Senator Larissa Waters has stepped down as leader of The Greens as she takes some time to manage a pre-existing kidney disease she says has worsened in recent months.
The 49-year-old will take a period of medical leave and aims to return to parliament as a senator when she can. She took on the role of leader 15 months ago, replacing Adam Bandt who lost his seat at the 2025 election.
“It has been a tremendous honour to be leader of the Greens, fighting for people and the planet. I’m really sad that illness means my time as leader has been cut short, but our movement needs a leader in good health to lead us to success at the next election,” she said.
“Passing the torch on to the next leader of the Party will put them in the best position to take the Greens to the next election, fighting for people, not the corporate interests that run Labor, Liberals and One Nation.
“Our fight is too important, and it needs more time and energy than I am able to give while I focus on my recovery.”
Waters’ prognosis for recovery is positive, but she said the demands of party leadership and travel are not compatible with prioritising her health.
The party will hold a secret ballot of its MPs this week to elect a new leader.
Achievements in parliament
Senator Waters was elected to federal parliament in 2011 as Queensland’s first-ever Greens senator. She served as Senate leader and co-deputy leader of the Greens before she was elected as the national leader of the party in May 2025.
Over the past 15 months, Senator Waters has achieved a number of legislative wins as leader, including securing some amendments to Labor’s overhaul of environmental laws last year. These included tighter controls on land clearing, and preventing the fast-tracking of coal and gas projects to approval or declared “national interest” projects.
Under her leadership, the Greens also successfully pushed to split gun safety measures from hate speech laws after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack. The party has also secured an extended parliamentary inquiry into the government’s NDIS reforms.
Senator Waters has long been an advocate for women, pushing for greater support for domestic violence survivors. She has served as The Greens’ women’s and democracy spokesperson, and has supported the parliamentary workplace culture bodies introduced by the Albanese government.
In 2017, she became the first person to breastfeed in parliament.
Her advocacy led to the reversal of harsh cuts by the Liberal government to domestic violence services in 2014, and she advocated for the scrapping of the tampon tax in 2018.
Before entering politics, she was a community environmental lawyer.