Once hailed as one of Australia’s ten most powerful people and Anthony Albanese‘s arch-nemisis, former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather now appears to be just another backroom operator.
After being narrowly defeated by Labor’s Renee Coffey in Griffith in May, Chandler-Mather became eligible for a resettlement payout capped at $105,625, a payment available to MPs who involuntarily leave Parliament.
But with a young family and soaring rents in Brisbane, that money is unlikely to last long if he decided to take it.
Chandler-Mather has previously admitted he doesn’t own a home despite earning more than $233,660 a year while in Parliament.
He also donated $50,000 of his salary to fund free school meals in his electorate.
‘My view is when I got elected, I was elected by a lot of people who are low-income renters and it wasn’t right for me not to give up a big portion of my salary to people who are low income.
‘Because of giving up that money and being on a single income, and in an inner-city electorate with very, very high median house prices, it is difficult to buy a house there.’
So what’s next for the 33-year-old who once styled himself as the future of the Greens?
With his payout unlikely to stretch far, some are wondering if he has or is eyeing a taxpayer-funded political staffing job to help pay the bills.
Senior advisers can earn as much as MPs.
Insiders tell me the Greens are trying to find the ‘next Max Chandler-Mather’ (pictured)
Sources tell me the Greens are scrambling to find ‘the next Max’, with Chandler-Mather said to be involved in that search and working quietly behind the scenes, advising party insiders.
But how he’s now earning a living doing that – and if he is still being paid for this role remains unclear.
When contacted for comment, Chandler-Mather snapped that he didn’t have to tell Daily Mail anything, confirming he hasn’t lost his trademark edge.
However Chandler-Mather but did deny a rumour that he’d been guiding young Greens-aligned organisers at the University of Queensland Union, the same campus battleground where his political career began, back when he was still a Labor true believer.
After the Queensland Greens’ 2022 ‘Greenslide’ delivered three federal seats, the party has since struggled across all levels of government, losing three seats at the 2025 election, including Melbourne, once held by former leader Adam Bandt.
Whether Chandler-Mather can help spark a revival remains to be seen.
The Prime Minister regularly clashed with Chandler-Mather, with both men infamously trading barbs in a heated clash on the floor of the House of Representatives two years ago.
Chandler-Mather still plays on Albanese’s mind because the PM cracked a gag at his expense at the Midwinter Ball.
‘This election, we farewelled my favourite Green,’ Albanese told the audience, as a picture of Max Chandler-Mather flashed on the screen.
‘Not that Green,’ the PM said, ‘This Green,’ he added as a picture of the ABC’s now-retired chief election analyst Antony Green appeared.
Chandler-Mather returned fire, saying ‘how sad for him’.
The search for the next Max follows a disappointing few years for the Queensland Greens
‘If the Prime Minister keeps treating everyday working people like dirt, while wining and dining with CEOs and lobbyists and lining the pockets of big corporations and billionaires with tax handouts and loopholes, I’ll be the least of his concerns,’ Chandler-Mather told the Daily Mail.
‘Personally I’ve been enjoying life outside parliament, carefully thinking how best to continue to fight on behalf of the millions of everyday people screwed over by this Labor government.
‘I’m a bit surprised the Prime Minister remains so fixated on me, because I haven’t really thought about him at all.’
While in parliament, Chandler-Mather earned the nickname of ‘Albo’s arch-nemesis’ due to his clashes with the PM over housing policy.
In 2023, tensions came to a head during a debate over the $10billion Housing Australia Future Fund.
As Albanese was leaving the House of Representatives chamber, he reportedly turned back and directed an angry remark to Chandler-Mather, saying: ‘You’re a joke, mate.’
Last year, Chandler-Mather also questioned why the Prime Minister was able to rake in an extra $115,000 a year in rental income while he lives rent-free at The Lodge and Kirribilli House during a housing crisis.
These confrontations led many young Australians to see Chandler-Mather as a strong voice representing young people’s concerns about the housing crisis.
The pair also traded words shortly after Chandler-Mather was ousted in May, with the Greens firebrand telling Triple J Hack that the PM had often directed ‘personal abuse’ at him in the House.
‘The Prime Minister spent a lot of time in my electorate attacking me, the property industry, the mining industry, all coming after us,’ Chandler-Mather said.
‘We would get up (in the House) and say ‘all we want is for the government to do something for the one-third of the country that rents’ and I had the Prime Minister come up to me in the Chamber and call me a ‘joke’ and personally abuse me.’
In 2023, tensions came to a head during a debate over the $10billion Housing Australia Future Fund
As Albanese was leaving the House of Representatives chamber, he reportedly turned back and directed an angry remark to Chandler-Mather, saying: ‘You’re a joke, mate’
But Albanese has said the former MP needed to look at his own behaviour.
‘He should have a good look at the way that he asks questions in the parliament,’ the Prime Minister told ABC’s 7.30 afterwards.
‘Maybe what he needs is 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.
‘I think it’s a bit rich for him of all people…who has been rejected by his own electorate after just one term.’
