Latest news with #GreensDefection
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Greens fuming over Senator's defection
Isabella Higgins: WA Senator Dorinda Cox has quit the Greens and joined Labor in a shock defection. She says it's about getting results and not rebellion, but her exit has left the Greens blindsided and fuming. Political reporter Olivia Caisley joins me from Parliament House. Olivia, why did she walk away from the Greens? Olivia Caisley: Well, standing alongside the Prime Minister in Perth yesterday, Senator Dorinda Cox says that her values align more closely with Labor and that she believes she'll be able to deliver better outcomes and results for the people of WA. She was a member of Labor briefly in her youth before she did join the Greens. Her switch though comes after months of internal tensions within her former party, so she failed in her bid to become deputy leader following the party's poor showing at the election, and there were also growing doubts that she'd secure a winnable spot on the next Senate ticket. The Greens say they were blindsided by this, that Senator Cox only called the Greens leader Larissa Waters about an hour before announcing her shocked defection, and there have also been allegations of bullying or a toxic workplace culture in her office, which emerged during the last term of Parliament. Anthony Albanese was asked about this yesterday and he says that he's confident that those issues have been dealt with. Here's, Senator Cox, yesterday announcing her defection from the Greens. Dorinda Cox: Being in the government and alongside the wonderful team that the Prime Minister has, you are able to make change. You are able to do the things that raise up and represent the voice of Western Australia and Canberra, and that's what they elect me to do, so I will continue to do that. Isabella Higgins: And Olivia, what does this mean for the Senate and for both of those parties? Olivia Caisley: Well, when it comes to the composition of the Senate, it's not a major shift. The Greens will still ultimately hold the balance of power. So this defection takes Labor's senators in the upper house to 29. The Greens, meanwhile, will drop to 10. But Labor will still need to rely on the Greens for votes in order to pass legislation. Symbolically, though, this is a major blow to the Greens. So at the election, they lost three of their four lower house seats and also their former leader, Adam Bandt, who was unable to retain his seat of Melbourne. And now they've got a high-profile senator defecting without warning. There is a question about how Senator Cox will square some of her policy positions with Labor's party platform. So for example, just last week, she criticised the Albanese government for extending WA's North West gas shelf, a move that environmentalists have also slammed. So how she reconciles those views while inside the Labor tent remains to be seen. Isabella Higgins: Olivia Caisley reporting there.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Greens senator Dorinda Cox makes surprise defection to Labor Party
Western Australian Greens senator Dorinda Cox has made a bombshell defection to the Labor Party, revealing the surprise news in a joint press conference alongside Anthony Albanese. Greens Leader Larissa Waters was told just an hour-and-a-half before Senator Cox and the Prime Minister stood up together in Perth on Monday afternoon. The Prime Minister said he was approached by Senator Cox, who was previously a Labor Party member, to represent Labor in the Senate and confirmed he had not spoken to Greens Leader Larissa Waters. 'She had come to a view that the difference that she wanted to make in the Senate and as a West Australian, were better served by being a member of the Labor Party,' he said. 'Senator Cox didn't ask for anything, just asked for this to be considered. 'The National Executive Committee of the Labor Party met yesterday afternoon, and Senator Cox will be admitted to the Labor Party as a member tomorrow to the Western Australian branch.' While Senator Cox sidestepped questioned on when she made the decision to leave the Greens, the Yamatji-Noongar woman said she was driven to Labor in order to 'make change'. 'What you can't do from the crossbench is make change and being in the government and alongside the wonderful team that the Prime Minister has,' she said. She said she had a 'very good, considered conversation' with Senator Waters, who 'wished me well on my future'. Senator Cox also shut down questions over her stance on Environment Minister Murray Watt's decision to give provisional approval for Woodside to operate the North West Shelf gas project until 2070. As recently as last Wednesday, she had denounced the decision, promising to reintroduce a bill which would protect the nearby Murujuga rock art site. However on Monday, Senator Cox said it would not be 'suitable for me to have public commentary' while the proposal was still being assessed. Mr Albanese was also asked about the allegations of bullying put against Senator Cox following an exodus of 20 staff following a mass exodus of staff, stating the party had 'examined everything that had been considered in the past,' and was satisfied that they had been 'dealt with appropriately'. Minutes after the press conference, Senator Cox was removed from the Greens' official website, with the URL link to her profile scrubbed and replaced with an 'ACCESS DENIED' banner. Her defection will lower the minor party's Senate representation to 10 members. The Greens also suffered a near wipe out in the lower house which included the ousting of former party leader Adam Bandt in Melbourne and party housing firebrand Max Chandler-Mathew in Griffith. The party's last remaining seat is held by former architect Elizabeth Watson-Brown in the Brisbane seat of Ryan.
