Greens leader Adam Bandt on what he thinks about working with Albanese
As we continue down the path to polling day, it looks increasingly likely we will end up with a minority government.
And the Greens could hold the balance of power.
Leader Adam Bandt speaks to political reporter Josh Butler and Full Story co-host Reged Ahmad about who he plans to work with in the next parliament, and why Peter Dutton needs to be kept as far away from the Lodge as possible
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Explosive leaked resignation letter from Greens politician exposes what they really think of the party: 'Toxic'
Dorinda Cox, who sensationally defected from the Greens to Labor last week, has accused her former party of racism and bullying in an explosive, leaked resignation letter. The WA Senator took aim at her her former colleagues, claiming they had failed her as the party's 'last First Nations MP, and (they) continue to fail First Nations people'. 'In my experience, the Greens tolerate a culture that permits violence against First Nations women within its structures,' she wrote. 'In this respect, the party is deeply racist.' The resignation letter, first reported by the ABC, was leaked after Senator Cox defected to the Labor party. Senator Cox had only recently missed out on a leadership role in the Greens following Adam Bandt's humiliating election defeat. The Yamatji-Noongar woman was elected to the upper house in 2021 to fill a Greens vacancy and had been the party's Indigenous affairs spokesperson. Senator Cox was also at the centre of controversy in her party over allegations surrounding her treatment of her staff, with some accusing Cox of being a bully. Senator Lidia Thorpe, who left the Greens to sit as an independent, also revealed last week that she had made a bullying complaint against Senator Cox in 2022. But, in her fiery resignation letter, Senator Cox insisted she had never been a bully and claimed that when she left there were no outstanding 'grievances' against her. 'I have faced an unremitting campaign of bullying and dishonest claims over the last 18 months,' Senator Cox wrote. 'I am not, and have never been, a bully. I do not perpetrate it.' Senator Cox claimed her allegations that she was assaulted by a party member at Perth Airport in 2023 following a disagreement about the Voice to Parliament fell on deaf ears. But Daily Mail Australia understands that details of the complaint went all the way to former leader Adam Bandt's office. She also accused the party of presiding over a 'toxic culture' that saw rumours circulated about her. 'Recently, my children were approached by a former staff member who had publicly made serious allegations about me at a Greens event,' she wrote. 'This type of mobbing made its way into "moderated" online meeting chats and the widely circulated meeting minutes of the (Australian Greens First Nations Network). 'The Greens failed in their duty of care for my staff and me, and disregarded the reported and obvious impact of what was occurring. The focus was solely on winning seats.' Daily Mail Australia approached Greens' leader Larissa Waters for comment. A Greens spokesperson disputed the allegations in Senator Cox's resignation letter, claiming they were 'an anti-racism party, and pushing a senator to take complaints seriously is not bullying'. 'These claims are disappointing, unrepresentative of the support Senator Cox received and ignore the substantive work undertaken by the party to find a resolution to the complaints made both by and against Senator Cox, and to address the breakdown in her relationship with Greens' First Nations members,' the spokesperson added. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of hypocrisy after welcoming Senator Cox into the Labor fold. After Fatima Payman deserted Labor over its stance on Gaza, Albanese called for the WA Senator to quit and hand back her seat.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
GRAHAM GRANT: With ideas so barmy even Lord Sugar would sack her, next year Scots voters will have their own chance to tell Kate Forbes and the SNP...'YOU'RE FIRED!'
Kate Forbes showed off her renowned business acumen last week when she said businesses could avoid hefty rates by setting up in cupboards. It's a barmy idea which would see her kicked off The Apprentice – irascible Lord Sugar wouldn't put up with her weapons-grade nonsense. For bar and restaurant owners desperate for respite from a punitive rates regime, Ms Forbes's less than sage counsel was particularly galling. Operating from the confines of a cupboard is a non-starter for them, but then they've long been little more than an afterthought for the SNP. Some of them had fallen for the Deputy First Minister's act as someone who understood the needs of entrepreneurs and business owners. She was seen as the acceptable face of insular, Left-wing nationalism, as she seemed to realise that thriving firms lead to a stronger economy. After the SNP joined forces with the anti-capitalist Greens in a pact which ended in disaster, Ms Forbes was viewed as a breath of fresh air, at least by those who thought growth was a good idea. The scales fell from the eyes of those who had been hoping in vain that she would re-build bridges with Covid-battered businesses, many of them still clinging to survival, after her cupboard advice. For those who missed it, Ms Forbes was taking part in a Holyrood debate when she was asked whether the rates burden prevented companies from expanding. Ms Forbes, who is also Economy Secretary, if you can believe it, said the 'rates system often does not take into account the fact that some of the most profitable businesses are the smaller ones'. She said: 'A start-up can be launched from a cupboard, where there are no rates, while a large and perhaps less profitable business has to pay them.' Ms Forbes did concede that the rates system is 'based on an older version of the economy, in which the size of properties was linked to profitability, and that is just not the case in our new, tech-driven environment'. She might have vowed to reform the system, of course, but then it's easier just to tell people to move into cupboards, even if it does raise questions about her relationship with reality, and whether she has one. An incredulous Murdo Fraser, the Tory economy spokesman, said Ms Forbes 'might as well have claimed Narnia is at the back of the cupboard', while Glasgow-based businessman Donald MacLeod accused her of 'mind-boggling stupidity'. That's an understatement, given that Scotland is the only part of Britain not cutting business rates for shops this year. The SNP government Budget unveiled in December means retailers in Scotland are receiving less support than those in other parts of Britain. Shops will pay £9.1million more than those south of the Border, while offices will pay an additional £6.4million and hotels face an extra £2.5million bill. In its 2021 manifesto, the SNP promised to ensure that 'the largest