Bob Brown has said the Left Renewal splinter group established by unnamed Greens members looks like a hoax, warning that no member who rejects law and order should remain a member of the Greens.

“When no one will put their name to such a litany of anti-Greens policies, under the guise that it is a collective without individuals, you have to suspect the whole thing is a joke,” the former Greens leader said.



The group’s statement of principles says: “We further rejected state-mediated oppression in all of its forms and recognise that violent apparatuses like the police do not share an interest with the working class.”

Brown said the group’s statement was so out of line with the Greens movement, the environment almost fell off its agenda.

“Its central tenet of rejecting the state and the police is also a rejection of the Greens charter, which upholds the right of citizens to law and order,” Brown said. “No member of such a group could agree with the charter or remain a member of the Greens.”

The group has refused to put forward an individual spokesperson, though they have provided anonymous messages to Guardian Australia outlining their core beliefs, which include the end of capitalism, global imperialism and “artificial borders”.

The split appears to be a reaction against the loss of the left’s candidates in recent New South Wales preselections, in which Dawn Walker and former military intelligence officer and Lock the Gate cofounder Justin Field were chosen as replacements for NSW upper-house positions.

Left Renewal opens long-standing wounds between the NSW left, including senator Lee Rhiannon and upper house MLC David Shoebridge, and the former leader Brown, who was critical of the NSW organisation after the last election.

At that time, Brown effectively called on Rhiannon to resign. The Greens organisation is currently conducting an analysis of the federal election result. On Friday, Brown called on Rhiannon and Shoebridge to repudiate Left Renewal.

“As such, MPs including Lee Rhiannon and David Shoebridge would repudiate the group should anyone put their head up and claim legitimacy for it,” Brown said. “It looks like a bit of pre-Christmas overindulgence to me.”