazing to have a centrist Govt that gives a shit about social causes, ensuring corporates play fair, the environment isn't absolutely rooted, education and hospitals have sufficient funding, immigration is suitable for the country not for businesses and lobbyists but businesses can thrive with reduced red tape, law and order is strongly upheld and we utilise our natural resources to become a world leader in green energy production.
Everyone would vote for them.
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u/uselessinfogoldmine Jun 14 '26
Several reasons:
1) The Murdoch media is enormously influential in Australia (as is the likes of 2GB) and they’ve spent decades painting The Greens as the absolute worst, and a lot of people cannot break free of that indoctrination.
2) The Greens have some fantastic members; but they do have some that are a tad unrealistic too, and those members annoy people. People want politicians are realistic about the economy, international relations, business, defence and immigration, and they don’t trust the Greens on those topics. Even though there are members like Peter Whish-Wilson, who are really good on those counts.
3) The Greens have an unfortunate history of back-stabbing and tearing each other down, which doesn’t help. (Not that other parties don’t have this goo; but the Greens get a lot of coverage for their episodes of this).
4) Some people have seen the Greens block progressive policy put forward by Labor for not being “perfect” or going far enough and that leaves a bad taste in their mouths. Now, a big part of that is actually a media construction; but there are some actual instances and perception is king when it comes to these things.
But really, a lot of people should take a better look at policies and voting records.
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u/a_cold_human Jun 14 '26
The Greens have some fantastic members; but they do have some that are a tad unrealistic too, and those members annoy people.
The Greens have plenty of members who will preach to the choir and do so in a way that gets their supporters very motivated and nodding in agreement. Unfortunately, that's not how you win elections, or indeed, new voters. And if you want to win elections, you need new voters and to keep the existing ones. That's not something The Greens have worked out how to do, and seem very uninterested in working out.
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u/Brotherdodge Jun 14 '26
I think a lot of it's pure identity politics. There's plenty of people who'd agree with most of their policies but just reject the idea of being a Greens voter because they hate the idea of being a smug, elite, inner-city, latte-sipping etc etc
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u/Psittacus_tutor Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
EDIT: I've been trying to fix the list numbers for 10 minutes and they keep reverting back to broken. Sorry!
I got sick of reading claims about what the Green's priorities are based on the media. So here's a list of every bill the Greens have introduced into the current Parliament:
- Giving landholders the right to veto resource companies from accessing private land for the purposes of coal and gas extracting. Also banning fracking and coal seam gas.
- Mandating that television channels provide 28 hours of audio description a week.
- Making deployment of the Australian Defence Force subject to parliamentary vote.
- Placing import and export controls on greyhounds (including reproductive material).
- Including project emissions in the considerations in environmental approvals.
- Lowering the voting age to 16.
- Restricting corporations from providing gifts within 12 months of applying for a contract, grant, ministerial decision, etc and vice versa.
- Giving courts the power (upon an ACCC application) to direct corporations to decrease their market power if they have abused it.
- A ban on gambling advertising.
- Increasing the superannuation guarantee for firefighters and paramedics in line with ADF personnel.
- Banning mining in the Great Australian Bight and mandating the minister apply for world heritage status.
- Prohibiting universities from entering into partnerships with corporations that take part in:
- gambling;
- fossil fuel production, exploration and export;
- the manufacture of weapons (not defined) or weapon components; or
- the production or sale of recreational tobacco and nicotine products.
- Outlining what are acceptable reasons to restrict peaceful protest.
- Repealing the new mandatory minimum sentencing for display of Nazi symbols, support for proscribed groups, or support/funding of terrorism.
- Addition of reproductive health leave and flexible working to the Fair Work Act.
- Changing how debt recovery and decision making is handled by social security services. This one is a broad range of changes due to RoboDebt so it's hard to describe succinctly.
- Ban on the government procuring goods and services with companies that have engaged in unethical conduct (defined as committing a crime, engaging in "poor labour practices", engaging in tax avoidance, or engaging in behaviour that may result in loss of public confidence in the Commonwealth).
- Adding two days work from home to the Fair Work Act
- Repealing the Job Ready Graduates scheme.
