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BAD BOSSES: Victorian Greens party divided over Senate preselection result and “part-time” job furore
The Victorian Greens party are in turmoil this morning amid insider claims of a recently rorted Senate preselection vote and concerns the party is adopting “exploitative” employment practices.
A respected party figure told VEXNEWS that there had been an “explosion” of concern about the activities of “the faction” (it seems the Greens can only afford one) that is centred on numbers-man upper house MP and party bosses Greg Barber and his bro-in-law Dr Richard Di Natale.
“The two are machine-style politicians that (sic) would be more at home in the Labor Party with its sneaky tactics,” another told several Greens members in an email obtained by VEXNEWS.
ARE WOMEN BEING EXCLUDED BY ‘THE FACTION’?
Our well-informed source expressed concern that Di Natale was being allowed to run for the Senate for a third time and that other strong candidates were deserving of “their opportunity. “He’s a strong candidate – and I personally like him - but how many bites of the cherry can one man have before he’ll consider giving a female candidate a chance? There are gender equity concerns.”
He explained there was also increasing concern about how postal ballot preselections were being conducted internally. “There’s just no trust left. Many of those voting are not really active members, I wouldn’t go so far as saying there’s branch-stacking but it’s not right that those who work so hard for the party are so regularly shafted by a power clique,” he said.
VEXNEWS wonders whether there is a talent drought in the Greens but our source strongly disagreed saying there was a big field for the lead Senate position but they “never get a look in with the faction.”
The position is highly likely to yield a Senate position for the Greens party if Kevin Rudd calls a double dissolution election, as many anticipate.
MEN OF POWER
Di Natale is seen by some as a more moderate and pragmatic politician than the left-wing extremists operating with the Greens and is backed by Greg Barber, a Rose Tattoo enjoying numbers-man with an MBA and a wry smile. While not the official parliamentary leader of the Greens, he is the one regarded by state government figures as the brains of the operation.
Clearly he is firmly in control of the numbers in the Greens show.
Greens party rebels have also expressed concern at what they see are “exploitative” employment plans for two party officials.
Documents obtained by VEXNEWS reveal that the Greens party intend to pay full-time staff only 80% of a full-time wage despite insisting they intend meetings at weekends and after-hours. Our source lashed out at this decision:
“The Greens take a strong stance on employment issues, like WorkChoices, are we have many members active in the union movement and this decision to only pay four days for what is at least a five day a week job is wrong.”
“The job description also makes it clear that those involved in the position cannot get involved in ‘controversies’ which shows just how conservative and reactionary this party is becoming.”
There is concern that the jobs are being falsely advertised as part-time at $80,000 per annum when they are actually full-time and paid at $60,000 pa. While both sums would buy a lot of lentils, the concern expressed by party insiders is about honesty:
“It’s simply not honest to advertise those jobs in that way. We’d be appalled if a boss did it and we’re being bad bosses by advertising a job fraudulently. There is an organisational mess that needs cleaning up and it will take every waking hour to do it and to ensure we are ready for federal and state elections. The jobs are full-time, it’s as simple as that.”
The positions have not been filled, with the process being managed by Cyndi Dawes, a former Melbourne University activist connected with the Socialist Left faction at that time.
Discussion
16 comments for “BAD BOSSES: Victorian Greens party divided over Senate preselection result and “part-time” job furore”
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The Greens are really Libs. In Western Australia Chrissy Shart and Dee Margetts (even Kim Carr said Dee was mad when she was in the Senate) were responsible for an upper house gerrymander that is worse than the ALP ever perpetrated in Queensland or the LCl perpetrated in South Australia or the Country Party perpetrated in Victoria.
IN politics, honesty is the more than just the best policy.
It is an expectation of politicians the voting public is clearly entitled to hold.
At elections, prospective MPs ask for our trust and that trust must be vindicated.
If for no other reason than that, Richard Dalla-Riva had no choice but to resign from the shadow Cabinet.
Before yesterday, Mr Dalla-Riva was Liberal leader Ted Baillieu’s Scrutiny of Government spokesman. His role was to ensure honesty in government, but his own actions made a mockery of that.
Faced with an accusation of sexual harassment, he did a deal that hid the details behind a confidentiality agreement.
Even when the deal was exposed by the Herald Sun, Mr Dalla-Riva did all in his power to obscure the incident.
He emphatically denied text messaging his teenage female accuser, a denial subsequently shown to be false.
Mr Dalla-Riva quit saying his resignation was in the best interests of the party.
That, at least, is true.
But his cover-up has already damaged the party’s credibility and fuelled doubts.
Mr Baillieu’s predecessor, Robert Doyle, was privy to the confidentiality deal.
Voters are now asked to accept that not a hint of the political time bomb was passed on to Mr Baillieu.
We are, presumably, to take it on trust.
I’ve said that RDR is a c*nt.
But now I’ve changed my mind. He is a fuc#ing c*nt!
Hold up there boys! Andy has now declared vexnews to be a misogyny free zone so references to a female politician as ‘mad’ just because she disagrees with you, or insulting someone by comparing them with a part of the female anatomy, is a no no.
I would like to offer my services to ‘drive’ any young lady home.
Pack of pinko tofu fanciers.
What about the exploitative employment practices of the HSU president whom we are not allowed to name? Yes,that dyslexic cnut fgean. She used workchoices on her own staff and now is joining the labor party, but then you know that andy but thats ok.
Conrad – you are being warned one last time. This isn’t even a HSU related story you dirty little scamp.
Party Manager position requires a tertiary degree?
Nice to see the Greens aren’t all elitist and stuff..
Ok, Ok, trouble all round-I vote we install dictators in the form of Dancing Lobsters as the heads of every party. It could not be any worse in regards to outcomes to what we have currently. Bring on the Dancing Lobsters, Pinchy come on down !!
I’ll take it on and sort the mess out quick smart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror
what about georgi give us one of your specials vex
IN politics, honesty is the more than just the best policy.
It is an expectation of politicians the voting public is clearly entitled to hold.
At elections, prospective MPs ask for our trust and that trust must be vindicated.
If for no other reason than that, Craig Langdon had no choice but to resign as Government Whip.
Before yesterday, Mr Langdon was Government Whip. His role was to ensure honesty in government, but his own actions made a mockery of that.
Faced with an accusation of having sex with a male prostitute, he did a deal that hid the details behind a confidentiality agreement.
Even when the deal was exposed by ozsoap.com, Mr Langdon did all in his power to obscure the incident.
He emphatically denied text messaging his male accuser, a denial subsequently shown to be false.
Mr Langdon should quit saying his resignation was in the best interests of the party.
That, at least, is true.
But his cover-up has already damaged the party’s credibility and fuelled doubts.
Mr Bracks was privy to the confidentiality deal.
Voters are now asked to accept that not a hint of the political time bomb was passed on to Mr Brumby.
We are, presumably, to take it on trust.
Then we have the VLGA’s Green president. Why is she losing staff at a phenonemal rate? Why are they accusing her of all sorts of stuff?
Elitist Latte Sipping Inner City Lefties! Have to have a tertiary degree. What in Tree Hugging.
Simon, what has Rose done at the VLGA?