Opinion
Hoo, boy — for a party which makes such a big song and dance about its purity, the Greens sure do seem to attract the worst people.
Not just frock-stealers and (alleged) modern-day slavers, but, here in Australia, alleged rapists, sexual harassers, self-confessed shoplifters and drug users, and defenders of bestiality and necrophilia.
Mind you, this is also the party that talks a big game on transparency and political donations, and at the same time, trouser the biggest donations in Australian political history, and are the only major party to lock the media out of their annual conferences. As for housing and the environment, one of their most prominent senators is currently trying to clear koala habitat on one of her many properties.
The great, green, greasy Greens circus hoots and clangs and rolls on.
Two Greens councillors have quit the party and publicly criticised the leadership of the Victorian branch over alleged governance failures and claims it had pursued a politics of surveillance, disinformation and intimidation, as a broader internal rift threatens to split the membership.
In other words, the Stalinist utopia the Greens have always dreamed of.
Then there’s this telling detail:
The resignation of Monash councillors Anjalee de Silva and Josh Fergeus further erodes the party’s presence on local councils, which has fallen more than 20 per cent since the previous round of elections in 2020.
In other words, the Greens are occupying council seats at nearly twice their representation at state and federal level. No wonder councils have become playgrounds of frivolous wokeism, such as refusing to acknowledge Australia Day.
And, boy, are they keeping true to the dire standards the Greens have become notorious for.
The Age has spoken to six other Greens councillors – on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal party matters – who confirmed that up to five more councillors were expected to quit the party before the next local government elections in October.
Addressing Monash council on Tuesday night, de Silva and Fergeus slammed the Victorian Greens, accusing the party of governance failures and fostering a culture in which members have faced abuse and harassment.
“Some members, particularly older women and their supporters, have endured months on end of invective, abuse, and harassment,” de Silva said in a scathing speech seen by The Age.
“Quite apart from the targeted attacks on women, this kind of politics that I have witnessed become ascendant in the Victorian Greens – a politics of surveillance, of disinformation, and of fear and intimidation – is an inherently, institutionally, and profoundly anti-feminist, chauvinistic politics” […]
Fergeus – who has been a member of the Victorian Greens for 20 years and ran as a Greens candidate at three state and federal elections – said the party had “precious little humility, introspection or generosity of spirit”.
It’s the Greens, you idiot. What did you expect?
Apparently, a great many of the Greens’ members actually thought they were joining an environmental party. Instead, they’re realising that they’re represented by a cross between the Monster Raving Loony Party and the Maoists.
Problems have been compounded by a bitter internal dispute over whether party members are permitted to debate trans rights policies. The dispute has alienated sections of the Greens’ membership who were traditionally attracted to tackling environmental issues and societal inequalities.
For the rest of us, it’s a matter of pass the popcorn and enjoy the show.
In the 2020 council elections, 36 Greens representatives were elected to local government. That number dropped to 28 following a string of resignations from the party, a death and some councillors who were elected to state parliament not being replaced by Greens on countbacks.
The Age
Please, keep going. Don’t stop now, just when we’re enjoying it.