Kilotonnes of dead salmon spark call for farm scrutiny
Almost 10,000 tonnes of farmed salmon died across two months during an unprecedented mass mortality, prompting a renewed call for further scrutiny.
Tasmania's salmon industry apologised in March after a spike in deaths at pens in the state's south due to a bacterial outbreak and fish matter washed up on beaches.
Some 3395 tonnes of fish died in pens statewide in March, according to the latest data from the state's environmental regulator.
This comes after more than 6300 tonnes died in February, with the combined 9695 tonnes comprising about 13 per cent of Tasmania's annual farmed salmon production.
The Environmental Protection Authority has declared the unprecedented mortality event over, noting fish deaths had declined by almost half.
"Water temperatures are falling and there has been a significant decline in the number of pens above the mortality reporting thresholds in April," the authority's chief executive Catherine Murdoch said.
Laws requiring salmon farms to report death tonnage to the regulator, which then makes the numbers public, have only recently been implemented.
The regulator said it was unable to provide data about the tonnage of deaths prior to February, while industry body Salmon Tasmania has been contacted for comment.
The Greens renewed calls for a parliamentary inquiry, saying more information needed to be made public.
"Ten million kilograms of dead fish equates to around 2.5 million mature Atlantic salmon that have suffered a cruel death," Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said.
"However, the (regulator) can't or won't provide an accurate breakdown of which leases these deaths occurred within, or even which region of Tasmania they occurred in.
"The unchecked outbreak of disease throughout Tasmania is a biosecurity disaster of unprecedented scale in modern history."
Water monitoring no longer detects antibiotics used to treat the disease, the regulator says.
Huon Aquaculture, one of the companies caught up in the mass mortality, was stripped of its RSPCA green tick after video captured workers sealing live salmon in tubs with dead salmon.
The governing state Liberals and Labor opposition support the industry.
The mass mortality event was "really traumatic", Environment Minister Madeleine Ogilvie told state parliament on Tuesday.
The regulator says it will continue to receive and monitor data and will publish mortality weight information quarterly.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Budget blowout, $1b stadium and new ships sink premier
HOW JEREMY ROCKLIFF'S MINORITY LIBERAL GOVERNMENT WAS LEFT IN TATTERS ELECTORAL REFORM * On taking office in 2022, one of Mr Rockliff's first acts as Tasmanian premier was to back the return of a 35-seat House of Assembly, up from 25, to reduce the workload on ministers and MPs * Given Tasmania's Senate-like lower house, this made it easier for independents and Greens to win seats, producing a hung parliament at the 2024 election MINORITY MAYHEM * Mr Rockliff's Liberals suffered a 12 per cent swing against them at the 2024 poll but remained parliament's biggest party, with 14 MPs to Labor's 10 and the five Greens * To govern, Mr Rockliff signed deals with five other crossbenchers, including various promises he has struggled to fulfil, straining relationships SPIRITS SAGA * The biggest turbulence for the Rockliff government has been its botched replacement of Spirit of Tasmania ferries, the critical sea link to the mainland * Two Finland-built ships were due in 2024, but the new berth in Devonport won't be ready until 2026, with costs blowing out from $90 million to $495 million * Michael Ferguson took the fall, resigning as infrastructure minister in August and then, as a no-confidence motion loomed, as Treasurer in October AFL ASPIRATION * An Australian Rules state to its boots, Tasmania has always coveted a place in the AFL and got it in 2022 when a bid championed by former premier Peter Gutwein was realised by Mr Rockliff * The deal came with strings attached - the AFL will pay the least, but demands a roofed stadium close to the inner-city * The federal government does not pay as much as the state government, which also crucially, is on the hook for cost overruns - already into the hundreds of millions STADIUM STRUGGLES * The huge stadium project has drawn opposition, with some saying it's in the wrong spot, including Hobart City Council and the RSL, given the proximity to heritage and a nearby war memorial * Economists attack dubious return-on-investment projections; engineers doubt the feasibility of the Macquarie Point site, and those outside of Hobart feel it's an over-the-top investment, especially given the state's health and housing woes BUDGET BLOWOUT * The final straw - at least to Labor - was new Treasurer Guy Barnett's budget unveiled in May * The Liberals unveiled deficits as far as the eye could see and ballooning debt to $10 billion - a huge amount for a state of 550,000 people * The blowout drew huge criticism