The Australian Greens party room has voted to temporarily suspend New South Wales senator Lee Rhiannon.
The suspension follows complaints from all nine of Rhiannon’s federal colleagues, including the leader, Richard Di Natale, that she derailed the party’s negotiations over school funding and breached the faith of the party room.
The ban will be an interim measure until further negotiations with the NSW branch of the party can take place.
A statement from the acting Greens whip, Senator Nick McKim, said that the meeting resolved a “structural issue that needs to be addressed”. The resolution to exclude Rhiannon from the party room was taken at the end of a meeting lasting almost five hours and was supported by all other MPs apart from Adam Bandt.
The party room also resolved that it would ask the national council to end the practice of NSW MPs being “bound to vote against the decision of the Greens party room”.
Giz Watson, national co-convenor of the Australian Greens, earlier on Wednesday accused Rhiannon of “poor judgment” and said it was clear that the party organisation had to discuss the capacity of the NSW Greens to direct its senator on national policy.
Watson acknowledged the tension in the Greens over Rhiannon’s involvement in printing a leaflet urging people to lobby senators to stop the school funding bill as her leader, Richard Di Natale, and education shadow, Sarah Hanson-Young, were negotiating with the Coalition.
She said at the core of the controversy was the fact that Rhiannon was directed by the NSW party to take “certain positions and that is going to be a challenge when we are negotiating a national outcome”.
Watson said it was up to the party room to decide Rhiannon’s fate but it was clear the party room needed to work closely on tactics in such negotiations.
“The poor judgment was not to have that conversation with the team,” Watson told the ABC. “This was certainly outside negotiations so that was never going to be helpful.”
Watson said that, while she understood Rhiannon felt strongly about public education, having held the portfolio before, she should have had a conversation with Hanson-Young.
“It isn’t just a leaflet, I guess it is been a challenge to the trust within the team and that needs to be looked at again,” Watson said.
Watson said that, while there was not a move to greater centralisation, there was a need to look at the coordination between the national and state branches.
“We are going to be looking at this question of the NSW Greens having a different agreement with the national body about directing their MPs and that is also at the heart of the discussion,” Watson said.
On Tuesday, Rhiannon 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 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.
The fight could affect funding for the Australian Greens, with the Greens NSW branch to consider a request from the national organisation for additional funding this weekend.
Greens NSW already contributes 30% of the funds for the Australian Greens, which have requested a further $40,000 for IT projects. Last year, Greens NSW gave $188,171 to the Australian Greens, which is due to go up to $200,000 in the next financial year.
But Rhiannon’s treatment has antagonised an influential section of the NSW party so sources said it was unclear whether the money would be handed over.
Rhiannon is due to face a preselection for the next federal election though a timeline for the process has not yet been accepted by the NSW party’s state delegates council, the highest decision making authority in the party.
