Inside the Greens
How the Greens’ state parties, MPs and party room work, after three senators split on native forests
By Ben Raue, Electoral analyst
The Australian Greens rarely split in public, which made the 2026 vote on native forests stand out. Tasmanian senators Nick McKim and Vanessa Bleyer and Western Australian senator Jordon Steele-John broke from their colleagues to vote to disallow regulations letting carbon credits be used to reduce or end logging in public forests. Ben Raue explains how the party works inside, and how its MPs are held to account.
The Greens began in 1992 as a confederation of state parties, and each state still treats its MPs differently: the Greens NSW can instruct its state and federal MPs, while Tasmania has always given its MPs more leeway. Splits are unlikely to become routine. Voting as a bloc gives the party its power in parliament, and Labor may find it easier to deal with senators one by one.
The full report · 11 pages, with every chart.
Get the full reportWhat we found
1. The Greens began as a confederation of three state parties
The Australian Greens was founded in 1992 by the Tasmanian Greens, the Greens NSW and the Queensland Greens, all with roots in the 1980s. Victorian and South Australian branches followed soon after, but the Greens WA stayed separate until 2003. Decisions flow up from the state parties: federal MPs answer to their state parties, while the party room reports to the national bodies.
2. The Greens NSW can bind its MPs in a way other states don’t
The Australian Greens constitution says MPs must vote in line with policy but gives them wide latitude where their own view or duty to constituents conflicts, asking only for a statement explaining the vote. That clause doesn’t apply to the Greens NSW, whose State Delegates Council can instruct state and federal MPs, and in practice Queensland has moved away from a conscience vote too. Tasmania, founded by sitting MPs, has always given its MPs more leeway.
3. The 2017 Rhiannon dispute showed solidarity goes beyond the vote
NSW senator Lee Rhiannon was suspended from party room decisions on contentious legislation in 2017 after a leaflet criticising the “Gonski 2.0” school funding package, which the Greens were negotiating in the Senate. The Greens NSW backed her, and the senators never actually voted differently. The suspension was lifted, but Rhiannon lost preselection that year to Mehreen Faruqi, who replaced her in the Senate in 2018.
4. Split votes are unlikely to become routine
The three senators who broke ranks in 2026 didn’t change the outcome, since enough other senators voted with Labor and the Greens majority, and the party may have seen a split as a way to represent both sides of a divided environment movement. Raue expects such splits to stay rare: voting together gives the Greens their strength, and Labor could find separate senators easier to negotiate with than one bloc.
What’s in the report
- Introduction p. 3
- A state-based history p. 4
- MPs vs the party — who’s in charge? p. 7
- When the party has split p. 9
- Could this happen again? p. 11
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