inside and outside parliament LABOR EMBOLDENED * The Labor opposition has suffered four election defeats in a row, the past three under Rebecca White, but has enjoyed a poll uptick under new leader Dean Winter * Mr Winter sees a government on the ropes and enough of the crossbench agree * Labor was emboldened by the huge support Tasmanians offered to candidates in the federal election, with four of the five seats now in Labor hands DEADLOCK BROKEN * After two days of debate, a vote on Mr Winter's motion of no confidence was finally taken * With the result locked at 17-17, Labor speaker Michelle O'Byrne cast a deciding vote with her party, ending Mr Rockliff's premiership * Mr Winter ruled out forming government in a deal with the Greens - without which Labor doesn't have the numbers - in effect making an election a certainty WHAT NEXT? * Parliament will resume to pass an emergency funding bill so essential government services can continue beyond July 1 * Once the bills pass both houses of parliament, Mr Rockliff says he will visit Governor Barbara Baker to call an election, likely in late July * There remains the prospect that Mr Rockliff - who is wedded to the stadium project - could depart as leader, allowing the Liberals a fresh chance to cobble together another minority government without an election, and perhaps the stadium HOW JEREMY ROCKLIFF'S MINORITY LIBERAL GOVERNMENT WAS LEFT IN TATTERS ELECTORAL REFORM * On taking office in 2022, one of Mr Rockliff's first acts as Tasmanian premier was to back the return of a 35-seat House of Assembly, up from 25, to reduce the workload on ministers and MPs * Given Tasmania's Senate-like lower house, this made it easier for independents and Greens to win seats, producing a hung parliament at the 2024 election MINORITY MAYHEM * Mr Rockliff's Liberals suffered a 12 per cent swing against them at the 2024 poll but remained parliament's biggest party, with 14 MPs to Labor's 10 and the five Greens * To govern, Mr Rockliff signed deals with five other crossbenchers, including various promises he has struggled to fulfil, straining relationships SPIRITS SAGA * The biggest turbulence for the Rockliff government has been its botched replacement of Spirit of Tasmania ferries, the critical sea link to the mainland * Two Finland-built ships were due in 2024, but the new berth in Devonport won't be ready until 2026, with costs blowing out from $90 million to $495 million * Michael Ferguson took the fall, resigning as infrastructure minister in August and then, as a no-confidence motion loomed, as Treasurer in October AFL ASPIRATION * An Australian Rules state to its boots, Tasmania has always coveted a place in the AFL and got it in 2022 when a bid championed by former premier Peter Gutwein was realised by Mr Rockliff * The deal came with strings attached - the AFL will pay the least, but demands a roofed stadium close to the inner-city * The federal government does not pay as much as the state government, which also crucially, is on the hook for cost overruns - already into the hundreds of millions STADIUM STRUGGLES * The huge stadium project has drawn opposition, with some saying it's in the wrong spot, including Hobart City Council and the RSL, given the proximity to heritage and a nearby war memorial * Economists attack dubious return-on-investment projections; engineers doubt the feasibility of the Macquarie Point site, and those outside of Hobart feel it's an over-the-top investment, especially given the state's health and housing woes BUDGET BLOWOUT * The final straw - at least to Labor - was new Treasurer Guy Barnett's budget unveiled in May * The Liberals unveiled deficits as far as the eye could see and ballooning debt to $10 billion - a huge amount for a state of 550,000 people * The blowout drew huge criticism inside and outside parliament LABOR EMBOLDENED * The Labor opposition has suffered four election defeats in a row, the past three under Rebecca White, but has enjoyed a poll uptick under new leader Dean Winter * Mr Winter sees a government on the ropes and enough of the crossbench agree * Labor was emboldened by the huge support Tasmanians offered to candidates in the federal election, with four of the five seats now in Labor hands DEADLOCK BROKEN * After two days of debate, a vote on Mr Winter's motion of no confidence was finally taken * With the result locked at 17-17, Labor speaker Michelle O'Byrne cast a deciding vote with her party, ending Mr Rockliff's premiership * Mr Winter ruled out forming government in a deal with the Greens - without which Labor doesn't have the numbers - in effect making an election a certainty WHAT NEXT? * Parliament will resume to pass an emergency funding bill so essential government services can continue beyond July 1 * Once the bills pass both houses of parliament, Mr Rockliff says he will visit Governor Barbara Baker to call an election, likely in late July * There remains the prospect that Mr Rockliff - who is wedded to the stadium project - could depart as leader, allowing the Liberals