Greens in turmoil as senior figures trade insults and accusations

Long-running tensions in the Greens Party are erupting into civil war.

A Greens senator is a “team wrecker”. Local members are “kept in the dark and fed on bullshit”. Grassroots democracy in New South Wales is a “farce”. And party founder Bob Brown should “f*** off”.

These are just some of the stinging insults and allegations exchanged by figures in the Greens Party in a behind-the-scenes examination by Four Corners.

Key points

• Bob Brown and other senior Greens have called on Senator Lee Rhiannon to retire
• Christine Milne says a staffer’s ‘joke’ that Bob Brown should ‘f*** off’ reflects ‘talk that goes on in some circles’
• NSW branch claimed to be to be led by controlling group of people not directly elected by members

The sniping comes after a terrible winter for the Greens, where two senators were forced to resign because of constitutional bungles on dual citizenship and a third was locked out of voting in the federal party room for differences on schools funding policy.

Lee Rhiannon, who is the only elected Green from the country’s most populous state, was in June temporarily suspended from voting in her party room after saying she was bound by the NSW party to adopt a different position on schools funding to leader Richard Di Natale and education spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young.

Source: Greens mired in civil war as senior figures trade insults and accusations – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)