Larissa Waters

Early life and education

Larissa Waters was born on 8 February 1977in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her Australian parents were in Canada working and studying, but the family left when Waters was an 11-month-old baby, and she grew up in Brisbane.

Waters attended a primary school in Rainworth and completed her secondary schooling at Kelvin Grove State High School.

She has a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Laws from Griffith University and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the New South Wales College of Law. From 2000 to 2001, she was a legal researcher at the Queensland Land and Resources Tribunal (predecessor of the Land Court of Queensland), from 2001 to 2002 a lawyer at Freehills, and from 2002 to 2011 was a lawyer with the Environmental Defenders Office.

Political career

Waters was the Greens' Brisbane Central Candidate in the 2006 Queensland state election, running against premier Peter Beattie, securing almost 5,000 votes. She was the lead Senate candidate for the Greens in Queensland at the 2007 federal election. The party received 7.3 percent of the statewide vote (an increase of 1.9 points), but this was not enough to secure her election. Waters again stood for office at the 2009 Queensland state election, running for the seat of Mount Coot-tha. The seat was held by the sitting Treasurer of Queensland, Andrew Fraser of the Labor Party. She polled 23.1 percent on first preferences, with Ronan Lee (25.9 percent in Indooroopilly) the only Greens candidate with a higher percentage.

Waters was again placed first on the Greens' senate ticket at the 2010 federal election. She was elected with 12.8 per cent of the vote, an increase of 5.4 percentage points. In May 2015, Waters was elected to the Greens' "leadership triumvirate". She was made a "co-deputy leader" alongside Scott Ludlam, with Richard Di Natale replacing Christine Milne as the party leader. Waters was re-elected to the senate at the 2016 double-dissolution election, winning a three-year term with 6.9 percent of the vote.

Resignation

Waters was forced to resign from the Senate on 18 July 2017, after it was uncovered that she was a dual Canadian-Australian citizen, thereby making her ineligible to be elected under section 44 of the Australian Constitution. Waters stated that she had previously believed she was solely an Australian citizen, and if she had wished to gain Canadian citizenship she would have needed to take active steps before age 21, but had recently discovered she had in fact held dual citizenship since birth. Her seat was filled by a recount, which saw former Australian Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett, who held the second position after Waters on the Greens' 2016 Senate ticket in Queensland, return to the Senate.

On 8 August 2017, Waters announced that she had renounced her Canadian citizenship and declared her intent to stand for Greens preselection and return to parliament at the next federal election. The High Court handed down its decision on 27 October 2017 and ruled that Waters was invalidly elected.

Return

On 3 April 2018, Waters was announced as the Queensland Greens lead Senate candidate for the next federal election, with Andrew Bartlett instead opting to contest the lower house seat of Brisbane. On 16 June 2018, Bartlett announced that he would resign from the senate at the end of August, and Waters was preselected to fill the resulting casual vacancy ahead of the election. On 6 September 2018, the Parliament of Queensland re-appointed Waters to the Senate. The Greens party room returned Waters to the co-deputy leadership on 4 December 2018.

Waters was re-elected as a Senator for Queensland at the 2019 federal election, where she received 9.9% of the state's vote, as well as a 3.12-point swing in her favour.

In February 2020, Greens leader Richard Di Natale resigned and was succeeded by Adam Bandt. Unlike his predecessors as Greens leader, including Di Natale, Bandt was a member of the House of Representatives and this resulted in Waters, as one of the co-deputy leaders, becoming the leader of the Greens in the Senate. This made her the second woman to lead the Greens in the Senate after Christine Milne.

In March 2021, Waters issued an apology to federal minister Peter Dutton for comments made on Twitter accusing him of being an "inhuman, sexist rape apologist". In her apology, Waters said that there was no basis for those allegations.

Leader of the Australian Greens

Waters became the leader of the Australian Greens following Adam Bandt's loss of the seat of Melbourne during the 2025 Australian federal election. Waters was selected from 11 other senators, including Mehreen Faruqi and Sarah Hanson-Young, who also ran for candidacy, and one lower-house MP.

