Greens senator Dorinda Cox has defected to the Labor party, making the shock announcement on Monday standing alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Perth.
The Western Australian senator said her views were more closely aligned with Labor than the Greens and that the decision had come after much deliberation.
“I am very, very grateful for this opportunity and I want to thank the Labor team for welcoming me, and I’ve spoken to the prime minister about the work I would like to do in the future as a member of a party of government,” she said.
She added that after some “deep reflection” she had realised “what it is that I would like to achieve in my political life and what you can’t do from the crossbench is make change”.
“Alongside the wonderful team that the prime minister has, you are able to make change, you are able to do the things that raise up and represent the voice of Western Australia and Canberra, and that’s what they elected me to do,” she said.
The Yamatji-Noongar woman told reporters that she had notified Greens leader Larissa Waters of her defection “about an hour and a half” before she made her public announcement.
Albanese said Cox approached the government about joining his party, but “didn’t ask for anything” in return for the move.
“She wants to be part of a team that is delivering progress for this country by being part of a government that can make decisions to make a difference,” he said.
“The reason why Dorinda has made this decision is the same reason why all those years ago as a very young man I made the decision to join the Labor Party… That the way you make a difference is to be part of a party of government.”
In a statement, Senator Waters said she was “disappointed” by the news, but that she wished her departing colleague well.
“Senator Cox has said that her values align with the Labor Party. This is the same Labor Party who this week approved the climate-wrecking North West Shelf gas project,” she said.
“Senator Cox would have had more chance of effecting change by continuing to work with the Greens in the sole balance of power.”
As the Greens Indigenous Affairs spokesperson, Senator Cox was the only Indigenous member of the Greens’ federal parliamentary team since Lidia Thorpe left the party in 2023.
Last week, she signed onto a Greens joint statement with colleagues including Sarah Hanson-Young and Peter Whish-Wilson, accusing Labor’s Environment Minister Murray Watt of having “spectacularly failed” after he announced the approval of an extended licence for WA’s “climate-wrecking” North West Shelf gas facility.
This morning, Waters told ABC News that the pair had a “calm and measured” conversation an hour before the announcement was made publicly, reiterating that people should have their “values fit with the party they seek to represent”.
“I did genuinely wish her all the best,” Waters said. “There’s no animosity there. It’s disappointing for us to lose a Greens senator. But Dorinda says her values lie there. You need to be true to yourself, don’t you?”
“What with Labor having decided just this last week to approve an absolute carbon bomb off the coast of WA, which would not only have massive climate impacts but which would have huge impacts on ancient rock art. Those values are not consistent with Greens values.”
Meanwhile, minister for social services Tanya Plibersek said she is “delighted” to be welcoming a new colleague.
Plibersek told Radio National Breakfast this morning “We’re delighted that she’s joining a very strong West Australian team …I’m very much looking forward to her joining what’s a very strong representation for Western Australia, and I’m looking forward to going there this afternoon for a cabinet meeting.”
Senator Cox will now join Labor’s ranks in the federal Senate, boosting Labor’s numbers in federal parliament and bringing it to 29 in the upper house.
The Greens now have 10 senators. On Monday night, the party removed Senator Cox’s profile from its official website.
Reasons for her defection
Multiple anonymous sources have spoken to publications about the possible reasons for Senator Cox’s decision to leave the Greens party. One WA Greens insider attributed the senator’s defection to her concerns over the ongoing investigations into the bullying allegations made against her by multiple ex-staffers, and that the senator was worried about her chances of getting pre-selected again for the Greens in the next election.
In October, Senator Cox issued an apology following the allegations, adding that the reports had been “missing context” and cited “challenging conditions both politically and personally”.
The Greens insider told the ABC this week that Senator Cox had defected to Labor because she believed it would be her best chance of staying in power. Last month, the Greens party met in Melbourne to elect new leadership positions, where Senator Cox lost against Mehreen Faruqi and Penny Allman-Payne for deputy positions.
Another source said that the party were not stunned by her quitting the party, but surprised at her defection to Labor, since in recent months, she had released several press statements attacking Labor’s record on fossil fuel and First Nations issues.
In April, she accused the Albanese government of “drop[ing] our people like a hot potato after the voice referendum, and abandoned the other two elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.”
“The major party leaders in Dutton and Albanese offer First Nations communities nothing except empty rhetoric,” Cox said. “When the two most powerful men in Australia can stand on national TV and lament they are ‘heartbroken’ and ‘that our parties have failed First Nations people’, imagine how First Nations people feel who have no power to make the change required.”
In May, she criticised the government, saying it was “being held for ransom” by coal and gas companies, and is “not committed to transitioning towards renewables”.
Become a Women’s Agenda Foundation member and support our work! We are 100% independent and women-owned. Every day, we cover the news from a women’s perspective, advocating for women’s safety, economic security, health and opportunities. Foundation memberships are currently just $5 a month. Bonus: you’ll receive our weekly editor’s wrap of the key stories to know every Saturday. Become a member here.