a fresh chance to cobble together another minority government without an election, and perhaps the stadium HOW JEREMY ROCKLIFF'S MINORITY LIBERAL GOVERNMENT WAS LEFT IN TATTERS ELECTORAL REFORM * On taking office in 2022, one of Mr Rockliff's first acts as Tasmanian premier was to back the return of a 35-seat House of Assembly, up from 25, to reduce the workload on ministers and MPs * Given Tasmania's Senate-like lower house, this made it easier for independents and Greens to win seats, producing a hung parliament at the 2024 election MINORITY MAYHEM * Mr Rockliff's Liberals suffered a 12 per cent swing against them at the 2024 poll but remained parliament's biggest party, with 14 MPs to Labor's 10 and the five Greens * To govern, Mr Rockliff signed deals with five other crossbenchers, including various promises he has struggled to fulfil, straining relationships SPIRITS SAGA * The biggest turbulence for the Rockliff government has been its botched replacement of Spirit of Tasmania ferries, the critical sea link to the mainland * Two Finland-built ships were due in 2024, but the new berth in Devonport won't be ready until 2026, with costs blowing out from $90 million to $495 million * Michael Ferguson took the fall, resigning as infrastructure minister in August and then, as a no-confidence motion loomed, as Treasurer in October AFL ASPIRATION * An Australian Rules state to its boots, Tasmania has always coveted a place in the AFL and got it in 2022 when a bid championed by former premier Peter Gutwein was realised by Mr Rockliff * The deal came with strings attached - the AFL will pay the least, but demands a roofed stadium close to the inner-city * The federal government does not pay as much as the state government, which also crucially, is on the hook for cost overruns - already into the hundreds of millions STADIUM STRUGGLES * The huge stadium project has drawn opposition, with some saying it's in the wrong spot, including Hobart City Council and the RSL, given the proximity to heritage and a nearby war memorial * Economists attack dubious return-on-investment projections; engineers doubt the feasibility of the Macquarie Point site, and those outside of Hobart feel it's an over-the-top investment, especially given the state's health and housing woes BUDGET BLOWOUT * The final straw - at least to Labor - was new Treasurer Guy Barnett's budget unveiled in May * The Liberals unveiled deficits as far as the eye could see and ballooning debt to $10 billion - a huge amount for a state of 550,000 people * The blowout drew huge criticism inside and outside parliament LABOR EMBOLDENED * The Labor opposition has suffered four election defeats in a row, the past three under Rebecca White, but has enjoyed a poll uptick under new leader Dean Winter * Mr Winter sees a government on the ropes and enough of the crossbench agree * Labor was emboldened by the huge support Tasmanians offered to candidates in the federal election, with four of the five seats now in Labor hands DEADLOCK BROKEN * After two days of debate, a vote on Mr Winter's motion of no confidence was finally taken * With the result locked at 17-17, Labor speaker Michelle O'Byrne cast a deciding vote with her party, ending Mr Rockliff's premiership * Mr Winter ruled out forming government in a deal with the Greens - without which Labor doesn't have the numbers - in effect making an election a certainty WHAT NEXT? * Parliament will resume to pass an emergency funding bill so essential government services can continue beyond July 1 * Once the bills pass both houses of parliament, Mr Rockliff says he will visit Governor Barbara Baker to call an election, likely in late July * There remains the prospect that Mr Rockliff - who is wedded to the stadium project - could depart as leader, allowing the Liberals a fresh chance to cobble together another minority government without an election, and perhaps the stadium HOW JEREMY ROCKLIFF'S MINORITY LIBERAL GOVERNMENT WAS LEFT IN TATTERS ELECTORAL REFORM * On taking office in 2022, one of Mr Rockliff's first acts as Tasmanian premier was to back the return of a 35-seat House of Assembly, up from 25, to reduce the workload on ministers and MPs * Given Tasmania's Senate-like lower house, this made it easier for independents and Greens to win seats, producing a hung parliament at the 2024 election MINORITY MAYHEM * Mr Rockliff's Liberals suffered a 12 per cent swing against them at the 2024 poll but remained parliament's biggest party, with 14 MPs to Labor's 10 and the five Greens * To govern, Mr Rockliff signed deals with five other crossbenchers, including various promises he has struggled to fulfil, straining relationships SPIRITS SAGA * The biggest turbulence for the Rockliff government has been its botched replacement of Spirit of Tasmania ferries, the critical sea link to the mainland * Two Finland-built ships were due in 2024, but the new berth in Devonport won't be ready until 2026, with costs blowing out from $90 million to $495 million * Michael Ferguson took the fall, resigning