, Waters is second-longest serving Green in parliament, after Sarah Hanson-Young.

In October 2025, Waters said in an interview on the Insiders programme that she had condemned the Manchester synagogue attack. She said that Australia should stop selling weapons components to Israel and impose sanctions because of its actions in Gaza. Shadow finance minister James Paterson said Waters comments were insensitive and offensive. Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns said Waters comments suggested "'Jews across the world are legitimate targets because of the actions of the Israeli government.'"

Political concerns

Waters' political concerns include environmental protection, gender equity, ending gender-based violence, and addressing the influence of and large donations by corporations.

Personal life

Waters has one child with journalist Brendan O'Malley, born in 2009. Waters and O'Malley separated in 2013. Waters has another child born in 2016, who made Australian political history by becoming the first baby to be breastfed in the Senate chamber in 2017.

References

References

1. (2017-02-09). "Aussie Post chief Ahmed Fahour loves his privacy". The Australian.
2. (15 May 2025). "Larissa Waters becomes Greens leader in 'consensus' decision". ABC News.
3. (14 November 2012). "Senator Larissa Waters".
4. Dennehy, Kate. (25 July 2010). "History beckons for Greens Senate contender". Fairfax Media.
5. (12 June 2023). "Old school ties: Where Qld powerbrokers went to school". The Courier-Mail.
6. Gillett, Patrick. (5 February 2009). "Queensland state Green party to run environmental lawyer in treasurer's electorate". Wikimedia Foundation.
7. "Elections – 2006 State General Election – Brisbane Central – District Summary".
8. "QLD State Election Results – Mount Coot-tha".
9. "Senate Results – Queensland – 2010 Federal Election".
10. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-07/greens-to-continue-to-oppose-fuel-excise-spending-on-roads/6450714 "Newly elected co-deputy Larissa Waters wants Greens to stick to environmental ethos"], ABC News, 7 May 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
11. (3 July 2016). "Federal Election 2016: Senate Results". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
12. Jabour, Bridie. (17 July 2017). "Larissa Waters quits as Greens senator over dual citizenship with Canada". The Guardian.
13. Berlinger, Joshua. (18 July 2017). "Larissa Waters, other Australian senator resign for citizenship violations". CNN.
14. "Statement from Senator Larissa Waters". [[Australian Greens]].
15. (18 July 2017). "Larissa Waters, deputy Greens leader, quits in latest citizenship bungle". abc.net.au.
16. Yaxley, Louise. (8 August 2017). "Larissa Waters: Former Greens deputy plans Senate comeback after renouncing Canadian citizenship". ABC News.
17. (2017-10-27). "Live: Turnbull loses majority but keeps control as High Court boots Joyce out". ABC News.
18. Remeikis, Amy. (3 April 2018). "Larissa Waters closer to Senate return after winning Greens preselection". [[Guardian Australia]].
19. Gribbin, Caitlyn. (16 June 2018). "Andrew Bartlett to quit as Greens senator to make way for Larissa Waters' return". [[ABC News (Australia).
20. (6 September 2018). "Waters to return to Senate". Illawarra Mercury.
21. (4 December 2018). "Larissa Waters returns to Greens Co-Deputy Leader role". Australian Greens.
22. (18 May 2019). "Senate Results – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)".
23. {{Cite Au Parliament
24. Fioritti, Nathan. (15 May 2025). "Fresh start for the Greens, with new leader Larissa Waters".
25. Whitbourn, Michaela. (26 April 2021). "Peter Dutton sues refugee advocate over 'rape apologist' tweet". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
26. "Apology to Peter Dutton".
27. (15 May 2025). "Larissa Waters chosen as new Greens leader". ABC News.
28. Tchetchenian, Charlie. (October 5, 2025). "Greens leader condemned after linking UK synagogue attack to Labor's failure to take harsher actions against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza". [[Sky News Australia]].
29. (2013-05-17). "Senator Waters: 'Sometimes I think I'm failing at motherhood'".
30. Merhab, Belinda. (2017-05-20). "History made as Larissa Waters breastfeeds baby daughter in Senate".