Ex-senator Robert Simms throws down the gauntlet over Greens preselection in Sarah Hanson-Young challenge

FORMER senator Robert Simms is provoking a battle among the South Australian Greens with an attempt to bump Sarah Hanson-Young in a bid to raise the party’s spiralling vote.

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SARAH Hanson-Young is facing a tough battle to keep her seat in the Senate from former Senator Robert Simms who wants to bump her in a bid to raise the party’s plunging vote.

Mr Simms, who lost his Senate spot at the 2016 election, on Tuesday announced he wants to secure the top spot on the Greens Senate ticket ahead of the next Federal Election to “revitalise” the movement in SA.

It has reignited speculation about Senator Hanson-Young’s future in the party which was sparked when she revamped her promotional material with a stylised triangle logo in yellow, pink and teal rather than the traditional green earlier this year.

But Senator Hanson-Young said she would be recontesting her spot on the ticket to represent the Greens at the next election.

Instead of hitting back at her challenger, she said it was “terrific” there were passionate Greens members keen to put their hand up.

“I feel privileged that as a woman and a mum, the SA Greens have backed me to stand strong for the rights of our children and future generations to a clean and safe environment, where equality and respect for each other and our planet underlines our values and actions,” she said.

“Greens members know I stand up for our state, our environment and our community. I will always stand up for, and with them.”

Mr Simms, who stood as the Greens candidate for Adelaide at this month’s SA election, said refreshing the Senate ticket would be a chance to “reconnect with those South Australians who may have switched off from us”.

“With fresh ideas and new energy we can reach out to new voters and regain political momentum,” he said.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young. Picture: Lukas Coch

“Our state is ripe for a progressive revolution and the Greens are the party to deliver it. This should be our time.”

SA was the only state in which the Greens lost a senator at the 2016 election and had to rely on preferences to get Senator Hanson-Young over the line.

It has widely been predicted that the Greens would struggle to get even one candidate up at the next election.

Across the country the Greens have been embroiled in factional warfare which has been blamed for the party’s poor result in Batman by-election in Victoria earlier this month.

In 2016 Greens leader Richard Di Natale dumped Senator Hanson-Young from the immigration portfolio on which she had built her profile.

In the reshuffle, she was given education and trade and has also been a vocal advocate on the Murray River.