Self goal? Smashed 'Watermelons'?

"It is the latest display of disunity in the Greens after Senator Rhiannon publicly questioned the party's direction under Senator Di Natale's leadership earlier this year.

A Greens source said education spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young, who could not be reached for comment, was "enraged" by Senator Rhiannon's behaviour during the school funding negotiations.

The NSW branch of the Greens is dominated by Senator Rhiannon's "hard left" faction, which takes a more rigidly left-wing approach than anywhere else in the country.

Internal rivals disparagingly refer to the Rhiannon group as "watermelons" – a reference to them supposedly being green on the outside but red (communist) within.

Former Greens leader Bob Brown last year called for Senator Rhiannon to step down and said she was suppressing the party's vote in NSW.

"When it comes to political white-anting, Lee is the Greens' version of Tony Abbott," he said this year."

"She has breached our faith': Greens tensions boil over in spectacular attack on Lee Rhiannon"

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/she-has-breached-our-faith-greens-tensions-boil-over-in-spectacular-attack-on-lee-rhiannon-20170623-gwxm6g.html

You beat me to the punch.

"All members of the Greens federal parliamentary party, including leader Richard Di Natale, have signed a formal complaint against the Senator.

The nine sent the letter to the Greens national council, accusing Senator Rhiannon of attempting to derail them over the Gonski schools funding negotiations after she distributed a leaflet against the deal."

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/federal/2017/06/24/greens-report-lee-rhiannon-over-gonski-deal.html

What's the beef about, Party rules are Party rules!!

Maybe the rest of the Greens are starting to see Rhiannon in the same light as the sane among us.

As they say in Latin "Soc et tu em"

Good to see. They are starting to turn on each other, mad dogs that they are.

ttbn,

Greens have numerous factions. The NSW 'Eastern Bloc' or 'Watermelons' and led by Lee Rhiannon has always been a serious ginger group intent on overthrow of leadership.

It is because the ABC's default editorial stance is 'reformist', preferring and spinning the green leftist 'Progressivism' that one sees so many positive reports about the Greens and its policy platform (such as it is).

The ABC also says it should spend most of its time criticising the government in power. Although some would say that it is left leaning then too - default 'reformist' and 'Progressive', not independent.

Greens is a misnomer anyhow for a protest party that pumps up its environmental interest at elections (to attract naive first time voters), but once those spreading behinds hit the leather Senate seats, the focus is exclusively on social experimentation.

Rhiannon is a communist. She might no longer be a party member, but she hasn't changed her spots. The Greens are the perfect party for frustrated communists. The Greens are communists, but to describe themselves as such would not be acceptable, even in gone-mad-Left Australia.

Rhiannon doesn't do it alone. A queen bee needs drones.

No love lost where Bob Brown is concerned,

"Bob Brown says Lee Rhiannon could be expelled from the Greens after bitter split

Rogue Greens senator Lee Rhiannon could soon be expelled from the party after all nine of her federal colleagues made a formal complaint about her conduct during recent school funding negotiations.
..
As tensions escalate inside the crossbench party, former leader Bob Brown said action against the NSW senator would be unprecedented but "warranted", confirming she could be censured or kicked out of the party under rules he helped devise.>

'On yer bike! Don't slam the door on your way out'.

Does anyone know of anything this highly paid politician has ever produced that could be of practical benefit to anyone?

Well, she eats so maybe some gardener....

According to Sky News, Saturday 24th June 2017,
all members of the Greens Federal Parliamentary
Party including leader Senator Richard Di Natale have
signed a formal complaint against Senator Lee Rhiannon.
They sent a letter to the Greens National Council
accusing Senator Rhiannon of attempting to derail them
over the Gonski schools funding negotiations after she
distributed a leaflet against the deal.

The material was dropped in letter boxes in Sydney's
inner-west last week as the Turnbull government finalised
its negotiations on the overhaul of school funding.

