3 days ago
How the Greens' Dorinda Cox was slammed as a 'bully rat' for defecting to Anthony Albanese's Labor - but her past is coming back to haunt her
She's the Greens senator who defected to Labor in a move that sent a jolt through Canberra and now Dorinda Cox's past attacks on the ALP have come back to haunt her.
Cox surprised the minor party, which holds the balance of power in the Senate, by announcing on Monday that she was jumping ship to Labor - revealing that she approached the PM to join the party in the wake of its landslide election win.
Cox had only recently missed out on a leadership role in the Greens and was at the centre of controversy in her party over allegations surrounding her treatment of her staff.
At one point, she was so divisive in the Greens that she was labelled a 'bully rat' by some fellow members.
And now her past comments about Labor have come back to haunt her, with Cox - who is Indigenous - having previously slammed the ALP as having 'dropped our people like a hot potato after the Voice referendum', and described Labor as a 'puppet' of the fossil fuel industry and liars.
Senator Cox only informed party leader Larissa Waters of her decision about an hour prior to the announcement.
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.
Despite having last year suggested the Albanese government was 'not interested' in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, Cox said she felt her values and priorities were better aligned with Labor than the Greens.
'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,' she told reporters.
'I feel reassured with my experience, my skills and my knowledge, I can continue to collaborate and build on the existing relationships with an already amazing team of Labor MPs across the country.'
Waters said the party was disappointed but wished Cox well.
'Senator Cox has said that her values align with the Labor party. This is the same Labor party who this week approved the climate wrecking North West Shelf gas project, which UNESCO advises will destroy significant First Nations heritage and ancient rock art,' she said in a statement.
'Senator Cox would have had more chance of effecting change by continuing to work with the Greens in the sole balance of power.'
Cox, who was a member of the Labor Party before joining the Greens, will be formally admitted into Labor on Tuesday.
She was not required to run in this year's federal election as she was elected for a six-year term in 2022.
Mr Albanese said Cox, the first Indigenous woman to represent WA in the upper house, had approached him about the switch and would be a welcome addition to the government benches.
'She wants to be part of a team that's delivering progress for this country by being a part of a government that can make decisions, to make a difference,' he said.
'Dorinda Cox is someone who's a former police officer. She's someone who has a lot to offer in terms of policy development.'
Cox was accused of bullying Greens staffers in 2024, with as many as 20 employees leaving in three years and complaints made to parliament's workplace support service.
The allegations surrounding Ms Cox, a former WA Police officer, were aired by the Sydney Morning Herald in October 2024.
In one complaint sent to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (PWSS) in 2021, a former staffer claimed to have witnessed 'disturbing behaviour' from Ms Cox towards colleagues.
'These experiences made me concerned for my safety and for the safety of others in the office,' the staffer told the publication.
'I spent much of the time feeling like I was walking on eggshells just waiting for Dorinda to explode at me.'
A draft complaint by another staffer, which was not formally lodged, claimed Ms Cox would apologise for her actions 'but the behaviour would continue'.
Some of Dorinda Cox's past attacks on Labor...
'Often times becoming aggressive, persistently negative and sometimes vicious which ultimately resulted in my mental health declining to the point of having daily panic attacks, thoughts of suicide and an almost complete loss of self-esteem in my professional ability,' the former staffer wrote in the draft complaint.
'I felt at the time that if I didn't resign from my position that my mental health would deteriorate to such a state to require medical intervention in a hospital setting, something I articulated to the chief of staff in Adam Bandt's office.'
It's understood four formal complaints were submitted to the PWSS and five referred to the office of Greens leader Adam Bandt.
Mr Albanese said the allegations had been examined and dealt with.
'They were all dealt with in Senator Cox's case and dealt with appropriately,' he said.
Cox said improvements for Indigenous people would be more achievable within the government than from the crossbench.
'I made that (decision) based on some deep reflection,' she said.
'It was one that I considered both at a professional level, but also at a personal level. So this wasn't a decision that I did on the hop or based on emotion.'
Cox last week spoke out against the Albanese government's decision to allow fossil fuel giant Woodside to continue operating its North West Shelf gas project until 2070.
Although her X page has been made private, several of her posts criticising Labor have resurfaced.
'Labor and the Coalition have shamefully declared their intention to pass the Sea Dumping Amendment Bill,' she wrote in one.
'Make no mistake, this will show Labor and the Coalition are puppets for the fossil fuel industry and enablers of continuing state capture and climate destruction.'
In another post, Cox wrote: 'This Labor government needs to get serious.
'Stop lying and stop the 114 coal and gas projects in the pipeline.
'It's time to put your money where your mouth is.'
Pressed on her previous opposition to the North West Shelf project, Cox said she did not want to comment on the issue as the extension was still being provisionally approved.
Cox last year accused the Albanese government of being complicit in 'war crimes' carried out by Israel in Gaza.
Labor still requires the support of either the Greens or the coalition to pass legislation despite gaining a 29th senator.
