Opinion: Greens trans row shows party’s contempt for open debate

The modern Greens have slid into suppression of democracy and promotion of violence, writes Drew Hutton. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Greens founder Drew Hutton believes the party has lost its way.

• Gender row: Founder faces expulsion

I founded the Queensland Greens in 1990, and two weeks ago was expelled by a small committee of the party (which a friend of mine calls the “Committee of Public Safety” after the French Revolution committee that sent people to the guillotine).

I will be appealing my expulsion to the party’s state council next Sunday.

I am hurt by the party’s behaviour toward me, but my main concern is not about myself; it is about the Greens.

I am being expelled because I refused to delete comments made by others on two of my Facebook posts.
The main issue is whether the Greens is a progressive party which engages in robust, democratic debate around issues or whether it is an authoritarian, top-down, dogmatic party that expels people who express a different opinion to the leadership.

The Victorian Greens have already made this decision.

They have put a clause in their code of conduct that means any member who says that a woman is a biological female and a man is a biological male is automatically expelled from the party.

Many Queensland Greens, including some very prominent ones, signed an open letter agreeing with that position.

I have been told by the Greens there will be no debate on this issue, with the Greens heading for a slippery slope with a whole raft of sensitive topics probably being outlawed from discussion and debate in the near future.

This is not the party people like Bob Brown and I set up.

We believed the Greens had a historic mission to help the world achieve ecological sustainability, and that this also required a commitment to social justice, democracy and non-violence.

The Greens have important positions in the parliaments of this country, often stating their commitment to a robust democracy and how the other parties fail in this area, and yet won’t even allow their own members to engage in democratic decisions about policy.

It is not only the principle of democracy that is in peril.

There is also a growing acceptance of violence in the culture of the Greens.

Prominent Greens should not be singing rap songs advocating burning down buildings, failing to criticise the politics of Hamas or engaging in potentially violent disruptions of public meetings of women’s rights campaigners.

Nonviolence is a core principle of green politics and should be respected, especially by key spokespersons.

More than ever this is a time for leadership in the Greens.

Larissa Waters, the newly elected leader of the Australian Greens and a Queenslander, should step in, support my appeal against expulsion and announce an inquiry into how the party can incorporate more democracy into its processes.

Does she have the leadership quality to take such action?