Senator Rhiannon did this without informing the Party Room
at a time when the Party was considering its position on
school funding. The material clearly had the potential
to damage negotiations about securing billions of dollars
of additional funding for under funded public schools.

Sky News further tells us that the Party Room is to meet
"shortly to discuss the matter."

Senator Rhiannon's actions make no sense. The Gonski 2.0
package will ensure under funded schools reach funding
targets in six years instead of ten - an amendment Labor
and the Greens supported last Thursday night.

The government has thrown an extra $5 billion into the plan
to win over the crossbench, taking the package to $23.5 billion
over the next decade.

Why on earth would Senator Rhiannon go against her Party and
against additional funding for under funded public schools.

It doesn't make sense. The members of the Greens Federal
Parliament and their leader, are definitely doing the
right thing in dealing with the Senator's very unwise action.

Richard Di Natale is the best that has happened to the Greens in a long time.

There should be recognition I believe that a leader does not have inexhaustible reserves. As well, the mental energy and time wasted dealing with an internal ginger group must eventually cause a leader to figure he/she is better off doing something constructive elsewhere instead of pushing uphill all of the time.

Richard Di Natale has other options in life he could easily take up instead. The Greens should be doing their very best to keep him. That means he must get some change, some runs on the board in setting a new direction for the Greens.

I'd like to see some elements leave the Greens leave the party forever and take their bile and bad vibes with them.

Rhiannon and her NSW stirrers are the dismal wreckers of a well-forgotten yesterday.

There needs to be more choice for electors. The Parliament is lacking politicians who have commitment and are practical.

leoj,

I agree with you. There definitely are some elements within
the Greens that should be removed from the party. Senator
Lee Rhiannon is a major one. As the Australian Financial
Review points out - she is a rogue Senator and not a team
player. The Financial Review states that "By not telling
the Party what she was doing in taking a position counter
to the Party Room Senator Rhiannon has broken party rules.
A Senator can act according to their conscience, but must
inform colleagues first."

Senator Rhiannon did not have the courtesy to do that.

The link explains further:

http://www.afr.com/news/greens-rogue-senator-lee-rhiannon-risks-expulsion-as-civil-war-worsens-20170625-gwy76x

Foxy,

I, for one, am not the least bit surprised.

Where's Paul?

Paul, PAUL!

Foxy,

You forget that both Labor and the Greens voted against Gonski 2.0.

Rhiannon just pre-empted the bloody-mindedness.

Senator Lee Rhiannon has been temporarily suspended
from the Greens Party Room. Hopefully she'll end up
being kicked out permanently. It would be great to
see her try her luck as an independent.

Perhaps the Libs can follow suit by doing the same
with their snipping (pain in the rear-end - or
from the back bench) Mr Abbott?

I would like to see politicians from all parties model better 'civic behaviour', as opposed to the antisocial, unethical, unprincipled, egocentric 'Me, Me, me' that is played out daily in the parliament.

In a word, it is narcissism and there is a lot of that about.

I expect parliamentarians to be ambitious and fierce in their advocacy for the reasonable demands of their constituents (reasonable, because the good of all Australians and for the longer term must be factored in).

However, youth need positive role models showing them how to behave in a democracy that values freedom of speech and the rule of (Australian) law. What avenues exist for their opinions/needs to become known and how to engage positively and effectively while realising that there are millions of others with needs and expectations too.

PAUL?

Wherefore art thou?

The NSW Greens are strongly committed to public education, first and foremost. Secondly The Greens support equality in education for all. The Greens oppose inequitable public funding channeled into the pockets of elitist private schools. As does NSW Greens senator Lee Rhiannon. Her vote was as per the directions given by the NSW state council of the Greens.

The formula used by the government in calculating funding for Gonski 2.0 fails to meet the basic criteria which would give that necessary needs based outcomes.

