Sarah Hanson-Young says 'honourable' move is to quit after Dorinda Cox defects

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says it would be "honourable" for her former colleague Dorinda Cox to leave federal parliament after moving parties.
Senator Cox left the Greens this week, arguing her values were more aligned with the government's.
Senator Hanson-Young said when a MP switched parties it was unfair on both Australian voters and the political parties involved and they should re-evaluate their position.
"If somebody is elected as one party and then jump ships later on, I do think the honourable thing is to resign from the parliament," she said.
"But that's not the rules, so we're left where we are."
She went on to accuse Labor of "hypocrisy" after government MPs criticised their former colleague Fatima Payman when she left to become an independent because the senator did not vote with the government on a motion about Palestinian statehood.
"There is a bit of hypocrisy, of course, about how Labor has responded to this," she said.
"It wasn't OK to jump ship for Fatima Payman but apparently when it's people coming to them, it's all OK."
Senator Cox was the subject of multiple workplace bullying complaints made to both the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (PWSS) and the Greens.
Ms Cox's defection put an end to the investigation the party launched, according to multiple party sources.
That was because the party had no jurisdiction over the defected senator and therefore could not apply any sanctions after she left. That is despite the fact state director of the WA Greens Dean Smith said the investigation had not been concluded.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted investigations into her behaviour "got dealt with by the mechanism that my government established".
On Thursday, the prime minister brushed off a question about whether Labor had spoken to any of the complainants before accepting Senator Cox into its ranks.
"We have an independent system. That is appropriate," he said.
"It is an independent system which was established for these issues to avoid exactly that — to avoid political interference so those issues are dealt with appropriately."
He added it was "not surprising" there was "opposition" from the Greens following Senator Cox's defection.
Separate to complaints from her staff, Ms Cox's former Greens colleague, Lidia Thorpe, revealed she also made a workplace bullying complaint to the PWSS that she said remained unresolved after nearly three years.
Senator Thorpe said that was because Senator Cox did not want to mediate. However, Senator Cox and Labor have not answered the ABC's questions about the claim.
But Mr Albanese again supported her defection.
"I think that the Labor Party, as the natural party of government, should be the vehicle where people who are serious about progressive change are a part of," he said.
Senator Cox has previously apologised for distress her staff faced working in her office, noting the "challenges" and workload, but also arguing the media reports on the bullying allegations — first reported in Nine Newspapers — missed context.