It is totally inadequate for the Greens to argue, as they will, that Liberal and One Nation preferences delivered victory for Labor. The parties do not fill out the ballot papers – the voters do. More people in Melbourne wanted their preferences to go to Labor.

A third factor was all about the Greens because it was about their policies. The party campaigned for dental services to be included in Medicare, something that resonates with many Australians. There was no equivalent crusade on the environment, usually the winning argument for the party. And there were big questions for three years about whether the party was being too obstructive in parliament.

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The Greens shared responsibility for failing to pass the law to set up Environment Protection Australia, the “nature positive” reform sought by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. The party also stymied the Labor agenda on housing, delaying the funding for new homes. The election results are a verdict on that approach.

Finally, the Greens spent much of the last term campaigning furiously on the war in Gaza. This was personal: Bandt claimed in parliament that Albanese and Dutton were complicit in genocide. This was hyperbolic and offensive.

At the same time, the Greens backed public protests that became platforms for antisemitism. They washed their hands of tactics that led to blockades against Labor MPs. The protests continued every week in Melbourne, for instance, and public opinion was strongly against them.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong summed up the problem earlier this week.

“I think Australians rejected the politics of conflict and the politics of grievance,” she said of the election result. “And, unfortunately, Adam Bandt in some ways is quite like Peter Dutton. It’s the same conflict … sometimes quite aggressive, and the same politics of protest and grievance.”

Wong identified a fundamental problem for the Greens. Young voters may be drawn to its exaggerated rhetoric and confected conflict, but voters tend to drop the party as they age.

All politicians go too far at times, but Dutton and Bandt went too far on similar issues in different ways.

Dutton seized on the discovery of explosives in a Sydney caravan to claim Albanese was guilty of a national security disaster. The incident turned out to be a criminal plot, not a terrorist attack.

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Bandt seized on the war in Gaza to accuse Albanese of knowingly aiding Israel in a genocide. There was no such support for genocide; the Australian government wants a ceasefire and a two-state solution. Most importantly, most Australians knew their government did not have the power to stop the war.

The Greens leader was eyeless in Gaza, blind to the danger for him and his party.