Much has been made of the extra $5 billion some cross benchers were able to squeeze out of the government to secure their vote. Although the Greens have a strong commitment to public education, they recognize the part presently played by Catholic education, and frankly under Gonski 2.0 the Catholic schools are being heavily disadvantaged. That will result in more pressure being applied to the public system, as more parents move their children from the low end un-affordable Catholic schools to the public sphere.

Do I think things could have been handled better by the Greens, Yes. Do I want Lee Rhiannon sacked for following constituted directions, No. Do I want to see some changes to the Greens Constitution, Yes.

Rhiannon is multiskilled: both a 'wrecking ball' above ground and a tunnel digger, a 'mole' below, excavating the ground under Leaders Bob Brown before and now, Richard Di Natale.

Now Rhiannon is slyly playing the 'bullied and harassed' card. She plays it hard ball. Hard ball hypocrisy, that is.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-27/greens-party-discord-continues-over-lee-rhiannon-claims/8655872

Those who want the Greens to become a legitimate opposition, rather than a dung-flicking protest mob, and there is a very real chance of them displacing a Labor party controlled by cynics like Shorten, must be very concerned that Rhiannon's 'NSW 'Eastern Bloc' is resolutely opposed to Di Natale.

Di Natale could leave. Who wants this exasperating scurrilous undermining affecting one's personal life as it inevitably does?

The national Greens should be considering what the party stands to gain by encouraging those NSW 'Eastern Bloc' serial troublemakers to leave and hitch the backsides back to Shorten's Labor. That would be followed by an exodus of Labor voters to the Greens to get away from that cynical, self-interested s.o.b Shorten. Win-win for the Greens.

'The Greens support equality in education for all.'

Paul hides the fact that failed secular school students get far more funding than private students. The truth is that most Greens don't want any tax payers money going to private schools even though they perform much better with far less funding. The parents of private schools pay taxes and on top sacrifice to send their kids to school. People sending kids to secular schools suck entirely on the tax payer and get much worse results. They make numerous excuses for their failures and pretend more money would solve their woes. History and truth defies their logic.

'The NSW Greens are strongly committed to Marxism in public education, first and foremost'(sic)

There you go Paul1405, fixed it for you.

Why should the NSW 'Eastern Bloc' ('Watermelons' to Greens insiders) be using euphemisms and be up-staged by the Victorian government?

Suffer the little children for they are the collateral damage of the revolution, huh?

The NSW Greens, with emphasis on 'NSW', meaning 'that' faction but of course..

Richard Di Natale has all of his work before him. After years as leader the same thought dawned on Bob Brown who promptly up and left.

Paul,

You finally made it, and with a well reasoned and logical presentation.
Lee Rhiannon had no choice but to represent the opinion of her branch, and much as I might disagree with her on many things, she has, in this instance done the right thing as a Greens Member.

All this while Hanson-Young was taking her daughter whale watching and sticking the taxpayer with the $4000 bill.

Leoj, I am very concerned about your 'Sensory Processing Disorder', you seem to be in the advanced stages. Continually repeating the same drivel over and over "Why should the NSW 'Eastern Bloc' ('Watermelons' to Greens insiders)". Have you taken to tying your shoe laces a hundred times a day. Repeat, NSW Eastern Bloc, watermelon, Trots, Greens.

The latest in the Hanson-Young corruption saga!!

"Greens Senator Hanson-Young says she won’t be lectured by “grumpy old white men” after she took her daughter on a $4,000 taxpayer-funded work whale watching trip." Nothing like playing the race, gender and age cards all at once to deflect from getting caught with your hand in the till.

Talking about deflection, I see that you are doing your best to avoid responding to the comments about the corruption and chaos in the federal greens.

P.S. the NSW Greens have long been known as the Eastern bloc, not just because they are based on the east coast, but because of their large proportion of extremist left whinge supporters and ex-communists and Stalin sympathisers. You should have known that, such a rookie mistake.