The co-founder of the Australian Greens is considering both his legal and political options after being officially expelled from the party over what it considers his pursuit of debate harmful to trans people but that he frames as an issue of free speech.
The decision to terminate Drew Hutton’s life membership of the Greens was upheld by delegates of the state branches on Sunday, who voted to back the findings of the party’s Constitution and Arbitration Committee (CAC) and reject Hutton’s appeal.
“This decision reflects the Greens’ position as endorsed by its membership – that trans rights are non-negotiable human rights, a position publicly reaffirmed in 2022,” Queensland Greens convener Gemmia Burden said in a statement.
Hutton issued his own statement declaring that the party he founded had “lost its way”.
“Greens have been taken over by a cult”.
“They have abandoned the historic mission I believed they had when I founded the party, a mission to help bring about an ecologically sustainable world,” he said.
Australian Greens leader and senator for Queensland, Larissa Waters, backed the outcome of the appeal, saying it reflected “good governance” and sent the message that “nobody is above the rules”.
Hutton had drawn on the written support of both the Greens’ first and second national leaders, Bob Brown and Christine Milne.
Neither could be reached for comment on Monday.
Brown previously told Guardian Australia he was against Hutton’s expulsion.
“Any member may hold a view different from Greens policy,” Brown said in a statement.
“I am against Drew Hutton’s expulsion. As a friend of Drew’s for 40 years, I respect his pivotal role in establishing the Queensland and Australian Greens and advocate that his membership be restored.”
Milne also spoke about Hutton’s “critical role” in “flying the flag for the Queensland Greens for years” by running for office for decades throughout the 1980s, ‘90s and 2000s. In doing so, he helped build a platform from which the next wave of Greens would win seats on council, state and federal parliaments, she said.
Hutton told the Guardian he was seeking legal opinion and also considering “political options”.
The official story of the termination of Hutton’s membership began in June 2022 when Hutton took to Facebook with a series of posts and comments weighing into moves to annul the election of the state convener in Victoria and expel a member from the New South Wales party over what the Greens deemed to be their transphobic comments and writings.
Hutton labelled these moves “authoritarian and antidemocratic” and his post generated heated discussion, some of which he himself deemed “hurtful and disrespectful”.
After a complaint against him, the CAC found that while Hutton himself had not demeaned trans women, he had provided a platform for others to do so and it suspended his membership until such time as he deleted a post criticising the Greens and removed the offending comments made by others.
A near two-year standoff ensued in which Hutton abided by the CAC’s directive he remain silent but refused to delete the comments on the grounds of free speech, during which time he had no recourse to an appeal.
The deadlock broke open in March 2025 when Hutton spoke to the Saturday Paper and later to the Guardian in July. In the interim, Hutton began increasingly sharing articles and opinions on Facebook that criticised what he called “trans extremists”.
These actions saw his membership terminated, enabling Hutton Sunday’s avenue of internal appeal.
Burden said Hutton’s conduct had breached the Queensland Greens code of ethics.
“Throughout this process the former member has refused to engage fairly with the party, sought and expected special treatment and used the media to prosecute his case,’ she said.
The Queensland Greens convener said the weekend’s decision confirmed “that party rules apply to everyone” and that “whether you’re a new member or have been one for a long time”, the Greens party was a place where everyone would be “free from discrimination”.
“No member is above the need to treat others with respect, and seeking to weaponise internal processes to pursue personal grievances does not advance the Queensland Greens’ work on environmental, climate, economic and social justice,” she said.
Hutton said he believed his expulsion signaled “a crisis point” for the Greens, who have seen their political gains erode in Queensland in recent state and federal elections.
“People are starting to see the Greens as weird and unlikable,’ Hutton said.
Waters said her party’s stance that “trans rights are human rights” had been determined and “backed again and again” by thousands of party members”,“pretty much all” of whom were able to have respectful policy discussions “even when we disagree”.
“Greens members have been working hard to resolve this matter through the party’s governance processes, and to ensure that the party’s important work on environmental, climate, economic, and social justice doesn’t stop because of one man’s focus on how other people identify,” she said in a statement.