as infrastructure minister in August and then, as a no-confidence motion loomed, as Treasurer in October AFL ASPIRATION * An Australian Rules state to its boots, Tasmania has always coveted a place in the AFL and got it in 2022 when a bid championed by former premier Peter Gutwein was realised by Mr Rockliff * The deal came with strings attached - the AFL will pay the least, but demands a roofed stadium close to the inner-city * The federal government does not pay as much as the state government, which also crucially, is on the hook for cost overruns - already into the hundreds of millions STADIUM STRUGGLES * The huge stadium project has drawn opposition, with some saying it's in the wrong spot, including Hobart City Council and the RSL, given the proximity to heritage and a nearby war memorial * Economists attack dubious return-on-investment projections; engineers doubt the feasibility of the Macquarie Point site, and those outside of Hobart feel it's an over-the-top investment, especially given the state's health and housing woes BUDGET BLOWOUT * The final straw - at least to Labor - was new Treasurer Guy Barnett's budget unveiled in May * The Liberals unveiled deficits as far as the eye could see and ballooning debt to $10 billion - a huge amount for a state of 550,000 people * The blowout drew huge criticism inside and outside parliament LABOR EMBOLDENED * The Labor opposition has suffered four election defeats in a row, the past three under Rebecca White, but has enjoyed a poll uptick under new leader Dean Winter * Mr Winter sees a government on the ropes and enough of the crossbench agree * Labor was emboldened by the huge support Tasmanians offered to candidates in the federal election, with four of the five seats now in Labor hands DEADLOCK BROKEN * After two days of debate, a vote on Mr Winter's motion of no confidence was finally taken * With the result locked at 17-17, Labor speaker Michelle O'Byrne cast a deciding vote with her party, ending Mr Rockliff's premiership * Mr Winter ruled out forming government in a deal with the Greens - without which Labor doesn't have the numbers - in effect making an election a certainty WHAT NEXT? * Parliament will resume to pass an emergency funding bill so essential government services can continue beyond July 1 * Once the bills pass both houses of parliament, Mr Rockliff says he will visit Governor Barbara Baker to call an election, likely in late July * There remains the prospect that Mr Rockliff - who is wedded to the stadium project - could depart as leader, allowing the Liberals a fresh chance to cobble together another minority government without an election, and perhaps the stadium
Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘Whitlam-esque': Zoe McKenzie blasts Labor's divisive tax hike on super accounts, slams Tasmanian opposition for triggering early election
Victorian Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie has lambasted Labor for continuing to advance its plan to hike taxes on superannuation accounts and impose levies on unrealised gains whilst hammering the Tasmanian opposition for sending punters to a winter election. Labor's plan to raise taxes on superannuation accounts over $3 million to 30 per cent and to target unrealised capital gains has sent shockwaves throughout the political and business arena, with financial doyens accusing the government of discarding decades of precedent. The Coalition was previously in talks with the Albanese government to revise certain elements of the legislation, chiefly the concept of taxing unrealised gains, however shadow Treasurer Ted O'Brien officially confirmed on Thursday the LNP would oppose the bill. Yet, former Reserve Bank board members Donald McGauchie and Roger Corbett, in addition to a litany of major Liberal Party donors, have pressed the Coalition to remain at the negotiating table and to secure what it deems crucial exemptions for illiquid assets including farms and small businesses. Ms McKenzie, an outspoken moderate who holds one of the Liberal's last outer-suburban seats, railed against the policy, but did not address if the Coalition would resume talks with Labor to modify the legislation. 'I think this is a terrible piece of policy and a terrible precedent for the future, Labor is effectively saying that they will tax money in your pocket, and you do not yet have this money,' she told Sky News on Saturday. The Member for Flinders echoed criticism from industry magnates in relation to the controversial concept of taxing unrealised gains, stating, 'you may have it in the future, you may not have it in the future, but you will be taxed on it'. 'You may incur a loss in the figure, and you won't get that tax back and that's the principle that we must fight here, because once it's started, it could go anywhere,' indicating that the tax could be extended to a range of other assets including real estate and stocks. 