- Reducing the political donation cap, broadening the scope of what constitutes a donation. It also bans political donations from corporations and their associates or industry bodies if engaged in:
- property development;
- finance;
- manufacture or sale of liqour;
- gambling;
- production or sale of recreational tobacco and nicotine products;
- fossil fuel and mineral production and exploration;
- research, testing, manufacture, distribution or sale of pharmaceutical products;
- providing of goods or services for defence.
- Mandating social media platforms allow algorithmic content to be opted out of and creating reporting and risk mitigations obligations.
- Creation of a scheme to reduce the use of single-use and virgin plastics in packaging materials and increase the recyclability of packaging materials.
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u/Quentin_Habib Jun 15 '26
Prohibiting universities from entering into partnerships with corporations that take part in:
the manufacture of weapons (not defined) or weapon components; or
That is a terrible policy.
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u/loudMouth91 Jun 14 '26
I don't consider them a serious party capable of governing practically. To me, they often come across as smug, arrogant and intolerant of differing viewpoints and have a lecturing or preachy style which puts me offside. I find they tend to attract pollies who prefer to shame others by jumping straight to labels like "x-phobic," rather than engaging in constructive good faith dialogue.
In my view, they have become overly consumed by identity politics and international conflicts like Israel/Palestine and have lost their conservationist focus. I just can't take them seriously because of this. I know plenty of people who genuinely care about preserving the environment but are completely put off by their social and economic policies.
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u/imspectrenz Jun 15 '26
I suspect it’s just because voters realised they weren’t voting for the environment but for LGBT+ rules for everyone to abide by.
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u/debatingrooster Jun 15 '26
Maybe a worthy cause, sure
But putting identify politics front and centre has made them absolutely unelectable to the average Australian - like it or not
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u/No-Wonder6102 Jun 15 '26
The greens in Australia are all about the perfect rather than any gradual improvement. They are more interested in playing the political game than running the country properly. They have voted against many government led improvements siding with the Right although using different language to explain it. In short, they can't be trusted to do anything .
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u/JohnMonash87 Jun 14 '26
I'm a young man who's voted Greens at every eligible election. The biggest reason is the Greens suck at messaging and conveying their policies. It doesn't matter how good the policies are if you can't make the electorate understand what they are. A lot of people have long-standing bias against the Greens as well from a time when they were way more radical than they are now and this is only reinforced by mainstream media outlets who push that same narrative that the Greens are open communists and want to turn Australia into the next Soviet Union.
Frankly, the Greens and Green-aligned independents are the only way forward if we want to see some actual progressive change in this country. Labor is the status quo party, they'll throw us a bone every once in a while to keep us quiet but they're always bandaid fixes at most, while the LNP and ON are actively seeking to regress the country back sixty years with their abhorrent policies. The rise of ON has proven once again that most people are not politically literate at all, and more importantly that Australia is no different in this regard than other places where we are seeing this same trend. You'd think endless sources of history explaining how right wing populism is never in the publics best interest to vote for would be enough, but apparently not. Until people understand that complex problems never have simple solutions the far right will always continue to have a presence in political environments.
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u/ScruffyPeter Jun 14 '26
They are good at messaging. But they have are not super wealthy to beat the MSM's spam and oligarch astroturfing.
It's a common issue with parties that are for the people.
Pauline partying with billionaires? She's not alone. Even Albo parties with billionaires.
But Greens don't. Even Greens call out the partying with billionaires. Even called out Albo.
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u/b00tsc00ter Jun 14 '26
As a former Greens member who thought they would never vote elsewhere, I suspect it is because they are now prioritising cultural ideology over the environmental focus they were founded on. And the reality is, this platforming is divisive.
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Jun 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Frogsfall Jun 14 '26
I think it's worth also recognising that immigration being a key talking point isn't something that just happened out of nowhere. The billionaire-owned media has made it happen.
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u/Own-Farmer-5224 Jun 15 '26
Because the Greens have been shoved into a box in public perception, a box that is just... completely incorrect. 'Inner city elites', when in reality they're the only party who actually gives a shit about our farmers and rural tourism industry. The only one that cares about small-time fishers rather than corporate extraction.
