Leaked audio can be revealed of a rant Adam Bandt delivered to Greens supporters that the party leader admitted could cost him ‘a few friends’.
Daily Mail Australia has exclusively obtained audio of Mr Bandt tearing into his own supporters in a speech to the party’s online national conference earlier this month.
In the candid speech delivered on Zoom, Mr Bandt demanded Greens party activists work harder to win votes or the party would ‘fail’ – lamenting it was behind where it needed to be in key target seats.
He then predicted what a grim future would look like for the Greens – veering wildly off-message to claim Labor will think it can ‘get away with bombing Gaza‘ if his party doesn’t win.
‘I want you to think about what the narrative will be if we don’t win these (key) seats,’ he said.
‘Labor will say, ‘ah, we can get away with bombing Gaza and opening up new coal and gas mines and it doesn’t matter. The Greens can try as hard as they want and nothing will happen’.
‘That’s the story they will tell. It won’t be true but it is the story they will tell.’
The Labor government is not bombing the Gaza Strip.
In the candid speech, delivered on Zoom, Mr Bandt demands Greens party activists work harder to win votes or the party ‘will fail’ – lamenting the party was behind where it needed to be
The Greens leader and MP for Melbourne framed his spray as an ‘honest conversation’ but admitted they were ‘cranky’ comments – and that this was a part of his speech he would never share with journalists.
During his talk, Mr Bandt posed a series of questions to volunteers and supporters in the room about the work they’re putting in to winning over voters ahead of the next election.
‘If you don’t know the answer to these questions about what is going on in your state then I’m sorry, but some people will say you’re not doing everything that you can to win,’ he said.
The Greens are targeting five seats in the coming election with a bold plan to reshape the debate in Australia on key measures and force Labor to rely on them more to pass legislation.
Nabbing a few extra seats and pushing Labor into a minority government in the next election would give Mr Bandt and his party more bargaining power.
But for this grand plan to work, Mr Bandt told supporters they must work harder.
Citing the success of the Greens campaign in Griffith, led by wunderkind Max Chandler-Mather, Mr Bandt said there were ‘four paid doorknocking organisers [who] had knocked on 11,325 doors and had 4,936 meaningful interactions with people.
‘And by the Christmas before the election, that 4,936 number had swelled to 12,597 meaningful interactions,’ he said.
‘Have you had as many conversations? Do you have in each of those sites four paid door-knocking organisers? Are you on track to have 12,597 meaningful interactions? Which means many more doors have been knocked on by the end of this year or even earlier if the Prime Minister calls a December 2024 election?’ he asked.
‘Because if you’re not or you don’t know the answer to these questions about what is going on in your state then I’m sorry, but some people will say you’re not doing everything that you can to win.’
The Greens are ‘running very serious campaigns’ in five target electorates across Australia, in addition to the four seats they already hold
Conservative lobby group ADVANCE chairman Matthew Sheahan said Mr Bandt’s words should serve as a warning to voters that ‘Greens are no longer the hippies and tree huggers of the 1980s’ and ‘not who they used to be’.
‘It’s time for every Aussie to take a long hard look at the issues they now stand for. The Greens are an ambitious political force with their eyes locked on power,’ he said.
‘They’re not talking about saving trees, they’re working out how to win more seats and accumulate more power… they have flown under the radar for too long.’
Mr Sheahan noted the party is increasingly becoming a political force who are getting ‘more power every election’.
Greens internal polling, discussed during the closed-door meeting, suggested that the minor party believes they can get 48 per cent of the public vote.
As it stands, the Greens have about 15 per cent of the vote, but 11 per cent of that figure has been identified as ‘at risk’ of being lost in the next election.
A further four per cent of the nation is seen as having ‘strong potential’ to become a Greens voter, while 28 per cent has weak potential.
A spokesperson for Mr Bandt told Daily Mail Australia ‘it is unsurprising that the Leader of the Greens was revving up members at our National Conference, using a bit of humour, urging them to join in doorknocking efforts to help win more seats’.
‘We know Labor strategists are closely watching these seats, and if people keep voting Labor, these strategists will say they can keep getting away with making the housing and cost of living crises worse while backing the invasion of Gaza.’
