Former federal Greens leader Bob Brown held talks with a group of NSW Greens MPs about forming a new breakaway party as the civil war inside the state branch reached boiling point.
The discussions, which were continuing among the MPs as late as last December, advanced to the point that designs for a party logo and website, as well as party branding as "Green independents", had been canvassed, sources told the Herald.
Former Greens leader Bob Brown considered talks on forming a breakaway Greens party but ultimately decided they should stay united. Credit: Karleen Minney
Upper house MPs Cate Faehrmann, Justin Field, Jeremy Buckingham and Dawn Walker met Mr Brown in August to discuss the prospect of forming a new environmental party amid a deepening ideological rift within the NSW Greens.
Mr Brown confirmed that the option of a split was discussed at the meeting, describing them as "general discussions", and said he had counselled the group to instead push for reform inside the party.
"That [a split] was a proposition that was being put forward. I felt that the Greens is bigger than all of us, and anyway, constitutionally, it wasn’t a possibility for a separate Greens Party to form in NSW," Mr Brown said.
"The Australian Greens constitution doesn’t allow for new parties to set up, so it was a discussion about how to better serve the Greens voting element in NSW."
Over the past year, an ideological divide in the party’s ranks has escalated into a factional war between the "left" wing, which has coalesced around upper house MP David Shoebridge and former NSW senator Lee Rhiannon, and the "right" wing, which includes Ms Faehrmann and Mr Field.
Sources told the Herald the discussions on a split intensified in November after Jenny Leong, the Greens MP for Newtown, stood up in the Legislative Assembly and accused Mr Buckingham of "sexual violence".
The allegation, protected by parliamentary privilege, related to an alleged incident between Mr Buckingham and Greens volunteer Ella Buckland in 2011. Mr Buckingham denied the claims and an independent review found the allegation could not be substantiated.
In December, Ms Faehrmann and Mr Field foreshadowed an "irrevocable split" in the party, after the NSW Greens decision-making body, the state delegates council, voted to urge Mr Buckingham to remove himself from the party's upper house election ticket.
In what was widely interpreted as a threat to quit the party, the pair issued an ultimatum calling for a "democratic recount" of the preselection ballot and for members of the hard left factions to be expelled. Neither demand was met, and the MPs abandoned their threat after a deal was brokered with the Australian Greens to launch a review into the state party’s constitution.
It is understood that Mr Brown’s counselling played a key role in their decision to remain.
Mr Brown declined to say whether he would support a future bid by Ms Faehrmann and Mr Field to launch a breakaway party, but praised the pair as "true Greens".
"I’m pleased they are still there. It’s a tribute to them that they’ve soldiered on," Mr Brown said.
Ms Faehrmann and Mr Field declined to comment on the split discussions.
In a joint statement they said: "We’ve been on the public record with our serious concerns about the structure, processes and direction of the NSW Greens. We are pleased to have ensured the Australian Greens are conducting a root-and-branch review of the NSW Greens and we are engaging in that process in good faith."
Jeremy Buckingham quit the Greens party in December.Credit: Brook Mitchell
Mr Buckingham, who quit the party in December and will contest the NSW election as an independent, said the group had sought Mr Brown’s guidance after its members began talking "more seriously about a split and what it might entail".
"Back mid-last year, as the toxic dysfunction and factionalism in the party became increasingly destructive, members were questioning their membership and approaching us asking whether a split was necessary and whether there was a plan," Mr Buckingham said.
As the talks continued throughout the second half of last year, a confidential discussion paper outlining the rationale for a split was circulated between the group of MPs and their close supporters.
The paper described the NSW Greens as a "moribund party" that had become "dominated by factionalism and personalities".
"There is a considerable ideological divide between the party [on] ideological communism and ecological realism," the document stated.
"This makes it increasingly difficult to debate issues and policies relevant to the real world."
A new party, it proposed, would deliver a "fresh approach that discards the accumulated discord associated with the NSW Greens and Lee Rhiannon".
It would pursue policies under "a mixed-market economy and parliamentary democracy framework" with a "reinvigorated focus on environmental issues and campaigning".