Defecting senator torched ‘patronising’ Labor in leaked Greens application

Senator Dorinda Cox described Labor as patronising to women and people of colour and claimed the party cared more about its donors than members in her application to run for the Greens in 2020.

Cox was a Labor Party member before leaving to join the Greens, becoming a senator in September 2021. She rejoined Labor in a surprise defection from the crossbench this week that infuriated her former colleagues.

Dorinda Cox was highly critical of Labor in her application to join the Greens in 2020.Credit: Matt Absalom-Wong

When Cox applied to become a Greens senator, she filled out an online application form that asked her reasons for leaving any other political party. In her response, seen by this masthead, Cox delivered a withering verdict on the party whose values the senator said she shared on Monday.

“I was a previous member of the Labor Party but left disillusioned and disappointed. I had joined in the hope that it was a party of significant influence that could create change but soon realised that they did not authentically engage with members,” Cox wrote. “I was let down by what I found to be a patronising attitude towards women and people of colour. Finally, leaving when it became clear that they cared more about election donors that [sic] the views of members.”

Cox, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office, and the Western Australian division of the Greens did not respond to requests for comment.

On Tuesday, Albanese brushed off the risk of policy disagreements with Cox, who has previously criticised Labor for its stance on environmental and Indigenous issues.

“Well, Dorinda Cox understands that being a member of the Labor Party means that she will support positions that are made by the Labor Party,” Albanese said.

On Monday, Cox said: “I have reached a conclusion after deep and careful reflection that my values and priorities are more aligned with Labor than the Greens.”

The exposure of the senator’s once-critical views of the Labor Party are the second damaging leak about Cox in two days, following the release of a message in which she used a slur against a senator, underscoring the depth of anger within the Greens at Cox’s exit.

While Greens MPs have been measured in public about Cox, in an email sent to party members and obtained by this masthead, party leader Larissa Waters called the senator’s move a “betrayal” of the party and its voters in Western Australia.

In October last year this masthead revealed that 20 staff had left Cox’s office within three years, with five of those former staff lodging some form of complaint with the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, former leader Adam Bandt’s office, or the WA division of the Greens.

The support service wound up its involvement in November last year and Cox’s exit ended an investigation by a law firm engaged by the West Australian Greens.

Cox has consistently denied the claims and argued they lacked context, but apologised for any distress felt by her staff during a period when her office was dealing with the pandemic, then the Voice referendum, multiple parliamentary inquiries, and a large geographic area.

Albanese said on Monday that the bullying claims against Cox had been addressed by the PWSS, though several of the complainants have questioned that claim.

A former staffer to Cox, who asked not to be named, said the prime minister was either “receiving very bad advice, or he’s ignoring sound advice that would strongly caution him against backing an MP who has a history of bullying allegations.

“Whatever the reason, it’s going to come back to bite him, the party, its MPs and staff,” the staffer said.

But several Labor MPs who have worked with Cox played down the prospect of her being a disruptive influence.

“No one knows if this will work but there is a strong sense of let’s give it a go, embrace her, she was a member of Labor once upon on a time, so let’s wrap her up and make her feel at home,” one Labor senator, who asked not to be named, said.

“A bunch of people have kicked the tyres so we will embrace her, surround her, get her engaged in our internal debates, help her to see how to influence policy.”

Nationals senator Matt Canavan told Nine’s Today program that the prime minister “has some questions to answer here”.

“I mean, these bullying allegations that you’ve referred to have been well known,” he said.

“The question for the prime minister is, did the Labor Party contact these people and speak to them because they are allegations, but they’re serious ones. And what sort of due diligence did the Labor Party do before taking someone into their ranks?”

Former Labor senator Fatima Payman, who quit the party last year and moved to the crossbench, suggested it was hypocritical of the prime minister to criticise her defection and then welcome Cox with open arms.

“The real question is: is the Labor Party ready to accept different voices of diversity and views into their caucus? Or are they going to expect them to sing from the same hymn sheet?”

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