South Australian Greens co-leader Tammy Franks has quit the party, claiming a small group inside the Greens has relentlessly sabotaged her.
After two decades of membership, including 15 years representing the party in parliament, Franks said she didn’t have any option but to quit.
“I felt I had no choice,” she said.
“I couldn’t reward bad behaviour any longer and I could not be silenced in the way that I have been.”
“I’ve been undermined by a group of Greens members and staffers from my colleague’s office,” she added.
Franks claimed the revolt was driven by the political motivation of those staffers, who first forced her to stand aside from contesting the next election and, following that, made a 100-page complaint claiming misconduct.
“I joined a political party, not a cult,” she said.
“I joined a political party with processes that when an allegation was made, it should have been investigated properly.”
She also alleged the ringleader of the internal revolt is still employed in the office of Robert Simms, the remaining Greens MP in state parliament.
Simms responded to the resignation with a statement, calling it “a profoundly disappointing outcome for the Greens and me personally”.
The resignation was met with surprise across the parliament, with Treasurer Stephen Mullighan saying, “I’m shocked to be honest, I don’t think anyone was expecting this”, while independent MP Frank Pangallo said Franks has “been a good member and she’s served the state well”.
Now sitting as an independent, Franks said there will be no surprises in how she votes on legislation and that her decision to quit the Greens has got nothing to do with ideology.
The move could have spurred a political revival. While Franks previously said she wouldn’t run again at the next election, she’s now refusing to rule it out.
This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.
