New South Wales Young Greens endorse Mehreen Faruqi for leader

EXCLUSIVE: The NSW Greens' youth wing have made their position clear, but it's still unknown if Faruqi will contest the leadership.

The New South Wales Young Greens have endorsed senator Mehreen Faruqi as the next Greens leader, following Adam Bandt's defeat in the seat of Melbourne last week.

The youth wing, which describes itself as "an autonomous group that seeks to empower young people within the Greens NSW and in their communities", has issued an open letter that calls on federal Greens MPs to back Faruqi as Bandt's replacement.

The letter, seen by 6 News and verified by multiple sources, states that Faruqi's "consistent advocacy for Social Justice, Environmental Justice, Racial Justice, First Nations Justice & Palestinian Statehood should be consistent with Australian Greens Parliamentary Leadership".

It calls for the whoever the next Greens leader is to continue supporting Palestine, including "continu[ing] to recognise Palestinian Statehood and not capitulate to attacks from Labor or the Coalition and their supporters in the right-wing media".

The letter also states the federal Greens "have not sufficiently worked alongside First Nations communities to address the rising rate of inequality and underrepresentation within political discourse", and calls for the Greens to work with the Australian Greens First Nations Network "to address the rising rates of inequality both within and without the parties organisational scope and address the under representation within decision making places of so called Australia".

6 News has also learnt that the Australian Greens First Nations Network (AGFNN) passed a proposal on Saturday to also endorse Faruqi.

Also passed by consensus at the AGFNN meeting was a proposal stating that the AGFNN is opposed to Hanson-Young becoming leader because they do not believe she would be "an effective leader in implementing Australian Greens policies relating to First Nations issues, racial justice, social justice and the liberation of the Palestinian people".

The AGFNN also passed a proposal stating that Western Australian senator Dorinda Cox should not hold the First Nations portfolio within the federal Greens, and that it should instead be moved to Faruqi.

At a meeting of the Australian Young Greens (AYG) steering committee last night, a proposal to stand "in solidarity with the AGFNN" in opposing Hanson-Young becoming leader was passed by consensus.

However, it's understood that a separate proposal for the AYG to formally endorse Faruqi was not passed by a required two-thirds majority, and thus the national youth wing has not made a leadership endorsement.

Faruqi has not publicly confirmed whether or not she will contest the leadership, and it's understood the NSW Young Greens are presently unaware of her intentions. South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Queensland senator Larissa Waters are also seen as frontrunners, with Waters on Wednesday not ruling out contesting.

Greens MPs will decide their new leader on Thursday. It's understood Bandt will not make any endorsement, and instead let the decision play out in the party room.

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First published 5:57pm 13 May 2025. Updated 11:49am 14 May 2025.