businesses pay the same combined poundage in Scotland as in England'. Many firms are also struggling with the UK Government's hike in National Insurance employers' contributions, which began in April. For some, Ms Forbes's bizarre statement triggered flashbacks to the dark days of the Covid era when Nicola Sturgeon said the bottom of classroom doors could be sawn off to boost ventilation. Back in 2019, Ms Sturgeon had claimed Scotland remained 'imprisoned' in the UK and Boris Johnson was effectively locking the country 'in a cupboard' by refusing another referendum on breaking up Britain. Cupboards loom large in Nationalist ideology, but Ms Forbes is just as much of a true believer in independence as John Swinney and his colleagues, and everything she says about the economy must be seen through that prism. We shouldn't forget that she once described former SNP Commons group leader Ian Blackford as a pensions 'expert' after he pumped out a stream of blatant disinformation about the UK Government's supposed liability for bankrolling Scottish pensions in the event of independence. What does that say about Ms Forbes's judgment, or lack of it? She was happy enough to stand by as these distortions and untruths circulated on social media – so why should we trust anything she says now? As we reported last week, Ms Forbes also questioned why we seem to be fixated with income tax rates in Scotland. Following a keynote speech at economic think-tank Adam Smith House, she said: 'In Scotland there seems to be an obsession with income tax as though it's the only tax businesses and individuals have to grapple with.' That supposed 'obsession' shouldn't be hard to figure out, given that her party has ramped up income tax to the highest level in the UK, helping to drive away hard-working professionals. Scots economist Smith himself wrote that 'every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the state' – anathema to the SNP. Smith also warned that high taxes 'frequently afford smaller revenue to government than what might be drawn from more moderate taxes'. The SNP's tax-grabs are all in the name of what shamed former Finance Secretary Derek Mackay once confusingly called 'progressivity' - but the only thing the economy is progressing towards is an abyss of the SNP's own creation. Mr Mackay is remembered mainly for quitting hours before the Scottish Budget in 2020 after it emerged he had bombarded a teenage boy with inappropriate online messages. But he also admitted he'd never heard of the Laffer Curve, which dictates that revenues can go up if taxes are cut. Luckily, Tory MSP Mr Fraser was on hand to explain the concept. There's little evidence that anyone in the Cabinet has a better grasp of the basics than Mr Mackay, including Ms Forbes. Yet there's no shortage of guidance from the phalanx of spin doctors on the SNP government payroll. The average £100,000 bill for each of its 17 special advisers was slipped out under cover of the Hamilton by-election last Thursday – amounting to nearly £2million in the last financial year. Which one of them helped to craft Ms Forbes's bilge about cupboards, assuming any of them did, is unknown, but they did provide some entertainment – even if it was a blend of black comedy and high farce. The bleak punchline is that we are being led by a combination of the clueless and the incompetent. But at the Scottish election next May we'll have the chance to tell Ms Forbes and her cohorts what Lord Sugar would doubtless say, with some gusto: 'You're fired!'
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Tasmanians face a fourth election in seven years – but here are two alternatives to fix the political impasse
After a week of drama, the political future of Tasmania could look starkly different by the end of today. The state may be about to get its fourth election in seven years. But there are a couple of alternatives to consider. Let's walk through them. On Tuesday last week, the state opposition leader, Dean Winter, surprised many by moving a motion of no confidence in the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff. The motion was tabled at the end of a budget supply speech. The motion was ostensibly about the budget, arguing Rockliff had wrecked the state's finances, planned to sell public assets and had mismanaged a crucial ferries project. The Greens supported Labor's motion, but unsuccessfully pushed for it to also touch on the government's response to gambling harm and the proposed AFL stadium. After days of debate, the motion succeeded by a razor-thin margin: 18-17. This appears the most likely outcome. After the vote on Thursday, Rockliff said he planned to visit the state's governor on Tuesday to request a statewide poll. But this won't happen until some important business is taken care of. State parliament will resume on Tuesday morning to pass routine supply bills that are essential to keep government departments running. If an election is called later in the day, then Rockliff would lead the Liberal party. The date of any potential election is not yet known. Potentially. The governor, Barbara Baker, is not obliged to accept Rockliff's request. She could adopt two alternatives. Baker could instead request the Liberal party room elect a different leader to avoid an election just 15 months after the last state poll. On Monday, some Liberal party figures were quoted in the Mercury calling for Rockliff to resign and be replaced by the former senator Eric Abetz. Guy Barnett and Michael Ferguson have also been touted as potential leaders. But so far, Rockliff has refused to resign and the party room has expressed its support for him. Baker could also ask the Labor opposition to test its numbers and seek support from a collection of minor parties and independents. Theoretically, this is possible. At the last election, Tasmanians elected 14 Liberals, 10 Labor, five Greens, three MPs from the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) and three independents. Some call this a rainbow parliament, others call it chaos. But Winter has repeatedly ruled out a power-sharing arrangements with the Greens, despite the minor party being a willing participant. So this appears unlikely. The AFL's proposed stadium is a controversial issue in Tasmania but both the Liberals and Labor remain committed to its construction. One of the conditions set by the AFL for a new team in Tasmania was a roofed stadium, but the expensive project – set to cost about $1bn – faces opposition from some in Tasmania, who instead have called for the money to be spent elsewhere. If an election is called, the stadium would be central issue along with the state's finances and help shape the outcome of the next parliament. An election is likely to delay parliamentary approvals for the stadium for several months. These delays could cost the state government if approval is ultimately granted and the Tasmanian team is forced to play at Bellerive Oval, as it would need to pay fines to the AFL.