'This is a devilish tax and should be fought by the Coalition parties most stridently, this government is very good at speaking liberal-light in terms of their economic narrative, but it is utterly Whitlam-esque in terms of its impact on the Australian economy'. While the Coalition has vowed to fight the legislation, the bill is expected to pass both houses of parliament unopposed, with the Greens joining with Labor in the Senate despite lobbying for the policy to be levied on those with super accounts over $2 million. 'The point is they're going after money no one yet has, these are paper profits, these are family businesses, these are farms held in super funds that people may well have to liquidate just to pass a putative profit that may not exist when finally realised in years to come," Ms McKenzie said. 'They will need the Greens support in the Senate and as you know, the Greens are pushing to lower that threshold from three million to two million. So, it gives the Australian people a very clear indication of what might happen when Labor and the Greens run the show for the next three years'. The shadow assistant minister then turned her attention to the ongoing political chaos in Tasmania. Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff lost a no-confidence motion in parliament on Thursday, with the speaker casting the deciding vote, resulting in the state heading to it's second election in as little as 14 months. Ms McKenzie savaged Tasmanian Labor leader Dean Winter for sending the state to a snap winter poll and argued the opposition parties had collectively torpedoed a popularly elected government. 'I think the Tasmanian people would be very disappointed with what's happened this week, basically holding an elected government hostage, so it looks like they will be going back to a mid-winter election. We've all done them and they're horrendous," she said. 'I'm sure the people of Tasmania will not be grateful for being dragged back to the polls so soon after a federal election and indeed just 14 months after a state election." Tasmanians will have to wait until next Tuesday to find out when they will return to the polls, with the parliament scrambling to draft emergency legislation to fund government services of which are due to be tabled on the same day. Independent MPs including Craig Garland have called on the beleaguered Premier to resign, with Mr Rockliff guaranteeing he would not sell off state-owned assets to pay down debt if he won the election, of which served as a key factor in sparking the political row.
The Age
12 hours ago
- The Age
Betrayal over breakfast: How Dorinda Cox's shock defection was a year in the making
Hours before the beleaguered Greens were set to choose a new leader after a rough election, the crossbench party's First Nations spokeswoman, Senator Dorinda Cox, was spotted having breakfast with unusual dining companions. She was eating 10 minutes away from the Treasury building in inner east Melbourne, near the MCG, where the party's remaining 12 MPs, including Cox, would vote that afternoon on the party leadership, following Adam Bandt's shock loss. Cox planned to put herself forward to be the Greens' deputy. But the West Australian senator wasn't dining with her Greens colleagues. Instead, she was joined by Labor senator Jana Stewart and her husband Marcus Stewart, the first co-chair of Victoria's First Peoples' Assembly. It was one of several conversations that Labor figures had with Cox before she stood next to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday to announce she would be joining the party. Her defection shocked many; Greens leader Larissa Waters, voted in at the May 15 meeting, was told just 90 minutes before Cox went public. But the decision was 12 months in the making, and involved discussions with both Albanese and former Labor senator Pat Dodson, the 'Father of Reconciliation', sources familiar with the process but who asked to remain anonymous have told this masthead. Her departure deals another blow to the progressive crossbench party, already battered from losing its leader and two other lower house MPs in last month's election. The Greens retain the balance of power in the Senate but go backward, again, in number. The loss of their only Indigenous senator raises uncomfortable questions about representation. But that narrative belies the more complicated backdrop to her departure. Cox has been the subject of numerous complaints about her conduct and several Greens staffers were relieved the party would no longer have to defend her. She also had a fractious relationship with the Greens' internal Indigenous network, which exposed dysfunctional elements of the at-times secretive political party. The Green wave washes away In 2022, the Greens hit a high-water mark in Canberra. Their 16 parliamentarians included two Indigenous MPs. But a bitter relationship between Cox and firebrand senator Lidia Thorpe began almost as soon as they sat together in parliament for the first time that year. Cox, who came into parliament on a senate vacancy in 2021, had coveted the Indigenous affairs portfolio, which was given to Thorpe. Then