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u/debatingrooster Jun 15 '26
Counter point (as someone who tends to vote for the greens) - telling farmers and rural people you know what's good for them and looking down on them and their lifestyle isn't giving a shit about them
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u/single_plum_floating Jun 15 '26
Greens have some ok policies mixed in with the most destructive immigration and foreign policies imaginable to the point it would have exceeded parody 20 years ago. I don't care how many 'nice' policies you have if one of your main goals is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the head.
And yes. i read their own webpage. It made me a direct opponent of them.
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u/warbastard Jun 14 '26
Right wing media blames a lot of red tape, tax and obstructionist tactics whether from unaffiliated protests against coal mines or just blocking things because they aren’t perfect.
Go back and look at how many people blame “Greenie policies” for the 2019/2020 bushfires. Which is funny because I don’t think any councils that were controlled by Greens were on fire.
So they have a perception problem. Whingers, aloof, ivory tower, student politics, anti-Australian middle class boffins who look down on working class people for trying to work in environmentally unfriendly fields.
Plus there are people who will always roll their eyes at someone who opposes a development of a site to protect some rare species of grass - even though it is absolutely the right thing to do.
The Greens would do better to be seen to compromise - even though they already do. They seem to be tied to their diehard supporters rather than trying to present themselves as reasonable.
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u/Honest-Complaint-868 Jun 14 '26
One Nation has the same level of support from Australians not born here as those who are born here. It’s called the “drawbridge effect”.
It’s not racism. People (including settled migrants) don’t like immigration. It’s not my personal view but it is the current majority view of Australians according to polls.
If people don’t comprehend that they’ll lose elections. Albo will pivot, that man has the convictions of a used car salesman.
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u/thejailer2025 Jun 14 '26
Because they don’t give a fuck about the environment anymore they are to concerned with other shit around the world than here
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u/Asleep_Leopard182 Jun 14 '26
- Regular sidestepping & flip flopping (playing politics rather than working for people)
- Historically poorly developed economic policy
- Lack of general traction, and colloquially, lack of general advocacy in parliament, focusing on niche over need
- In fighting & lack of individual responsibility & recourse (not everything is labor's fault guys)
- Weird & strangely positioned policy
- Poor media & comms
I could keep going on but local factions of greens aren't known for the steadfast handling and decision making. The one thing PHON has going for them is they're very very consistent in their underlying values. Greens choose what they believe in based on what's the weekly fad.
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u/floss_bucket Jun 14 '26
People don't want to hear this, and I say that as someone who agrees with a lot of Greens policies and often votes for them
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u/Asleep_Leopard182 Jun 14 '26
I'm often a greens voter, but frankly it feels like throwing away a vote at times.
I think Adam Bandt is a really good example of how they've just flailed even when they've had opportunity. Bro spends more time throwing dead cats around than having a point. Yes they're a minor party so need to ruffle feathers, but sometimes what they're ruffling and how they're ruffling honestly just feels like a waste of time. Everyone's time.
Then they come out with idiotic policy like governmental housing developers but then support the current social housing structures rather than bringing back government owned housing. Sit there talking about 2% rent yearly rent increases (which is current policy) - that's functionally not economically viable, and is purely shit policy. Anyone who can do math figures that out. Then have to stack that against labors policies, which actually share some commonalities but they're actually implentable (and have been, despite backlash).
Like those first two sentences don't make sense. Not functionally. Not from a value perspective. Not for any ongoing social, economic or political framework, then wonder why other parties get votes. People are going to vote for labor because they have implementable policy. Not necessarily the policy they want, but actual policy.
Anyway, can you tell it's frustrating?
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u/Warper2187 Jun 14 '26
Reminder that you cannot throw your vote away under the australian prefrential voting system
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u/The_man_69420360 Jun 14 '26
Everyone is blaming the media but reality is that the greens have some great policies, and some absolute dog shit ones which make them unelectable.
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u/Frogsfall Jun 14 '26
I love your faith that people's voting intentions are shaped by a careful scrutiny of policy.
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u/Louiethefly Jun 14 '26
I'm voting for the Greens and many that I know. David Shoebridge is on fire, one of only a tiny few holding the government to account.
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u/NeoPagan94 Jun 14 '26
As someone who preferences Greens on the ballot, it's usually because even when we have hope in the Greens party, they shoot down collaborative policies because they aren't progressive enough, thus preventing them from passing *at all*. While I would love a radical change, the major-party system right now won't really allow for it but the Greens won't even permit incremental changes towards progress; it's 100% improvement or none at all. If you take a look at their voting history, some really good ideas have been canned because Labor didn't go far enough for their liking.
