Greens senator Lee Rhiannon resigns, making way for Mehreen Faruqi

Senator Rhiannon had a public spat with the federal Greens leadership last year when the party suspended her access to meetings

Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon says electoral donations reforms will unfairly target small parties. Source: AAP

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has announced she will retire in August, around 10 months before her term officially expires.

The resignation will create a casual vacancy in the NSW senate seat, with the Greens allowed to nominate a replacement from their own ranks.

Mehreen Faruqi, currently NSW state politician, will step into the position.

“I warmly congratulate Mehreen and look forward to assisting with the coming state and federal election campaigns,” Senator Rhiannon wrote on social media.

“In some ways I am an accidental politician. When I was young, parliament was where we went to protest not to get a job,” she said.

“My years as an MP have strengthened my belief that it is people’s action that drives progressive social change.”

The resignation comes after Senator Rhiannon publically butted heads with the Greens leadership last year. The senator was temporarily excluded from partyroom meetings.

The NSW senator, considered a member of the Greens’ left faction, will be the third Greens senator to leave the parliament in a single year.

Two high-profile senators, Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, were kicked out of parliament last year after the High Court found they had failed to renounce dual citizenships and had thus breached Section 44 of the Constitution.