Speaking directly to efforts by ADVANCE to campaign against the Greens, the spokesperson said ‘we are encouraging every single member of our 500,000 member strong movement to dig deep and work harder, starting much earlier than ever before.
‘The successful Griffith campaign had knocked on over 10,000 doors a year out from the election, and Adam will continue to unapologetically urge everyone to do the same in their own States.
‘Polling shows that as the genocide in Palestine continues, a majority of Labor voters want the government to do more to intervene – yet Labor refuses to offer anything more than empty statements.
‘The invasion must stop well before the next election, but Labor should expect a backlash from voters disappointed with their refusal to sanction Netanyahu’s war cabinet or stop the two-way arms trade with Israel during a genocide, including supplying F35 parts for fighter bomber aircraft used to bomb Gaza.’
Greens internal polling which was discussed during the closed-door meeting suggested that they believe they can get 48 per cent of the public vote
Where are the Greens targeting?
The Greens are ‘running very serious campaigns’ in five target electorates across Australia.
They’ve appointed female candidates to run in each of the seats, and see the upcoming Federal election as a ‘huge opportunity’ for the party, despite not having any opportunity to grow in the Senate.
Mandy Nolan is running for the seat of Richmond in New South Wales, encompassing the trendy, hippy-friendly Byron Bay and surrounds.
Ms Nolan is a well known local mother-of-five, and has worked in the area as a comedian, artist and writer for 30 years.
She says: ‘I can win the seat of Richmond with just a 1.8% increase. With a close election, I could hold the balance of power and be one of the most powerful voices in Canberra. Either way, I’ll be the loudest.’
Sonya Semmens is running for the Labor-held seat of Macnamara, currently held by Labor’s Josh Burns. In the last election, the Greens needed just 298 more voters to win, making it one of their best shots in the next election.
Mandy Nolan is running for the seat of Richmond in New South Wales, encompassing the trendy, hippy-friendly Byron Bay and surrounds
The division of Wills in Victoria, currently held by Labor’s Peter Khalil, is also on Mr Bandt’s radar. He’s enlisted Samantha Ratnam, formerly the leader of the Greens in Victoria, to run for the seat
Ms Semmens lives in the area, where she rents with her partner and four children.
But Macnamara has the second largest amount of Jewish voters in the nation, and current MP Burns is himself a Jewish man.
Given the Greens’ stance on Palestine, there are questions about whether the party can win over Jewish voters in the area.
The division of Wills in Victoria, currently held by Labor’s Peter Khalil, is also on Mr Bandt’s radar. He’s enlisted Samantha Ratnam, formerly the leader of the Greens in Victoria, to run for the seat.
The Greens also hope to win Sturt in South Australia off the Liberal Party and Perth from Labor’s Patrick Gormon – the current Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister.
‘While some of those seats are going great guns, many are behind where we need to be, to be blunt, and we’re going to have to scale up and scale up very quickly,’ he said.
‘Imagine if we got those five amazing women into parliament, if we doubled our numbers in the crossbench and forced the government to have to answer to a party that will do what is needed on climate, housing, the cost of living,’ he said.
‘Just imagine what the next parliament is going to look like if those women join us.’
They’ve appointed female candidates to run in each of the seats, and see the forthcoming election as a ‘huge opportunity’ for the party, despite not having any opportunity to grow in the Senate
Beyond the new targets, Mr Bandt told the crowd ‘we have to retain our newly gained seats in Brisbane’, and urged supporters to get out onto the hustings to support Mr Chander-Mather in Griffith, Stephen Bates in Brisbane and Elizabeth Watson-Brown in Ryan.
‘People are disconnecting from politics because it’s clearly not addressing the problems they face. The political establishment is not making the changes needed,’ he said.
‘We also face a political establishment that now sees us as a serious threat. We have the answers, but our challenge is going to be to get in front of people to outline how we can fight for them.’
Mr Bandt said he is asking volunteers to ‘commit your own time to making it happen.
‘Join a doorknocking team for one of those locations. Can you donate so they can get more placards up? Can you call voters from your home?’
‘We can take on these big coal and gas corporations that are profiting from the climate crisis, the banks that are profiting from the housing crisis, the supermarkets profiting from the cost of living crisis.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Bandt’s office for comment.