Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham faces expulsion push

Greens NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham faces moves to expel him from the party after he participated in an interview with the ABC.

Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham. Picture: John Fotiadis

Greens NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham faces moves to expel him from the party after he allegedly failed to follow Greens policy in an interview on the ABC.

The party’s state convener Debbie Gibson confirmed yesterday there was an active complaint against Mr Buckingham which had been lodged at the end of December.

The complaint centres on an appearance on the ABC’s 4 Corners program where Mr Buckingham said his efforts to democratise the NSW party had been blocked by Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon and the left faction of the party.

However, the NSW Greens convener suspended the complaint process when Mr Buckingham requested for the party provide him with $30,000 to seek legal advice to potentially take action against the complainants.

The most recent State Delegate Council clarified that the complaint against Mr Buckingham is still active but the original conflict resolution committee has been suspended.

The complaint states NSW Greens should no longer ignore problematic behaviour to avoid confrontation. “The Greens NSW can no longer, like some institutions, turn a blind eye to serious misbehaviour by its MPs or sweep it under the carpet.,’’ the complaint says.

“Continued toleration of such behaviour, in the belief that this will avoid conflict or negative media coverage, is not justified.”

The trouble in NSW comes as a misconduct claim made by 18 Greens members seeking to expel Greens Batman by-election candidate Alex Bhathal for allegedly branch stacking, bullying, intimidation and victimisation was cleared by a party committee which is prohibited from making adverse findings of fact in contravention. The Victorian party’s constitution mandates a 28-day notice period for the subject of a complaint, a formal meeting of the state council and potentially the establishment of a group to further investigate. Ms Bhathal denies the claims.

A complaint against Mr Buckingham was made after he allegedly punched a Greens member in the shoulder at a rally in Sydney in 2014. Hall Greenland, who was the 2014 NSW Greens Convenor, says there were several complaints against Mr Buckingham regarding overbearing and aggressive behaviour which resulted in resolution after some time. “There were a number of incidents in 2014 that members thought his behaviour was aggressive and lodged complaints which were mediated and after some delay Jeremy apologised and the matters were settled.” he said.

Several Greens members have told The Australian that Mr Buckingham’s behaviour is intentionally intimidating, he often threatens legal action in response to complaints and is obsessed with left factionalism. They also said he regularly refuses to attend mediation when complaints are made against him.

A Greens insider told The Australian the party’s policies were not robust enough to manage a rogue MP. “When a side has learnt it can scream and threaten the party and get away with it they will.” she said. “I care a lot about the party, I want to believe in us being a grassroots party where our MPs are beholden to our members, but we just haven’t figured out how to do that yet.”

Former Greens staffer Tom Raue lodged a complaint against Mr Buckingham after he cornered him in an elevator after Mr Raue criticised Mr Buckingham in an online Greens discussion forum in 2016. He claimed Mr Buckingham called him a coward and he and his staffer Max Philips prevented him from exiting the elevator. The complaint was resolved after Mr Buckingham and Mr Philips agreed to stay away from Mr Raue. “I was quite scared by it.” he said. ‘It’s not what I thought the Greens were.”

In response to The Australian’s questions regarding his behaviour, Mr Buckingham said the more left-leaning segments of the party were attempting to malign him. “The divisive Left Renewal faction should stop trying to smear me and the party, and should join the rest of the Greens who are focused on stopping the Adani coal mine and saving the Darling River.” he said.

The Australian understands the Left Renewal movement, founded by Young Greens members, is no longer active within the party.