Larissa Waters has been appointed to lead the Greens after the minor party lost three seats and its captain at the federal election.

The Queensland senator triumphed over South Australian Sarah Hanson-Young and Mehreen Faruqi from NSW.

Adam Bandt, who had led the Greens since 2020, lost his seat of Melbourne to Labor at the May 3 poll.

The shock defeat ended Bandt’s 15-year career in federal parliament.

His colleagues met in Melbourne on Thursday as they began to pick up the pieces.

Afterwards, Waters told media she was “thrilled” to have the support of her colleagues to be the leader of the Greens.

The former environmental lawyer said Australia needed “policies with heart” and a parliament that actually delivered for people.

“It’s never been more important to have a strong Greens team in Parliament,” she said.

“The issues that people are facing are getting harder and are getting worse.

“We need strong action on the climate, on nature, on the housing crisis, on the cost of living crisis.

“And we need our Parliament to work to actually meet the needs of the people that it’s been elected to represent.”

Waters fired a warning to Labor to choose whether it wanted to work with the Greens or the Coalition to get legislation through the Senate.

“They’re going to need to pick because they don’t have the numbers in the Senate to pass the legislation that they want to work on,” she said.

“So we want the Labor Party to be bold, and we want to help them to fix the problems that people are facing.

“We will be firm but constructive, because this isn’t about politicians.

“This is about the people that need our help and the planet that is slowly cooking because of the interests of the fossil fuel industry and big corporates.”

The Greens lost three lower house seats and failed to pick up any extras at the election.

However, they are confident of wielding influence in the Senate, where the party holds the balance of power.

Tim Read, who represents the Greens in the Victorian parliament, wants to focus on the positives.

He was encouraged by a close result in the seat of Wills, which the Greens tried to snatch from Labor.

“That gives me confidence that there is growing support for the Greens,” he told AAP.

“I’m also impressed by our increased Senate vote.

“The fact that the Greens senators have proven to retain their popularity and increased it, shows we’ll do well whoever is chosen.”

The Greens are left with the Queensland seat of Ryan and 11 senators following the election.

Labor has at least 28 seats in the Senate and with the support of the Greens has the numbers to get legislation through the upper house.

-with AAP