The former Greens senator Dorinda Cox has accused the Greens of being “deeply racist” and insisted that she has never been a bully.
Cox, a Noongar Yamatji woman and Western Australian senator,announced last Mondayshe had defected to Labor, saying her views were more closely aligned with Labor than the Greens.
In a resignation letter sent to Greens leader Larissa Waters’ office on Tuesday night, Cox claimed the party had “cultural problems they refuse to acknowledge or address” and that she had experienced an “unremitting campaign of bullying and dishonest claims”.
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“I have seen and survived trauma, discrimination and harassment in previous work environments. I have seen the impact of psycho social violence on my family and my community. I am not, and have never been, a bully. I do not perpetrate it,” she said.
Cox has been the subject of a number of workplace behaviour complaints, asfirst reported by the Nine newspaperslast October. At the time, the WA senator apologised for “the distress this may have caused” but said there had been “significant missing context” in the reports of bullying allegations within her office.
Cox said in her letter that at the time she resigned, there were no grievances pending against her in the party’s conflict resolution process, and none had been put to her during the period she was a senator.
“The Greens failed me as its last First Nations MP, and continue to fail First Nations people,” Cox wrote.
“In my experience, the Greens tolerate a culture that permits violence against First Nations women within its structures. In this respect, the party is deeply racist.
“Instead of dealing with its toxic culture, the Greens sought to shut me down. The Greens failed in their duty of care for my staff and me, and disregarded the reported and obvious impact of what was occurring.”
Cox accused the federal and Western Australian Greens’ leadership for embracing “untrue” claims and amplifying them.
The WA Greens announced an external inquiry into grievances it received against Cox in mid-January by former staff members within the party after the allegations were publicly reported. The inquiry has now ceased.
The WA Greens said “the co-convenors of Greens (WA) went to great lengths to ensure the process was culturally safe and delivered due process to all parties”.
An Australian Greens spokesperson said the claims were “disappointing” and ignored the “substantive work undertaken by the party to find a resolution to the complaints made both by and against Senator Cox, and to address the breakdown in her relationship with Greens’ First Nations members”.
“As the IPSC [Independent Parliamentary Standards Committee] and PWSS [Parliamentary Workplace Support Service] are the bodies created by Parliament to address complaints from staff, they can continue to investigate ongoing matters. This is unchanged by the senator’s decision to move to a party that continues to destroy First Nations cultural history through approving coal and gas projects.”
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Anthony Albanese was asked about historical bullying complaints against Cox last Monday.
The prime minister said Labor had “examined everything that had been considered in the past” and felt that the “issues were dealt with appropriately”.
In October 2024,Cox said she took responsibility for “any shortcomings”in her office and apologised for any distress that may have been caused but said there had been “significant missing context” in the reports of bullying allegations within her office.
Cox said she had an “immense amount of respect and gratitude to my team who prepare and support me for the work I undertake” and that she had “always taken a proactive approach to staff wellbeing, including my own” and had undertaken executive coaching and mentoring from former MPs.
Cox’s former colleague, Lidia Thorpe, revealed last week she was one of the people to complain to the parliamentary watchdog about Cox,disputing Albanese’s claim that allegations about Cox had been “dealt with”.
Thorpe, a former Greens senatorwho is now independent, said she raised a complaint against Cox in late 2022 to the Greens’ leader’s office and PWSS. Thorpe formally submitted the complaint to the PWSS in March 2023. Thorpe said last Wednesday her case remained unresolved because Cox declined to attend a mediation.
Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung senator, told ABC on Wednesday morning she had also experienced racism in the Greens.
“There’s a lot of work that the Greens and many other organisations need to do to stamp [racism] out, particularly the parliament of this country,” she said.