The Greens are promising a purge, in case anyone is worried they've abandoned their left-wing roots.
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But it won't be a purge of the leadership, even though the party is sifting through the wreckage of the failed Batman by-election campaign.
Internal leaks against six-time Batman candidate Alex Bhathal, who was a strong favourite with bookmakers, marred the Greens' campaign in the Victorian federal seat.
"Those people who are found to be responsible for leaking and undermining our candidate need to be expelled," Greens leader Richard Di Natale told ABC radio on Monday.
The loss has raised questions about the party's direction under Senator Di Natale's leadership.
The under-pressure senator is in some ways a victim of his own success, as his Greens have campaigned on pragmatic and populist policies.
Labor stole the Greens' banking royal commission policy, which the government eventually supported.
Labor also took the Greens' negative gearing reform plans, the anti-pokies platform in Tasmania, and the crackdown on multinational corporations' tax avoidance, which Bill Shorten now mentions in every press conference.
The Greens even pushed Labor to the brink on the Adani coal mine.
But forcing Labor to the left with populist policies has come at a cost for the Greens, with voters backing unionist Ged Kearney over Ms Bhathal in Batman.
The internal bullying complaints about Ms Bhathal hurt, but voters also backed a party likely able to legislate those policies in 2019.
The Greens recently suffered poor results in the Tasmanian and South Australian elections, while the Queensland Greens say they only succeeded because they rejected the federal campaign lines.
Where does that leave Senator Di Natale?
Being Labor's policy incubator isn't enough for a party that aspires to eight lower house seats by 2026 and 25 seats in another 10 years after that.
There is clearly internal division in NSW and Victoria, unusual for a party founded on the principle of "consensus".
Senator Di Natale won't face a leadership challenge, with Sarah Hanson-Young saying he has the full backing of the party room.
"Richard Di Natale's leadership is safe and we need him now, we need him to step up and make sure the party is pulled together tightly," she told Sky News.
But the next federal election will be a real test of Senator Di Natale and the Greens, who now have a rank-and-file so angry about not being listened to by the leadership they are willing to blow up the show.
Australian Associated Press
