Australian Sen. Christine Milne unexpectedly resigned as leader of the small but influential Greens Party on Wednesday, raising questions over the future of an important political bloc outside the two mainstream parties.
Milne, who took over the party from founder Bob Brown in 2012, quickly built on its early successes by aggressively peeling voters from the main opposition Labor Party's left flank on issues such as climate change and asylum seekers.
The Greens chose as her replacement the largely unknown Sen. Richard Di Natale, a doctor from Victoria state who was elected to parliament in 2010.