Richard Di Natale elected unopposed as new Greens leader after Christine Milne resigns – as it happened

We are hearing that the ballot is about to begin. The talk is that it is coming down to a contest between Richard Di Natale and Adam Bandt.

Kevin Andrews may have taken the opportunity to sledge the Greens for being “freedom hating”, but the prime minister, Tony Abbott, has offered a much more diplomatic formulation about the news of Christine Milne’s departure:

Christine Milne has a distinguished record as a senior member of the Australian parliament and as the leader of a political party which has considerable influence on the parliament. Obviously, we come from very different political traditions but I respect Christine Milne, as I respect all senior members of the parliament. It takes a great deal of commitment and patriotism to offer to serve in the parliament, to serve in senior levels as Christine Milne has done. It is a testament to her commitment to Australia. Even though we have far more often than not been on opposite sides of most political arguments, I respect her commitment. We’ve always had good and cordial relations. I understand that she’s soon to be a grandmother and that’s a marvellous time for any individual and I wish her well for the future.

The former leader of the Greens, Bob Brown, has spoken to ABC Radio about the news. Brown, who was leader before Milne, said:

It’s a great surprise to me and Christine’s been a great friend, certainly a fantastic member of parliament and representative in both state and federal parliaments for Tasmania. She’s a big loss for the Greens, there’s no doubt about that. But, that said, the Greens have a talent pool now that we’ve built up over the last 10 or 15 years and a very good leader will emerge out of that pack.

Brown was careful not to endorse a particular candidate, although he said deputy leader Adam Bandt (the Greens’ only member of the lower house) would be “one of the people that everybody will be watching in the next little while”

But he said there were also a number of senators who were “great performers”.

The Greens are currently meeting to elect their next leader. At the same time, the prime minister, Tony Abbott, is speaking to reporters in Perth to announce an extra $500m in road project funding for WA after the GST dispute of last month.

As always, rolling TV news producers are trying to juggle multiple stories:

The defence minister, Kevin “Freedom” Andrews, says changing the leader will make no difference:

The treasurer, Joe Hockey, was taken by surprise by the announcement when a journalist mentioned it to him mid-way through a press conference about small business tax incentives.

Hockey said he “just hoped the Greens see common sense”. Hockey said he did not understand why the Greens had opposed the government’s proposal to increase fuel excise.

I don’t know the circumstances under which Christine Milne has resigned. I hope it is a retirement for all the right reasons rather than anything else but I just say to whoever is the new leader of the Greens: Please, please offer us some bipartisan work, bipartisan support in the Senate that helps us to strengthen the Australian economy.

So who might replace Christine Milne as leader of the Greens?

The Victorian senator and health spokesman Richard Di Natale has announced his candidacy on Twitter:

Another likely candidate is the current deputy leader Adam Bandt. Scott Ludlam is also a possible contender.

In a statement, Milne said she had decided not to contest the 2016 election for another six-year Senate term and consequently would resign as leader of the Greens immediately.

She said:

It is with a mix of optimism, pride, excitement and sadness that I am resigning the leadership and leaving the Senate.

I have achieved what I set out to achieve when I took over the leadership. The Greens have gone from strength to strength with solid election results and a growing, engaged party membership.

I promised a more cabinet-style, collaborative approach to leadership. I am so proud of the way my colleagues have responded. We are a strong, capable, visionary Greens team.

Milne said she had made her decision after discussing it with family.

After 25 years in politics, I am looking forward to spending more time in my beautiful home state of Tasmania, with friends and family, and especially as I am soon to be a grandmother.

Life after parliament is not however, life after politics. The fight for action on global warming will continue and I will take my passion, and all that I’ve learnt, to that fight standing shoulder to shoulder with the community here, and all over the world, for climate justice.

Milne thanked her family, staff, colleagues, friends, party members, supporters and voters for their cherished input, passion and support.

Parliamentarians from the Greens were due to hold a full-day planning meeting today to discuss pre-budget strategy. It is understood Milne shocked the gathering by announcing at the outset that she would be resigning. There is disquiet in some quarters of the party about the short timeframe to discuss options before the ballot.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the search for a new leader of the Australian Greens. Christine Milne, who has led the party since 2012, announced her sudden resignation shortly about 10.30am AEST. The party will meet at 11.30am to hold a ballot on her replacement.

My colleague, Shalailah Medhora, has filed a first take on the news, which you can read here.