Greens defector had confrontation with party after losing bid for leadership position
Senator Dorinda Cox had a heated discussion with her Greens colleagues after she won just three votes in her failed bid to become the party's deputy leader last month, creating a rift that ultimately contributed to her surprise defection to Labor on Monday.
In the leadership contest in Melbourne on May 15, Cox ran against NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi to become second in charge to Larissa Waters, who replaced Adam Bandt as leader after he lost his seat at the federal election.
Cox won just three of 12 votes.
Faruqi was endorsed before the vote by the Blak Greens, an Indigenous advocacy group within the party that also wanted Cox, an Indigenous woman, to be stripped of her responsibilities for Indigenous policy. Cox was seen as a more moderate voice in the party than Faruqi, who is on the left flank of the minor party.
After losing to Faruqi, Cox ran for the deputy whip position but lost to Queensland senator Penny Allman-Payne, who had already secured a role as the chair of the party room.
Her frustration led to heated scenes in the party's leadership vote meeting at the Melbourne Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, according to three Greens sources who described the meeting on the condition of anonymity.
One source said Cox confronted Waters and told the new leader that she needed to 'grow a spine'. Another MP said the scenes were 'ugly' and unjustified, especially given Cox had not made clear to colleagues until late in the piece that she would run, meaning she had little chance of winning.
This masthead contacted Cox and Waters' office about the interaction.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
43 minutes ago
- West Australian
Sun sets on another state's solar home battery rebate
The scrapping of a $2500 solar panel sweetener has been defended by a state energy minister after critics labelled the move a "slap in the face". As a federal battery subsidy kicks in on July 1, NSW will replace its home battery installation rebate with a smaller incentive to create more virtual power plants. The move comes as other states power down their own battery incentives. Virtual power plants connect solar-powered batteries owned by households and small businesses to the grid, allowing owners to generate ongoing revenue by selling the excess energy stored in their battery when demand is high. The NSW government argues households and businesses will benefit by stacking the new scheme - worth up to $1500 - on top of the federal program, which slashes up-front costs by about 30 per cent. "The real value of virtual power plants is that we don't waste energy that's in the batteries," NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe told AAP on Thursday. But renewable energy advocacy group Solar Citizens said ditching the state battery subsidy on June 30 was a "slap in the face" for solar panel owners. They were promised up to $2500 in addition to the federal program if they invested in a home battery. "This surprise decision is a blow to solar-home owners planning to buy a home battery in coming months," the group's chief executive Heidi Lee Douglas said. She described the rebate's removal as a "betrayal" of the Labor government's election promise of the federal Cheaper Home Batteries program, which can be topped up with state rebates. "We designed the Cheaper Home Batteries program to be stackable with state incentives, and it is," a spokesperson for Energy Minister Chris Bowen told AAP. The $2.3 billion federal government scheme will subsidise the up-front cost of installing eligible small-scale battery by about 30 per cent from July 1. In Western Australia, solar battery customers are still able to receive both federal and state battery subsidies starting from July. But NSW follows other states turfing battery sweeteners. Victoria ended an interest-free solar battery loan worth $8800 in May while Queensland closed its $4000 battery rebate in December. Australia has the highest take-up of rooftop solar in the world, with panels on more than two million homes providing about 13 per cent of electricity needs for the national grid in the past year. The nation could slash $4 billion a year off power bills by the end of the decade if households embrace solar batteries in larger numbers, a Climate Council report found.