the Voice referendum campaign began, fuelling the divide within the Greens over whether the party should be more activist or collaborative. Loading Thorpe and Cox disagreed over politics. Cox supported the Yes vote and made an argument for change from within. Thorpe advocated a progressive No case, describing the Voice as a powerless advisory body as she pushed for treaties instead. They also clashed personally. Thorpe revealed this week that she made a workplace complaint against Cox to the parliamentary watchdog. When Thorpe quit the Greens in early 2023, Cox was elevated to the First Nations portfolio and led the Greens to formally support the Yes case. But she never had the support of the Greens' First Nations Network – also known as the Blak Greens – which is a collective of the grassroots Indigenous party members that informs the party's policy positions and who should run the portfolio. Thorpe had helped launch the group around 2018, and it backed her No stance on the Voice right through to the vote in October 2023. The Blak Greens kicked Cox out of the network in 2023, in part because of bullying allegations, her support for the Voice, and her former career as a police officer. An altercation between Cox and the group's then-convenor, Tjanara Goreng Goreng, at Perth airport that year further soured the relationship. Loading One member of the Blak Greens who asked not to be named said Cox was seen as relatively conservative and distant from their concerns. 'There were lots of tensions and we didn't see eye to eye with her at all,' they said. At the party's national conference in Hobart in 2024, the Blak Greens called for the party to strip Cox of her portfolio and consider expelling her for her alleged bullying conduct. The statement divided the room at the time. Bandt continued to stand by Cox, but the dispute between the party's sole Indigenous MP and its membership had left the Greens' non-Indigenous leadership in a difficult predicament. Waters this week said the party's commitment to advocating on Indigenous issues would not waver. 'Our policies are still very firm for First Nations justice and we won't be changing course in that regard, [we] continue to really push on those issues,' she told the ABC. 'We do certainly have a bevy of grassroots First Nations members of our party… and we're really proud of that. And our policies have been crafted by those folk and our broader membership, and they are strong on truth-telling and treaties and justice.' But dysfunction in the Blak Greens makes that mission more complicated. A review of the network last year by Indigenous consulting firm MurriMatters unearthed a raft of problems with governance, relationship breakdowns and inconsistent advice to the Greens party room. A spokesperson for the group put its membership at about 300 people, with between 30 and 50 who are active, although one former senior member said meeting attendance was sometimes as few as five. Loading 'The network is at the bottom of an S-curve at the moment,' the former member said. 'There's a lot of infighting [and] people focus on personal grudges … You've got to work within all these structures, people pull against those tensions, and it's a large group of white people versus a small group of black people.' Some current members dispute the MurriMatters review findings, but the former member said: 'We're just hoping the review will set up a better structure.' All the while, the network's problems with Cox persisted. In the lead-up to last month's leadership ballot, the Blak Greens lobbied for a non-Indigenous MP, Mehreen Faruqi, to take the First Nations portfolio from her. The dynamics between Cox and the Blak Greens compounded the senator's problems with the broader party, who rejected her bid for the deputy leadership three votes to nine last month. Cox had been a Labor member before joining the Greens and running for a state seat in 2017. According to her leaked candidate nomination form from 2020, reported in this masthead, Cox described Labor as patronising to women and people of colour, and claimed the party cared more about its donors than members. But in the Greens, Cox soon emerged as a moderate voice in a party room that seemed to platform loud voices and strident positions. That left her feeling disillusioned and unsupported, people close to her say. Cox's return to Labor The conversations that would bring Cox back to Labor began at least a year ago. She made friendships within Labor circles during the last term of parliament and became close with senators Stewart and Dodson. Cox spoke with Dodson, a fellow West Australian and one of the country's most respected Indigenous leaders, in the weeks before her defection. But it was Albanese who led the discussions with the party's leadership, took the move to Labor's national executive and made the final call. Dodson did not respond to a request for comment. Asked about his breakfast with Cox, Marcus Stewart declined to comment. But Stewart gave his reflections on a move he called 'a masterstroke by Anthony Albanese'. 