BELLINGEN-based Jeremy Buckingham MLC has resigned from the Greens claiming it’s a toxic organisation – and that he will go “rogue” and contest the election for the Legislative Council as an ‘Independent Real Green’.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Buckingham said he had advice that the Greens cannot legally remove him from his democratically pre-selected third spot on the party’s Legislative Council ticket, but given the “dysfunction and toxicity of the NSW Greens” he was more likely to be elected as an independent candidate for the Upper House. He believed he will need around 100,000 votes.
“I’m excited to announce that I’ll stand as an Independent Real Green for the NSW Upper House at the March State Election,” Mr Buckingham said.
“Today, I’m ripping up my membership of the toxic NSW Greens party. The NSW Greens is a party that has abandoned the important principles of justice and democracy, is dominated by an extreme left faction and has lost its focus on the environment.
“I’m the best environmental campaigner in NSW with a strong track record of winning issues such stopping coal seam gas and coal mines, championing renewable energy and for healthy rivers.
“By contesting the NSW election, I aim to put climate change, coal and the corruption in the management of our rivers firmly on the election agenda. I will roll out policies that will challenge the NSW Greens’ Marxist agenda and represent a more genuine green platform aimed at real results rather than posturing.
“Voters know that I challenge conventions and I’m not afraid to go rogue. I’ve set rivers on fire to highlight the dangers of fracking, I was arrested blockading the Adani site, and I’ve been ejected from the parliamentary chamber fighting for the Darling River.
“Parliament needs some rogue MPs like me to shake up the establishment. An establishment that serves the big end of town and has forgotten about real people and the real issues that matter.”
