Greens reportedly split against Lee Rhiannon

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has been reported to the party's national council by the other nine members of the parliamentary party.

The Greens member for Melbourne Adam Bandt, senator Lee Rhiannon and leader Richard Di Natale

The Greens member for Melbourne Adam Bandt, senator Lee Rhiannon and leader Richard Di Natale Source: AAP

All members of the Greens federal parliamentary party, including leader Richard Di Natale, have reportedly signed a formal complaint against NSW senator Lee Rhiannon.

Fairfax Media says the nine have sent the letter to the Greens national council, accusing Senator Rhiannon of attempting to derail them over the Gonski schools funding negotiations after she distributed a leaflet against the deal.

The material was dropped in letterboxes in Sydney's inner-west this week as the Turnbull government finalised its negotiations on the overhaul of school funding.
"We were astounded that Senator Rhiannon was engaged with its production and distribution without informing (the) Party Room at a time when we were under enormous pressure from all sides as we considered our position on the (school funding) bill," Fairfax quoted the letter as saying.

The senators said the material clearly had the potential to damage negotiations about securing "billions of dollars of additional funding for underfunded public schools".

A spokesman for Senator Di Natale told AAP the party room would meet "shortly" to discuss the matter.

"We're extremely disappointed that the letter was made public," he said.

The leaflet, a copy of which was posted on Twitter, urged residents to call senators and demand they "take a stand for public education".
It broke down "proposed funding cuts" to local public schools and stated that the party remained committed to the full, original Gonski plan.

The government threw an extra $5 billion into the plan to win over the crossbench, taking the package to $23.5 billion over the next decade.

Labor and the Greens voted against the package, but the government secured the 10 crucial crossbench votes needed to get its funding shake-up over the line.

The Gonski 2.0 package will ensure underfunded schools reach funding targets in six years instead of 10 - an amendment Labor and the Greens supported on Thursday night.


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Published 24 June 2017 6:04pm
Updated 24 June 2017 7:13pm
Source: AAP


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