Anthony Albanese has labelled Max Chandler-Mather a hypocrite who should look in the mirror after the former Greens MP described workplace culture in parliament as “bloody awful”.
The prime minister, who clashed with Chandler-Mather on a number of occasions during question time, said the 33-year-old who lost his Brisbane seat on Saturday needed a “mirror and a reflection on why he’s no longer in parliament”.
“This is a guy who stood before signs at a CFMEU rally in Brisbane describing me as a Nazi,” Albanese told ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday.
Chandler-Mather described parliament as a “sick place” on Tuesday as he recalled the “yelling and screaming” that took place at times while he delivered speeches.
Albanese countered Chandler-Mather “should have a look at the way that he conducted himself in question time” – some of which the prime minister said he took offence to.
“So I think it’s a bit rich for him, of all people, who has been rejected by his own electorate after just one term.”
The Greens have been reduced to just one lower house seat with the party’s leader, Adam Bandt, projected to lose his inner-city Melbourne seat in a shock defeat that will see Labor take the reins for the first time since 2010.
The long-serving Greens MP trails on more than 4,000 votes behind Labor’s Sarah Witty and is unlikely to catch up with the dwindling preferences remaining, ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, said on Wednesday afternoon.
Bandt’s loss will send shockwaves through the federal Greens party, which will now have to decide who should lead the party to the 2028 federal election.
With almost 70% of the votes counted as of 4pm Wednesday, Witty led Bandt 52.7% to 47.3% on two-candidate preferred count.
The result means the Greens are likely to only hold one seat in the lower house – Elizabeth Watson-Brown in Brisbane’s Ryan – losing three seats since the 2022 federal election.
Staffers and party members remained hopeful even when the tables turned on the Greens leader’s margin as postal and declaration votes were counted.
A Greens spokesperson said the the party would not concede Melbourne while counting was still under way.
“While there are many, many thousands of votes to be counted we are not conceding Melbourne. While we are ahead on primary votes, there is a chance that One Nation and Liberal preferences will elect the Labor candidate. The count needs to proceed,” they said.
Bandt supporters are hopeful the thousands of yet-to-be counted absentee and declaration votes will flow their way despite the historic trend favouring Liberal candidates.
Greens MPs and senators were reluctant to talk about a future leader in the event Bandt lost his seat.
Bandt had held the seat of Melbourne since 2010, winning four consecutive federal elections.
Bandt had achieved a high-water mark primary vote at the 2022 federal election on 49.6%, increasing his popularity from 2019 by 0.3 percentage points.
The NSW Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said she was still holding on to hope that the remaining ballots would fall Bandt’s way when asked who would lead the party.
“We can’t declare a position until vote is counted and I have everything crossed and hope that Adam gets across the line,” Faruqi told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.
“We keep a close eye at the results of Melbourne; Ryan and Wills are still being counted. We’ll cross those bridges when we have final result.”
Faruqi and South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young are considered potential frontrunners as the next Greens party leader.
The party’s strong stance on Gaza and criticism of Labor had galvanised politicians in Canberra. The major parties had both criticised the Greens for describing Israel’s occupation in Gaza as a “genocide” and urging the Albanese government to apply more pressure on Israel.
Faruqi said the Greens would maintain its “principled” stance, adding its vote increased in seats with high migrant populations.
“[Multi-cultural communities] really backed us. They are the communities who were so marginalised and again what we have seen is the people of Australia have rejected the most pro-Israel party and they have kicked Peter Dutton out of parliament,” she said.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, appeared to welcome the Greens’ loss in Melbourne, claiming the party had “politically weaponised” the conflict in Gaza.
“I think it’s a reflection [that] the electorate has seen through the Greens, that they are not these cute and cuddly tree-hugging Greens we are used to,” he told ABC.
Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said Bandt’s loss was a “good thing”.
