‘Authoritarian, aggressive, unlikeable': Greens co-founder on his party
Drew Hutton, 78, co-founded the national Greens alongside Bob Brown in the early 1990s, but was formally ejected from the party at the weekend in part for refusing to delete comments made by others on his Facebook page that the party organisation deemed to be transphobic.
'Over the last decade or so, it would seem that some people have come into the Greens with the determination to take it over,' Hutton said. 'To convert it into the sort of party whose, one of whose, main preoccupations is with transgender rights.
'They've got an absolutely rigorous determination to stop any dissent from occurring to the things they think are important. The main things they think are important are we get rid of the notion of biological sex and replace it with gender identity,' he told ABC 7.30 on Tuesday night.
While Hutton said he did not have an issue with transgender rights, he criticised campaigners for having 'a closed set of beliefs. They have a closed language, which they understand but nobody else does'.
On one side of the debate within the party are people who believe allowing people to self-identify as another gender, with full legal rights, is a critical step to protect the dignity and health of trans people. Others are more critical and argue there should be safe spaces for cisgender women and greater safeguards on the transition process.
Greens leader Larissa Waters said the situation was 'really sad' given Hutton's history in the party, but she defended its administrative wing and its stance on trans issues.
However, Waters noted the process whereby he was expelled was run by party members, and the Greens 'are a safe party for trans people … and will always be'.
Waters dismissed claims of an authoritarian bent within the party, saying there was room for 'robust debate' and differences of opinion within the party code of conduct.
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