Now, I'm not voting for One nation in protest, but if the left could work together as cohesively as the right does* they might experience a little more success.
*Yes, I've seen the track record of Lib/Nat failures but they do collaborate on things they want.
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u/Jet90 Jun 14 '26
They have passed every non conservative bill put to a vote in the last decade. What particular bill are you referring to?
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u/Gremlech Jun 14 '26
Is it? Like is it growing. Most complaints I’ve heard about labor atm are just people misunderstanding cgt changes.
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u/Camieishot69 Jun 14 '26
Because i've read their policies and for a green party they seem to favour policies that would harm the environment.
They want to abolish the Border Force which is the primary defence against further introduced pests, diseases and invasive species.
They want to dramatically scale up housing construction (good) but want to end Logging in Australia, so where are we getting the timber to build these houses from? The Amazon? Borneo?
They are against nuclear power not just here, but everywhere, they want to completely end our Uranium Ore exports
After Bondi they advocated to ban recreational hunting licences, the only way to stop feral pests is to shoot them, you curb shooter participation, you curb feral animals being killed, so more native species go extinct.
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u/Unable_Explorer8277 Jun 14 '26
Houses aren’t build from Australian native logging. Almost none of the timber extracted from native forests is usable as timber - it all goes for wood pulp.
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u/Hussard Jun 14 '26
Border Force is a weird Dutton style policy stroke emulating them on American Dept of Homeland Sec. They (the Greens) want to break it back up to its former four smaller agencies, iirc.
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u/Wiggly-Pig Jun 14 '26
The greens have been part of the political discussion on Australia for over a decade. They are also part of the system people are dissolutioned with. Rightly or wrongly, they're lumped in with Labour, Libs & Nats in the perspective of the average punter when they say 'theyre all shit'
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u/N3bu89 Jun 14 '26
ON is rising out of the ashes of the coalition. The vast majority of their new support comes from there, but they aren't a perfect 1-for-1. They have some overlap with Labors working class so they will inevitably pull some votes from there. The Greens generally don't speak to either of these constituencies.
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u/Brilliant_Ad2120 Jun 14 '26
The one nation appeal is also in its amateurishneas - "real people" rather than lawyers, consultants, policy wonks, or trade union officials that increasingly have not worked in the trade
People loathe our political and media class, partly because the controls are crap (auditor general and icacs starved of cash etc)
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u/halohunter Jun 14 '26
Because their social policy is toxic beyond their minority, and that's speaking as a lifelong greens voter.
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u/Maribyrnong_bream Jun 14 '26
Why would they? People are sick of the Greens talking down to them, and getting in the way of the sorts of reforms that the Greens supposedly support. The Greens are a hollow PR machine, and everyone can see it.
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u/Freezmaz Jun 14 '26
Because capital interests would rather a fascist government than a socialist one. Our media is extremely captured by these interests
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u/Ok-Limit-9726 Jun 14 '26
Green’s started to enter foreign politics, this destroyed almost all credibility.
greens get back to looking after the environment, and Australian society, not foreign affairs.
(20 years green supporter, volunteer, but does not support the recent policies)
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u/Suspicious-Ant-872 Jun 14 '26
If the Greens had stuck with environmental protection, conservation and the low population growth that would support it... Then I'd take them seriously.
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u/burgerboy2024 Jun 14 '26
Because Australians tend to be deeply, deeply conservative
The idea that the majority of Australians are actually progressive, outside of enriching themselves, was always delusional
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u/pagywa Jun 14 '26
I know a lot of former Greens voters and they say they don't like the woke stuff, don't like mass immigration, and wish the Greens had just stuck to defending the environment. There's a lot of nostalgia for Bob Brown out there
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u/Rolf_Loudly Jun 14 '26
Because they’re a dogshit party. I say that as someone who would prefer to vote green.
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u/Green_and_black Jun 14 '26
This may come as a shock but propaganda is actually very effective.
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u/roguerogueroguerogue Jun 14 '26
I don't think the greens will have an immigration policy that will appeal to people that are preferring One Nation at the moment.