Lee Rhiannon has doubled down on her opposition to Gonski 2.0 school funding, describing it as a “con job” and accusing unnamed people of a vicious attempt to destroy her reputation.
The Greens senator’s comments will deepen the rift between herself and her colleagues who last week lodged a formal complaint about her behaviour.
Rhiannon issued a statement saying she felt bullied and harassed by continuous anonymous backgrounding of journalists, though she was careful not to accuse her colleagues of bullying.
“It is clear this is not just about how the Greens handled Turnbull’s Gonski 2 conjob. It is a vicious attempt to destroy my reputation,” Rhiannon said in a statement. “If the deceitful leaker thinks their tactic will drive me from parliament they are wrong.”
In her first interview since the complaint, Rhiannon told the ABC she opposed moves to centralise the party, saying New South Wales Greens members controlled the party’s money and preselections in the state, which meant they worked hard for the party at election times.
Actions against Rhiannon by the national party room have antagonised her NSW base and some have threatened to block funds to the national party.
The stoush began when the Coalition announced it had crossbench support for its schools policy, just as the Greens were close to voting for it.
After the legislation passed, Rhiannon’s colleagues signed a formal complaint over her decision to print leaflets calling on senators to vote against Gonski 2.0 before the party had taken a formal policy decision.
Rhiannon said the party had a clear policy commitment to public education. Asked why she was not aware that the Greens were seriously considering the school package, Rhiannon said “my political instinct is that we would stick with policy”.
The comments were a criticism of the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, and the education spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, who considered the Coalition package offered improvements on the Labor policy and were negotiating to add more money.
“I and many others thought, yeah there is tactical things going on here, but the key objective here is to stick with – and both senators Hanson-Young and Di Natale time and time again spoke about their commitment to public education,” Rhiannon said.
The comments will further rile the leadership and fellow MPs as they decide whether she will be censured or expelled from the Australian Greens. A teleconference on Monday involving all Greens MPs, including Rhiannon, failed to resolve the matter.
Rhiannon said the letter signed by nine of her fellow MPs was upsetting but they were not fully informed about the issue before they signed. She said she was not given the opportunity to give her side of the story before the complaint was lodged.
Rhiannon said the leaflet in conjunction with local groups was consistent with Greens policy to produce material supporting the Gonski agreements implemented by Labor and the Greens.
“Let’s be real here ... it’s a leaflet, some various local groups, is it really a hanging office?” she said.
“I am just doing what I am doing all the time, supporting community, supporting Greens local groups to be politically active on key issues.”
She said the allegation that she had been white-anting was insulting when she was working hard and being respectful to her colleagues.
“To call a leaflet getting out a policy as white-anting is wide of the mark,” Rhiannon said. “And it’s clearly running a line consistent with serious misinformation, anonymous commentary that has gone on for days and days, there’s a purpose in there.”
Rhiannon, considered a hard-left representative, will face preselection later this year and is likely to be opposed, given two previous NSW Greens preselections have been won by more centrist candidates closer to the Di Natale approach.
Rhiannon said media reports that she had been censured twice before over her alleged involvement in the NSW splinter group Left Renewal and her protests over losing the education portfolio in the Greens were wrong.
“Certainly there was controversy, I am happy to say that, when the higher education portfolio was taken off me and many other people were, I think there was some 600 people signed a letter at the time and it was discussed in the party room and we all move on,” she said.
Rhiannon said it was sad and disappointing that the furore did not reflect that most of time Greens MPs worked well together.
She said none of her colleagues had accused her of white-anting other members, even though all nine signed the formal complaint.
The NSW party has traditionally been further left of the national organisation, but raises a substantial amount of funding.
Also at issue are moves to centralise the party, a notion Rhiannon opposed on Tuesday.
“If you centralise the party not only do you take away the democracy aspect but I also would argue that you start to cruel your own vote so it’s not just an issue of doing the right thing,” Rhiannon said.
“People have ownership over what they do in this party. In NSW they control their own money, they decide preferences they decide preselection, that means they have ownership over what they do and come election time, they work very hard.
“I know that doesn’t suit some people, they would like it more centralised so they could control the money, but that’s not the way to run a party.”
Asked whether she would accept whatever decision the party room made or whether she would split, Rhiannon said she was deeply committed to the Greens and progressive politics.
“We are at a challenging point because Richard himself said he was aiming at 20% [vote] in 10 years, we are already three years in and our vote has stalled,” she said. The Greens primary vote in the latest Guardian Essential poll was 10%.
She said the party had to have honest discussions about the direction of progressive and Greens politics.