'There is clearly a cultural issue within their [the Greens] party room. Dorinda is a person who prioritises progress over protest, unlike the Greens,' he said. 'Dorinda had a decision to make. Do you want to be outside the building throwing water balloons? Or in the room, trying to influence better outcomes for First Nations people? And she made it. 'The pile-on by the Greens since Dorinda left just demonstrates why people didn't vote for them at the last election.' All political defections leave wreckage in their wake, and this week's was no different: within hours, multiple Greens began backgrounding against the woman they had been defending against bullying allegations for months. The reprisals included leaked text messages and details of previous comments she had made about Labor. Greens staffers think Albanese has taken on an unnecessary risk for a short-term political win. The prime minister will inherit any fallout from revelations in this masthead last October that Cox had 20 staff leave her office within three years, with five making some form of complaint to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, Bandt's office or the WA Greens. The allegations made by former Cox staff include claims of an unsafe workplace and bullying behaviour. Several former staffers were dismayed by what they regarded as Bandt's lack of action. Parliament's Workplace Support Service undertook two 'cultural diagnostics' of Cox's office and examined some of the complaints made to it, but was not empowered to investigate. Cox has apologised for any distress caused by the bullying allegations, but argued there was significant missing context that helped explain the staff exodus, including a change in portfolios when Thorpe quit. Loading Albanese defended her this week. 'We examined everything that had been considered in the past. Those issues were dealt with appropriately,' he said. But his claim is contested: a Greens WA inquiry by Perth firm Modern Legal had only just begun when Cox's departure triggered its end. The allegations add another reason for Cox's defection to Labor: they meant she was set to lose her first-placed spot on the Greens' WA Senate ticket and therefore her place in parliament at the next election. Cox is now likely to stand in Labor's third spot on the WA ticket, previously held by now-independent senator Fatima Payman, which makes her re-election difficult, but not impossible. Where it leaves the Greens Many Greens have this week framed Cox's defection in that context: an opportunistic move designed to protect her own career. Still, like Payman leaving Labor prompted questions about the party's commitment to diversity, given the government lost its youngest senator and the first to wear a hijab, Cox's departure is uncomfortable for the Greens. The progressive minor party runs on a strong platform of First Nations justice. Now it has no Indigenous representation in either federal or state parliaments. Both Labor and the Coalition have Indigenous MPs in the Indigenous affairs portfolio. The Greens' spokeswoman is now party leader Waters. Greens figures played down the repercussions of Cox's exit, which follows Thorpe's. 'I think there's two very different reasons why those strong First Nations women made the decisions that they made, and it was definitely their call,' Waters said this week. Thorpe said it was unfortunate the Greens had no Indigenous representation, but agreed she and Cox had left for different reasons. 'It is disappointing to see Senator Cox go to the Labor Party to become a backbencher that obviously will not have a voice and no say in policy development,' she said on the ABC. But Cox thought differently, according sources close to her, who said she was concerned about the Greens' hardline stance on Gaza and even uncomfortable with its attitude towards Anzac Day. Cox is also a strong supporter of Makarrata, or treaty-making with Indigenous people, and believed she could advance that cause in government. Loading 'I am in public life to make real change and deliver lasting and tangible outcomes for Australians,' Cox said on Monday. 'I've worked hard to make Australia fairer and much more reconciled. But recently I've lost some confidence in the capacity for the Greens to assist me in being able to progress this.' Those comments reflect a continuing debate in the Greens as members tussle over its future. Some elements of the party seek a more constructive approach to parliament and stronger focus on the party's environmental mission. Others want it to maintain its activist roots and radical politics, even if it means forfeiting representation in parliament. A Greens source who has been involved with the party for 20 years said it was a perennial debate. 'It's not an issue that's specific to the Greens. You've got people at the harder activist fringe, you've got people who are more moderate, and as a party you've got to be able to accommodate all of those things. Both those approaches have their place,' he said.