Perth Now
44 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Sun sets on another state's solar home battery rebate
The scrapping of a $2500 solar panel sweetener has been defended by a state energy minister after critics labelled the move a "slap in the face". As a federal battery subsidy kicks in on July 1, NSW will replace its home battery installation rebate with a smaller incentive to create more virtual power plants. The move comes as other states power down their own battery incentives. Virtual power plants connect solar-powered batteries owned by households and small businesses to the grid, allowing owners to generate ongoing revenue by selling the excess energy stored in their battery when demand is high. The NSW government argues households and businesses will benefit by stacking the new scheme - worth up to $1500 - on top of the federal program, which slashes up-front costs by about 30 per cent. "The real value of virtual power plants is that we don't waste energy that's in the batteries," NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe told AAP on Thursday. But renewable energy advocacy group Solar Citizens said ditching the state battery subsidy on June 30 was a "slap in the face" for solar panel owners. They were promised up to $2500 in addition to the federal program if they invested in a home battery. "This surprise decision is a blow to solar-home owners planning to buy a home battery in coming months," the group's chief executive Heidi Lee Douglas said. She described the rebate's removal as a "betrayal" of the Labor government's election promise of the federal Cheaper Home Batteries program, which can be topped up with state rebates. "We designed the Cheaper Home Batteries program to be stackable with state incentives, and it is," a spokesperson for Energy Minister Chris Bowen told AAP. The $2.3 billion federal government scheme will subsidise the up-front cost of installing eligible small-scale battery by about 30 per cent from July 1. In Western Australia, solar battery customers are still able to receive both federal and state battery subsidies starting from July. But NSW follows other states turfing battery sweeteners. Victoria ended an interest-free solar battery loan worth $8800 in May while Queensland closed its $4000 battery rebate in December. Australia has the highest take-up of rooftop solar in the world, with panels on more than two million homes providing about 13 per cent of electricity needs for the national grid in the past year. The nation could slash $4 billion a year off power bills by the end of the decade if households embrace solar batteries in larger numbers, a Climate Council report found.
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Opposition leader Sussan Ley accuses Penny Wong of overstepping in ‘unprecedented' Israeli minister sanctions
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has accused the Albanese Government of overstepping by slapping 'unprecedented' sanctions on two Israeli Government ministers. She accused Penny Wong of acting 'unilaterally' in imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The Albanese Government joined the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway to sanction the pair, accusing them of 'inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank'. 'It is unprecedented to, as a government, take actions, sanctions on members of a democratically elected government. It appears that Penny Wong acted unilaterally on this,' Ms Ley told Sky New on Thursday. 'The Magnitsky sanctions were never designed to be used in this way, but to take action against terrorist regimes and bad actors.' The Magnitsky legislation allows governments to impose targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans, on foreign individuals responsible for serious human rights abuses or corruption. Australia has only selectively deployed the sanctions, mostly on Russian individuals, since they first came into effect in December 2021 with the first set handed down in March 2022. The Foreign Minister and Labor colleagues have defended the measure, with Ms Wong saying the duo had 'extremist rhetoric' including 'appalling and dangerous' calls for the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements. Former Labor defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon also openly labelled them 'extremists.' However when asked whether the Government had 'overstepped the mark', Ms Ley bluntly responded: 'Yes we do. Yes we do'. Ms Ley's criticism of the collective move was echoed by her Coalition team on Thursday, with many calling for a briefing on the decision which they warned could have broader implications. 'We want to understand more deeply the rationale behind the government's decision making,' Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie said on Thursday. 'I think these sanctions do go against the intent of the Magnitsky sanction regime.' Opposition legal affairs spokesman Julian Leeser has warned if the standard for triggering Magnitsky sanctions had been weakened it could impact Australia's standing abroad. 'This is a very serious step. When you read the government's statement, it suggests that it's actually lowered the threshold for applying sanctions,' he told the ABC on Thursday. 'Because these sanctions are being applied because of public comments of the two Israeli ministers and the big question here is whether this is a new standard that will be applied to the public comments of officials from other countries.' Shadow foreign minister Michaelia Cash called the sanctions a 'very serious development' and said they should meet 'a very high threshold.' While backing the sanctions and defending them as 'carefully considered', Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he hoped Australia and Israel would 'continue our friendship'. 'I mean we want to continue our friendship with Israel, let me be clear about that,' he said. 'We've worked very carefully in relation to taking this step over a period of time. 'We've done this in combination with the United Kingdom in combination with Canada and with other nations.' His shadow counterpart Angus Taylor went as far to question whether Ms Wong's call teamed with Labor's refusal to lift the defence budget after US pressure had prompted the Trump Administration to review the AUKUS partnership. But Marles hit back at his 'breathless press conference' and said the Coalition needed to 'take a breath' on the AUKUS probe which he downplayed as a 'natural' decision of any new government. Former Liberal politician and ex-US ambassador Arthur Sinodinos also rejected any link, noting Marles had publicly said he'd been aware a review was coming for weeks. Both sides of politics have said ultimately they wanted to see a ceasefire and long-term end to the Gaza conflict.
