Drew Hutton takes Greens to Queensland court over membership fight
Drew Hutton will face off against his former party in court, demanding reinstatement of his life membership and a public apology.
Australian Greens co-founder Drew Hutton has sued the party for expelling him over alleged breaches of its pro-transgender policies, demanding reinstatement of his life membership and a public apology.
In an affidavit filed in the Queensland Supreme Court, the veteran activist said the Greens had violated his right to free speech and its own constitution by marching him in July.
Commencing the legal proceedings on Tuesday, he told The Australian: “I am hoping to get my membership back, No 1. But even more important than that, I want the party to acknowledge that freedom of speech is an integral part of its culture and charter.
“I also want to stop the expulsions that have happened throughout Australia against people who simply want to debate policy.”
The court case, should it proceed, will intensify deep divisions in the Greens’ base and party organisation over the purge of members who questioned its trans rights platform.
Mr Hutton, 78, was booted after he took to Facebook in 2022 to decry “authoritarian and anti-democratic” disciplinary action against mainly female party members who challenged whether trans people should access women-only spaces such as public toilets and change rooms.
Initially, he did not take a side in the bitterly contested gender debate but his home division of the Queensland Greens went after him over inflammatory comments posted on his private page, which he refused to delete, citing freedom of speech.
While the party’s constitution and arbitration committee dismissed a complaint that he had denigrated transgender women – in line with his strong assertion that he was not transphobic – it found he had provided a platform for others to do so and, ultimately, ordered his expulsion.
When this was upheld by the Greens’ state council on July 20, Mr Hutton lashed out, saying the party he founded with inaugural federal leader Bob Brown in 1992 had been hijacked by an intolerant “transgender and queer cult”.
Mr Brown and the woman who succeeded him, Christine Milne, called for his membership to be restored.
However, Greens leader Larissa Waters – formerly counted by Mr Hutton as a friend – said party processes had been followed and “nobody is above the rules”.
In an apparent dig at him, she said in July that “trans rights are human rights” and social justice didn’t “stop because of one man’s focus on how other people identify.”
Outside the Supreme Court in downtown Brisbane, Mr Hutton was adamant he had been wronged. “I intend to show that the Greens’ processes of expelling me contravened my rights to natural justice and the party’s own constitution and by-laws,” he said.
“The Queensland Greens have attempted to justify their decision to expel me by saying that I didn’t abide by the rules and they came to a decision using a fair process.
“I intend to show that the exact opposite is true.
“I did not break the rules by refusing to delete the comments of others and the party did not adhere to its own rules. I was denied a fair hearing.
“I am hoping that one of the outcomes of this action I’m taking will be to stop the expulsions of Greens members who want to discuss the party’s gender policies. Dozens of Greens members have been expelled or forced out of the party on this one issue.”
Among court orders sought by Mr Hutton are declarations that his expulsion from the Greens was invalid and that it should be set aside.
He will also seek to have his legal costs paid by the party.
His 18-page affidavit details how cheering erupted in the packed state council meeting on July 20 in Brisbane after the delegates voted 75-23 to terminate his membership. He was told by one delegate that they had been provided with a “thick folder of documents” outlining the case against him, which had to be handed back at the end of the meeting.
When he gained access to the file a week later, Mr Hutton said it “contained allegations I had not previously been advised of”’ and hyperlinks to other material.
Interviewed on Tuesday, he said he had at all times sought to engage respectfully and constructively in the gender debate.
“The Greens already have quite clearly in their charter and throughout policy statements a commitment to freedom of speech and even in the associated by-laws there is a commitment to welcoming dissenting views,” he said. “I want them to live up to this.”
Queensland Greens convener Gemmia Burden said the party would closely examine the legal documents filed by Mr Hutton’s lawyers and served on the party.
“The Queensland Greens will be taking appropriate steps to respect the decisions made democratically by our members,” she said.
“The Greens’ position as endorsed by our membership is that trans rights are non-negotiable human rights.”
Senator Waters’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
A directions hearing in the civil division of the Queensland Supreme Court is set down for October 13.
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