Parties should act to stop the Senate being a launch pad for deserters

Pauline Hanson and Cheryl Kernot may give the lie to the truism that turncoats rarely prosper. But Labor’s newest chum, Dorinda Cox, lacks Hanson’s outraging populism and Kernot’s high political achievements with the Australian Democrats, talents that allowed them to whitewash the stain of ratting on their political parties.

Greens-turned Labor senator Dorinda Cox and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, AAP

The Western Australian Senator has deserted the Greens for Labor, handing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese an extra vote in the Senate and a black eye to former minor party colleagues already reeling after their May 3 election rout.

But Cox’s own actions and the leaks against her since her desertion will make it hard to put her past behind and be little more than a yes vote.

A former WA police officer, Cox filled a casual vacancy in 2021 after the retirement of veteran Greens senator Rachel Siewert. Last October, the Herald’s James Massola revealed she had churned through her small parliamentary staff like a meat grinder: 20 resigned and investigations followed with Cox censured by fellow Greens. She also apologised.

But they never really kissed and made up. Beaten to the Greens’ deputy leadership by Mehreen Faruqi after the party’s dismal election result, Cox defected to Labor. She’s been there before, and had been a member of the ALP. “I was let down by what I found to be a patronising attitude towards women and people of colour,” she said on her 2020 Greens’ application form, one of many leaks against her since she jumped ship. Another leak claimed Cox signed a candidate agreement saying she would resign from parliament if she left the Greens in recognition of the effort, money and support party members donated to get her elected. She also was shown to have an obscene opinion of Hanson.

Cox’s term finishes next election but unlike other recent party defectors, Lidia Thorpe and Fatima Payman, Cox’s prospects of retaining a Senate seat have been slightly enhanced by joining Labor. Not much though, but miles better than if she stayed a Green.

Political defections are nothing new, but there does seem a rash of them lately. The phenomenon kicked off in 1996 when Hanson was preselected by the Liberals only to be dumped for her remarks about race – she won the seat of Oxley as an independent. The following year Kernot was ushered into Labor courtesy of a friendship with Hawke minister Gareth Evans, but only held Dickson for three years before voters decided for Peter Dutton.

The parade of desertions continued this century. Bob Katter quit the Queensland Nationals to husband a 24-year career as an independent. Clive Palmer started funding hopefuls as disenchantment with major parties increased: Jacqui Lambie is his enduring achievement, although she, too, ratted on him.

Cox now joins Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Thorpe and Payman deserting the voters who chose them. Such betrayals are largely absent in the House of Representatives, but democracy is not served by such myopic megalomania and political parties should exercise more care in selecting Senate candidates.

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