Shoebridge close to tears as he remembers mentor and 'bloody fun friend'

New Greens leader David Shoebridge was moved to the verge of tears on 7.30 as he spoke about his political inspiration — former NSW Greens MP John Kaye, who died in 2016.

Senator Shoebridge, giving his first interview since taking over the party leadership from Larissa Waters, became emotional as he spoke about Kaye.

"[He was] a person of incredible principle, incredible courage," Senator Shoebridge said.

"Just a bloody fun friend too. We lost him while we were both in state parliament and I so felt that loss and our party felt that loss.

"He was my political mentor … really sort of took me under his wing for the first four, five years that I had in the New South Wales Parliament.

"[He] taught me about how to do politics with principle, and how to hold firm on campaigns and hold firm on ideas over years.

"I remember him talking about how we could make a 100 per cent renewable NSW, a 100 per cent renewable country, a decade before anyone else was talking about this."

Asked if he believed Kaye would have seen him as a future leader of the Greens, Senator Shoebridge could not say but said he had often felt the spirit of Kaye.

"John took me under his wing and wanted me to succeed in the process and he was an incredibly generous colleague," he said.

"I felt his hand behind my back at multiple times in my political career."

Shoebridge scathing of Labor

While Senator Shoebridge showed a softer side as he reflected on his mentor and former colleague, a harder edge came out when he spoke about the state of Australia.

He was angry about cost of living pressures, and scathing of Labor.

"You only have to travel around the country and talk to people about just how tough it is," Senator Shoebridge told 7.30.

"Four years of Labor and people are anxious pushing their trolley down the supermarket aisle if they're going to be able to afford it at the checkout.

"People are angry at the failure of politics to address their fundamental material concerns.

"They're angry that their kids' future might be meaner and nastier than they're own history.

"People aren't interested in incrementalist politics and smart messaging."

One day after interest rates were raised to a 15-year high, he called out the government's housing policies but did admit the Greens had supported them at the time.

"The community has had three years of that housing policy that did pass and passed with Greens support," he said.

"It's not moved the thing a dial.

"What we were saying back then, that this would not fix the housing crisis, history has proven 100 per cent we were right and people are not interested in tiny incrementalism wrapped with messaging from government.

"They want material change."

Greens' new goals

If Senator Shoebridge is to change things for the Greens, he will have to reverse a trend.

The party suffered hefty defeats at the last federal election with former leader Adam Bandt and the vocal Max Chandler-Mather among those who lost their seats.

He said he will focus on core policies that appeal to the majority of Australians.

"I think we have the fundamentals in place to make this work. Pointing out just how the economy has been driven for this elite 1 per cent," he said.

"People can see this 1 per cent getting incredibly wealthy.

"Targeting that and making the common play with the 99 per cent of Australians who deserve a fairer share.

"I think what we're going to see is the core policies and platforms that we have been developing being communicated, I hope, at scale with a mass membership movement."

Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV