The Greens are facing their “most serious test” as a party following the defection of a senator to Labor after a poor federal election result.
West Australian senator Dorinda Cox is quitting the minor party to sit with Labor in the upper house after approaching Anthony Albanese about making the switch.
Head of Politics at Monash University Zareh Ghazarian said the loss of another Indigenous senator, following Lidia Thorpe’s split with the party in February 2023, spoke to the Greens themselves as a party.
“This is the most serious test that the Greens are facing as an organisation,” he said.
“On the back of a fairly poor election result … it’s really an opportunity for them (Greens) to explore their internal operation, their structures, and how they get them going forward.”
Dr Ghazarian said the strong growth in support the party had enjoyed came with the challenge of clarifying what it stood for.
Mr Albanese, who said Senator Cox’s values had become more aligned with those of his government, noted the Greens had previously voted against Labor’s legislation to boost housing supply and had drifted from their environmental foundations.
“She has come to the view that the Greens political party are not capable of achieving the change that she wants to see in public life, and that’s not surprising given that the Greens have lost their way,” he told reporters in Perth.
Senator Cox, who announced her defection on Monday, will be formally appointed to the Labor Party on Tuesday.
The shock announcement represents another setback for the minor party after it lost former leader Adam Bandt when three of its four lower house seats fell to Labor at the election.
Greens leader Larissa Waters said she had a “calm and measured” conversation with Senator Cox an hour before her press conference.
“There’s no animosity there. It’s obviously disappointing for us to lose a Greens senator, but Dorinda has said her values lie there,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
However, Senator Waters appeared to question this while pointing to Labor’s decision to extend the North West Shelf gas project off the WA coast, which she said would impact ancient Indigenous rock art.
“We’ve opposed that, but Senator Cox has made her decision that that party is a better fit for her, and we wish her nothing but the best,” she said.
Senator Cox, a Yamatji-Noongar woman, became the first Indigenous woman to represent WA in the Senate when she joined the upper house in 2021 to fill a Greens vacancy.
In 2024, she suggested Labor was “not interested” in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
But on Monday, Senator Cox said she felt her values and priorities were better aligned with Labor than the Greens.
She was not required to run in the May election after winning a six-year term in 2022.
Senator 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.
Mr Albanese said the allegations had been examined.
Labor will still require the support of either the Greens or the coalition in the Senate to pass legislation.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
