Greens elder Drew Hutton loses fight against expulsion from party he co-founded

Kicked out of the party he co-founded, Greens elder statesmen Drew Hutton issues a warning as longstanding internal tensions simmer, in a test for leader Larissa Waters.

Greens leader Larissa Waters, left, and Greens party co-founders Drew Hutton and Bob Brown. Picture: Lachie Millard, Annette Dew

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The “old man” of the Australian Greens, Drew Hutton, has denounced as a “cult” the party he helped found, after being expelled for speaking his mind on transgender rights.

The Greens’ state council in Queensland on Sunday voted overwhelmingly to reject Mr Hutton’s appeal against the termination of his membership over a series of Facebook posts and comments about the party’s pro-trans platform – despite support from co-founder Bob Brown and another former federal leader in Christine Milne.

“Basically a cult has taken over the Greens,” the outraged 78-year-old told The Australian. “This is a deeply authoritarian cult that is opposed to any debate or any free speech on issues of gender. These people would expel Bob Brown if he said anything they disagreed with.”

The brutal handling of such an elder statesman of the party will fire longstanding internal tensions between “deep green” environment-focused traditionalists and the leftist “watermelon” Greens who prioritise social change.

It comes after Iranian-born Sydney local councillor Tina Kordrostami quit the Greens last week over its failure to condemn the repressive Islamic regime in Tehran and terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

In an impassioned address to the closed-door state council meeting in Brisbane, Mr Hutton defended his right to free speech and warned the Greens would become a “dogmatic, authoritarian organisation” with no future if dissenters were silenced.

“I am now an old man and my activist days are behind me,” he said, according to a text of the speech released to this masthead.

“I’ve made my share of mistakes, but I believe I have always acted honourably in my activist life and I’m proud of all the things I have done in social movements and in green politics over the last 50 years.

Former Greens leader Christine Milne.

“I … had hoped to live out the rest of my life as a member of the Greens and to see the party flourish. So this is really not about me: it is about the future of the Greens. With the decision you make here today you can confirm the party’s commitment to democracy and free speech, or you can reinforce tendencies towards dogma and authoritarianism.”

Mr Hutton is credited with establishing the Greens party nationally in 1992 alongside his friend Dr Brown, who went on to lead it nationally until his retirement from the Senate in 2012. In a joint email that they authorised Mr Hutton to read to the state council delegates, Dr Brown and Ms Milne said any member was entitled to hold a view different from Greens policy.

“We oppose Drew Hutton’s expulsion,” they wrote. “As friends of Drew’s for 40 years, we respect his pivotal role in establishing the Australian Greens and advocate that his membership be restored.”

Mr Hutton said he would continue fighting and reserved his right to launch legal action.

“The process that was used to expel me was deeply flawed and susceptible to legal challenge. I will certainly be considering my options,” he said.

But Queensland Greens convener Gemmia Burden said the 75-23 vote against Mr Hutton reinforced the party’s position, endorsed by the membership, that “trans rights are non-negotiable human rights”.

“It is disheartening to see that Mr Hutton has prioritised his perceived right to free speech over the safety of others,” Ms Burden said in a statement.

In warning last week that the Greens now had different values to those he shared with Dr Brown, Mr Hutton said his case represented a test of leadership for Queensland senator Larissa Waters, who took the helm after the party went backwards at the federal election in May. He urged her to intervene on his behalf.

Test of leadership: Mr Hutton has called on new Greens leader Larissa Waters to intervene on his behalf. Picture: Lachie Millard

The fuse was lit by a row in Victoria in 2022 over the sacking of state convener Linda Gale for advocating, in an internal discussion paper she wrote three years earlier, that the party revisit its position on gender. In NSW, feminist lawyer Anna Kerr had her membership terminated for what were alleged to be transphobic views.

Mr Hutton criticised both moves as authoritarian and anti-democratic in three posts on his private Facebook page. The Queensland Greens’ constitution and arbitration committee subsequently dismissed a complaint that he had denigrated transgender women but found he provided a platform for others to do so after he refused to delete a number of comments on the page, citing freedom of speech.

His membership was suspended and a standoff ensued until March this year when he went public. Mr Hutton was expelled last month by the committee, even though he complied with its demand to delete the posts and comments at issue.

He emphasised that he was not opposed to or critical of transgender people or their rights. “At no stage did the CAC accuse me of transphobia,” he told the state council meeting. “My ‘crime’ was to refuse to censor comments of other people and to publicly criticise the Queensland Greens … this is an issue of freedom of speech, nothing else.”

Mr Hutton said at least 40 other members had been forced out over the explosive gender issue but he refused to be worn down “until I got sick of the whole thing and resigned, as had happened to so many other Greens”.

He said: “There is no reason why different philosophical and policy approaches can’t coexist in the party but it can’t happen with a ‘no debate or you’re out’ approach.

“The way to ensure the welfare of minorities in the organisation is to continually emphasise civility and respect, not to issue ‘no debate’ edicts … If we continue down this path, then today it’s one issue, tomorrow it will be someone kicked out for saying Israel has a right to defend itself; or someone saying we shouldn’t allow people with criminal records into the country called ‘anti-refugee’ and expelled.

“A party like the Greens whose members won’t even stand up for free speech will become a dogmatic, authoritarian organisation which won’t be viable in the long run.”

Mr Hutton addresses a Lock the Gate rally prior to his retirement in 2017, due to ill health. Picture: Amy Lyne

During his long association with the Greens, Mr Hutton was the party’s standard bearer in Queensland and ran unsuccessfully for office on a succession of tickets. In 2010 he launched the Lock the Gate movement against coal and coal-seam gas mines’ encroachment on prime farmlands.

Ms Burden said the party was disappointed by Mr Hutton’s conduct, his unwillingness to abide by party processes or to work with the party to recognise the “harm caused by his own commentary”.