Greens defector’s use of slur against fellow senator exposed in text leak

Senator Dorinda Cox called One Nation leader Pauline Hanson a “f---ing retard” in a text message leaked after she defected to Labor, showing the depth of anger toward her in the Greens after her departure cut short a party investigation into allegations she bullied staff.

Cox used the slur to describe Hanson in a text message to an associate in June 2023, as the One Nation senator was delivering a controversial speech about people faking Indigenous heritage that was not aimed at any individual.

Greens defector Dorinda Cox and Anthony Albanese on Monday when the pair announced she was joining Labor.Credit: AAPIMAGE

The leak from a party source comes as Greens leader Larissa Waters wrote of Cox’s “betrayal” in an email to members, in a sign of escalating tensions between the minor party and the government, which needs its votes to pass legislation. Cox was contacted for comment about the text.

Cox split from the Greens on Monday after a bitter fall-out with colleagues over her failed bid to become the party’s deputy leader, as revealed by this masthead on Tuesday.

But the split also follows bullying allegations against the senator that were being investigated by Perth law firm Modern Legal for the West Australian Greens at the time of her departure, despite Cox’s consistent denials.

“It is our understanding that the investigation was still underway at the time of senator Cox’s resignation from the Australian Greens to join the Labor Party,” a party spokesperson said. “We also understand that any further inquiry into the matter will now cease.”

Albanese declared the senator’s departure was a sign the Greens had become an unrecognisable party after they blocked housing bills last term and focused heavily on the war in Gaza.

“We know that the Greens have lost their way. That’s one of the reasons why they lost three of their four seats in the House of Representatives,” he said at a press conference in Perth.

He has also said that bullying claims against Cox had been addressed.

“They got dealt with by the mechanism that my government established,” Albanese said on Tuesday. “We support safe workplaces. We established a mechanism in the parliament which is at arm’s length of government, and that’s important.”

Albanese’s office and Cox did not respond to questions about her language toward Hanson, whose spokesman also did not respond.

Cox has previously said reporting on the bullying allegations lacked context but apologised for any distress felt by her staff during a period when her office was dealing with the pandemic, then the Voice referendum, multiple parliamentary inquiries and attempting to represent the nation’s largest state.

Cox said at the time that she took responsibility “for any shortcomings in what has occurred during this period”.

Waters, speaking on Tuesday morning, claimed she held no animosity towards Cox, who gave Waters 90 minutes’ notice before defecting. But in an email to Greens members later in the day, Waters was scathing.

Dorinda Cox and Larissa Waters when the pair were colleagues in 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I’m sure many of you will feel this is a betrayal of the Western Australians who voted in 2022 for her to represent Greens values – who did not vote for a Labor Party that is approving more coal and gas, locking up kids in custody, logging native forests, and failing to act on Truth and Treaty,” Waters’ email said.

On Tuesday, this masthead reported that Cox’s defection was precipitated by a personality conflict and battles over control of Indigenous policy within the party. Cox was also facing the prospect of being dumped to an unwinnable position on the Greens’ Senate ticket in 2028.

She is likely to be placed in Labor’s third position on its WA Senate ticket. That spot was vacated by Fatima Payman, who quit Labor to sit as an independent last year.

Payman, appearing on the ABC on Tuesday, suggested that Albanese was being “hypocritical” for welcoming Cox, which he rejected.

Cox’s move to Labor comes less than three weeks after she won just three votes in a bid to become the party’s deputy leader last month.

The Greens elected Mehreen Faruqi as deputy leader and Larissa Waters as leader. They walked out after the vote with senators Nick McKim, Sarah Hanson-Young and Penny Allman-Payne.Credit: Penny Stephens

In the leadership contest in Melbourne on May 15, Cox ran against NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi to become deputy to Waters, who replaced Adam Bandt as leader after he lost his seat at the federal election. Cox lost the vote 9-3.

After losing to Faruqi, Cox ran for the deputy whip position but lost to Queensland senator Penny Allman-Payne, who had already secured a role as the chair of the party room.

Her frustration led to heated scenes in the party’s leadership vote meeting at the Melbourne Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, according to three Greens sources who described the meeting on the condition of anonymity.

One source said Cox confronted Waters and told the new leader she needed to “grow a spine”. Another MP said the scenes were “ugly” and unjustified, especially given Cox had told colleagues late that she would run, meaning she had little chance of winning. Cox was the first party member to leave the meeting.

Cox did not respond to questions about the altercation. Waters’ office was contacted for comment.

The change means the Greens now have 10 seats in the Senate. It does not materially change the power balance in the upper house, as Labor still needs the support of either the Greens or the Coalition. However, the shift does mean the Coalition and Greens cannot team up alone to block a bill; they now require one more crossbencher.

Earlier, Waters denied Cox’s defection to Labor meant the party had an issue with First Nations representation after fellow Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe quit in 2023.

Credit: Matt Golding

“We certainly have a bevy of grassroots First Nations members of our party,” Waters said.

Cox said on Monday, in a press conference alongside Albanese, that her “values and priorities are more 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.”

Cox came under fire last year when this masthead revealed 20 staff had left her office within three years.

Last week, Cox slammed federal Labor for its approval of the massive North West Shelf gas project extension to 2070 as a “raw and chilling reminder” that First Nations people lack the protection for their cultural heritage rights.

Thorpe, who left the Greens in 2023, said it was disappointing Cox was joining a party that “enables destruction rather than standing with First Peoples”.

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