Max Chandler-Mather is back to lead a Greens think-tank.
The Greens’ firebrand, Max Chandler-Mather, is promising to revitalize left-wing politics in Australia by taking the reins of the party’s think tank with a mission to build a populist movement that could replace Labor and rival the emerging One Nation.
Chandler-Mather said the Australian Greens needed to learn from the strategies that brought left-wing New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to power and lifted the UK Greens above the Labor government in opinion polls, so they could begin to capitalize on the decline of the major political parties in national polls.
“The task for the Greens is to build a large enough mass movement – similar to the UK Greens – that can offer a genuinely progressive break with the status quo and a form of progressive economic populism that can clearly define a positive transformation in people’s lives,” he said.
“It’s clear that both major parties are becoming hollow and decaying; only the Liberal Party is doing it faster. Both parties are clearly the standard bearers of the political and economic status quo. My conclusion is that if we want serious change, it needs a big enough movement to replace established policies.”
Chandler-Mather caused trouble for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for establishing a strong presence on social media and taking Labor to task on housing reform in the last term of parliament.
But the Greens entered a period of soul-searching after last year’s election, which saw both Chandler-Mather and then-leader Adam Bandt unseated. The Greens have failed to make headway during the rise of One Nation, as both Labor and the Coalition have since lost ground in opinion polls.
Support for the Greens in this imprint’s Resolve Political Monitor has remained largely unchanged since the first post-election poll last July, hovering around 12 per cent.
Meanwhile, Labor’s support fell from 37 per cent to 29 per cent, the Coalition fell from 27 per cent to 22 per cent and One Nation rose from 8 per cent to 24 per cent.
Chandler-Mather argued that the populist right emerged as major parties shifted their focus from ordinary people to corporate interests. “The way to combat this is to reach out to people and offer a progressive populist alternative,” he said.
He will reinstate the Green Institute, the policy think tank that is the minor party’s answer to Labour’s Chifley Research Centre, or the Liberal-aligned Menzies Research Centre, which helps inform party policy ideas, as its new executive director on Wednesday.
He will have two priorities. The first is to “dismantle the pillars of neoliberalism,” which he defines as the privatization of essential services and industries that outsource aged care and child care to profit-driven providers.
The second is to put forward a “transformative vision of 21st-century progressive economic populism” that will likely focus on centralized public services, more public housing and a shorter working week.
Chandler-Mather uses the same language on populism adopted by UK Greens leader Zack Polanski. Polanski, who was elected last September, cited Mamdani as an inspiration and unashamedly advocated a leftist “eco-populism” that favors billionaires and big business.
Under his leadership, the UK Greens have surged ahead of Labor in YouGov’s latest opinion poll, performing on par with the Conservatives behind Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK. In February they dealt a blow to UK Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer and won a government seat in northern England in a by-election; This was Labour’s first election loss in the region since 1931.
Chandler-Mather said both Mamdani and Polanski campaigned on policies similar to the Australian Greens’ platform: rent freezes, free public transport, free childcare, canceling student debt, taxing big corporations.
He said Mamdani was a “great example” of a break with mainstream Democrats and outlined “a clear, direct and materially focused economic platform that has proven extremely popular.”
The UK Greens, meanwhile, are “unafraid of breaking with the way the Greens have traditionally been seen as an extension of Labour, and instead are clear that the aim is to replace Labour”.
But both also benefited from sophisticated volunteer networks and deep community connections that translated into movements that could propel them to electoral success.
“The reason I took on the role is that change doesn’t start or end in parliament. What both Mamdani and Polanski benefited from were vast networks where the kind of infrastructure you need for a mass movement has been built over decades,” he said.
The Greens’ new leader, Larissa Waters, took office after Bandt’s shock defeat, promising a consultative and constructive approach. This helped Labor pass important legislation such as the Environmental Protection Authority and pension tax changes.
Chandler-Mather said the party could not achieve change by negotiating with Labor. “Change will only happen when we change the establishment parties,” he said. “We need to be alternative”
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Natassia Chrysanthos is a Federal Political Correspondent. He has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
