The Greens are facing more factional turmoil, as the partner of Greens senator Lee Rhiannon publicly attacks the federal party and party room, and defends a new hard-left faction that is openly antagonistic towards the leader, Richard Di Natale.

Geoff Ash, a significant NSW Greens party figure and current registered officer, has defended on Facebook the new faction called Left Renewal.

Left Renewal, which was established last week, says it was formed by “rank and file” members. Its supporters include staffers and close associates of Rhiannon and NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge.

Its stated aim is to bind its members in a formal faction system – something the Greens have publicly rejected in the past – and to bring about the end of capitalism.

After news emerged of the new faction last week, Di Natale said if its members were unhappy with Greens policies they should “consider finding a new political home.”

Two days later, the group publicly attacked the Australian Greens’ support for a sugar tax, calling it a paternalistic “vice tax” that would demean the poor and working class.

Now Ash has defended the hard-left faction, posting on a public Facebook page with more than 8,000 members that it may provide a “wake-up call” for the party.



“I am a Greens NSW member but not a member of Left Renewal,” he wrote on a Facebook page this week.

“It is not at all surprising that Left Renewal has formed and think there are at least several key reasons for it.

“Not only is our suite of economic justice policies underdeveloped, some existing positions are soft (e.g. the Australian Greens axing a moderate policy of inheritance tax on wealthy estates in 2012; continued government funding of private schools, accepting corporate donations..),” he wrote.

“The formation of Left Renewal is I think also a response to the position of the dominant right grouping within the Greens, with its support for some undemocratic party structures and processes, and its vilification of some left NSW figures in the party who have campaigned against that.”

He said some people believed that the left of the party needed to pull its head in, but it was clear to him that “the right grouping needs to reform its behaviour.”

“Maybe the formation of the Left Renewal group will provide a wake-up call,” he wrote.



Neither Ash nor Rhiannon could be contacted for comment.

It is the latest round in the power struggle between elements of the NSW party and the other states, which is increasingly spilling into the public arena.

After the July 2016 election, the former Greens leader Bob Brown attacked Rhiannon, accusing her of holding the party back and introducing factionalism to the party.



Rhiannon has traditionally drawn support from the left of the party.

Brown said the NSW Greens party had been a “long-term disappointment” and had consistently opposed simple party reforms that the public expected.



“The incumbents in NSW – certainly that’s Lee in the Senate – have given great service but are not hitting a chord with the voters at the moment and we need to move on,” Brown told the ABC’s 7.30 program.



Rhiannon rejected Brown’s characterisation of the NSW party, denying she was involved in introducing factionalism and said Brown had been trying to get rid of her since 2007.