Senator Dorinda Cox has left the Greens to join Labor’s ranks. Photo: Wiki.
Anthony Albanese is holding his first cabinet meeting outside Canberra today (3 June) since the Labor Federal Government was reelected in May.
The gathering of senior ministers is in Perth and the Prime Minister has a number of reasons to be gloating while in Western Australia, not least that his government fared far better than expected at the polls in that state.
Labor held all its seats in WA and secured an extra two for good measure.
Another reason he will be feeling pretty chuffed right now is that he’s just bagged a Greens defector, accepting Senator Dorinda Cox into Labor’s ranks.
Until yesterday, Senator Cox was the Greens’ spokesperson for Indigenous affairs. She is a Yamatji-Noongar woman herself.
But in a surprise move (at least for the minor party she belonged to), Senator Cox claimed she had lost confidence in the Greens and had approached Labor about jumping ship.
The PM snapped her right up with a hearty “welcome aboard”.
It’s a very cynical move for Labor, and quite a hypocritical and convenient one for Senator Cox.
“As a matter of record, I was a member of the ALP before I joined The Greens,” she said when publicly announcing the move.
“I have reached a conclusion after deep and careful reflection that my values and priorities are more aligned with Labor than the Greens.
“I am in public life to make real change and deliver lasting and tangible outcomes for Australians.
“I’ve worked hard to make Australia fairer and much more reconciled. But recently, I’ve lost some confidence in the capacity for the Greens to assist me in being able to progress this.
“I want to work with a united, cohesive team building a better future for all Australians.
“I feel reassured with my experience, my skills and my knowledge, I can continue to collaborate and build on the existing relationships with an already amazing team of Labor MPs across the country.”
It’s convenient for Senator Cox because her future preselection with the Greens was under a cloud over accusations of bullying and her need to apologise to staff for causing them distress last year.
She has experienced a significant turnover of staff since becoming a Senator.
It’s also telling that she was unsuccessful in the recent Greens party room leadership votes in securing either the deputy leader or deputy whip positions, which she had contested.
It’s hypocritical because just last week Senator Cox joined a Greens statement condemning Labor and its Environment Minister Murray Watt for having “spectacularly failed” in approving the extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project.
Under the heading “Environment Minister Fails First Test”, Senator Cox is quoted as saying: “The UNESCO World Heritage Committee draft decision should have been enough for Murray Watt to reconsider the impacts of this gas project on the WA Burrup Peninsula – but here we are again with some ‘restrictions’.”
Her move to Labor is also pretty dodgy because she was voted in as a Senator for WA in 2022 on a Greens ticket (having first replaced retiring Greens Senator Rachel Siewert in 2021).
She wouldn’t be in the Senate at all if she hadn’t had the backing of the Greens.
Labor certainly wasn’t going to usher her in back then.
Which brings us to Labor’s cynicism over this move.
Senator Cox joining the government benches in the Senate makes no difference at all to Labor’s chances in passing controversial legislation.
It will still need either the Coalition or the Greens to be onside to get its bills passed.
The Coalition and the Greens, however, will now need at least one independent Senator to vote with them if they are to successfully team up in opposing specific government legislation.
Labor doesn’t need Senator Cox at all.
The reason the PM has opened his arms so wide to accept her into the fold is that deep down he despises the Greens.
Anything that could further wound them will be eagerly pursued.
Mr Albanese was just as delighted at the former Greens leader losing his seat at the election as he was over the former Liberal Party leader losing his.
Unlike some other Labor prime ministers, Mr Albanese can’t abide the Greens or see any way his government could ever enter into any official agreement with the minor party (other than negotiating over bills when necessary).
Any steps to future-proof against ever having to get too chummy with them will be taken whenever the opportunity arises.
And rubbing a bit of salt into the wound along the way only serves to make it all the sweeter for this Labor PM.
