ABC’s Four Corners last night ran an investigative special report, entitled Inside the Greens: A party in turmoil, which examined the civil war taking place within its ranks. Here’s a summary of the episode from ABC News:
A Greens senator is a “team wrecker”. Local members are “kept in the dark and fed on bullshit”. Grassroots democracy in New South Wales is a “farce”. And party founder Bob Brown should “f*** off”.
These are just some of the stinging insults and allegations exchanged by figures in the Greens Party in a behind-the-scenes examination by Four Corners…
Lee Rhiannon, who is the only elected Green from the country’s most populous state, was in June temporarily suspended from voting in her party room after saying she was bound by the NSW party to adopt a different position on schools funding to leader Richard Di Natale and education spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young…
This came while Senator Hanson-Young and Senator Di Natale were negotiating with the Federal Government over its so-called Gonski 2.0 legislation.
Senator Di Natale told Four Corners the party had all “collectively agreed on a statement of principles” and “we weren’t aware one of our team had a fixed position and was campaigning against the position of the party room”.Senator Rhiannon pointed out the Greens’ constitution fixed her to the position bound by the NSW Greens rather than a conscience vote with the rest of her federal party.
But party founder Bob Brown supported Senator Rhiannon’s exclusion because she was a “team wrecker”.
“I’ve had to take Lee aside when I was party leader and tell her that she was damaging the party through her actions,” Dr Brown said.
“Her response always to me was to look me in the eye and say, ‘Bob, I’m a team player’… Well, have a look. She’s a team wrecker.”
Dr Brown and other senior Greens have called on Senator Rhiannon to retire.The former leader said: “I’ve been living with Lee for 30 years, but it’s the end of Lee’s reign. That end is nigh, and I look forward to the future”…
The war with Senator Rhiannon and her allies in NSW has been brewing for decades and is bound up in a constitutional exemption for the NSW Greens, which allows the state party to bind its senator on policy decisions rather than allowing her to exercise a conscience vote, as all other senators do…
“What goes on in NSW is not an exercise in democracy — it’s an exercise in puppetry,” Tasmanian Senator Nick McKim said.
“The puppeteers are a small cabal of people who are not directly elected by the members, who believe in top-down command and control.
“They treat their members like mushrooms — they keep them in the dark and they feed them on bullshit.”
An internal survey commissioned by the NSW Greens, leaked to Four Corners, revealed only a third of members surveyed had attended the NSW State Delegate’s Council, which makes policy, and fewer than half even knew what it was…
Ms Milne said grassroots democracy in NSW was a “smokescreen” and a “farce”.
“The members in NSW don’t know the half of what goes on — they only know what a central committee allows them to know,” she said.
My biggest problem with The Greens is that their policies are highly contradictory.
For example, they promote housing affordability and actually have some decent policies. But then they contradict this good work by arguing for an increase in Australia’s already turbo-charged immigration program, as well as opposing sprawl and development – both of which are huge obstacles to affordable housing when viewed together.
The same goes for The Greens environmental policies. They claim they want to safeguard Australia’s natural environment and reduce carbon emissions, but then contradict this position by endorsing an even bigger population for Australia than is already in train.
What few people realise is that under The Greens’ immigration policy, Australia would see its population hit a massive 43 million by 2060 – well over double the 19 million population that existed when The Greens abandoned its stable population policy in 1998!
Indeed, I have received multiple communications from Greens party members who are frustrated at the party’s lack of opposition to mass immigration and a ‘Big Australia’. It seems the party is divided internally on the issue, with old school Greens wanting population stabilisation, whereas the inner-city ‘latte left’ believe in ‘open borders’.
Of course, there is a way for The Greens to once again become a genuine “green” party as well as ensuring social justice concerns are met: argue to increase Australia’s humanitarian intake (currently 14,000 per year) while massively cutting Australia’s economic intake (currently around 190,000 people per year). This way The Greens could achieve both goals: significantly reducing population growth and saving the environment while also being a good and caring global citizen. After all, when it comes to protecting the environment, it is the overall numbers that matter, not how the migrants come.
Of course, The Greens should also highlight the associated benefits from running a moderate immigration program, including less pressure on housing and infrastructure. But the environment should be its main focus. Otherwise, why do “The Greens” exist?
