Greens co-founder Drew Hutton turns on his party with blistering takedown as he quits months after winning fight to be reinstated

By NICHOLAS COMINO, POLITICAL REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 01:41, 7 June 2026 | Updated: 01:52, 7 June 2026 Greens co-founder Drew Hutton has quit the party he helped build, declaring it is 'beyond reform' and accusing its leadership of embracing 'gender ideology', suppressing free speech, and losing touch with ordinary Australians. Hutton, 79, who founded the Australian Greens alongside Bob Brown, walked away just three months after being reinstated following a successful Supreme Court challenge against his expulsion from the Queensland Greens. Hutton confirmed he tendered his resignation on Wednesday, arguing the party had fundamentally shifted away from its original principles. He said the 'party left me' after he was heavily criticised internally for challenging its policies on transgender rights. 'I was hoping that I might be able to change their minds about the issues that you've just mentioned … the lack of free speech, their extremism on gender issues, and their intolerance of people who don't share their narrow cultural concerns,' Hutton told Sky News host Caleb Bond. 'They're all, I think, quite self-evidently problems that the Greens have. They don't see it that way. They think that they don't really deserve any sort of self-analysis or criticism.' Hutton said his efforts to spark internal debate were ignored, leaving him isolated within the party he helped shape over more than three decades. 'Basically, they just froze me out. They refused to pick up the phone to me, they refused to answer emails, and nobody much in the party was prepared to come out and take them on, even when they agreed with me,' he said. Greens co-founder Drew Hutton (pictured) said the party was 'beyond reform' 'So I thought, I'm wasting my time here.' Hutton said his decision to leave was deeply personal, given his long history with the Greens as a founder, policy writer and senior spokesperson. 'It really was a lot of my life's work. I spent over 30 years… I set it up, and I wrote most of their policies and press releases,' he said. 'I feel very sad about that. I've had a few sleepless nights. But nevertheless, you move on with life.' Hutton said he would now shift his support to teal-style community independents, describing them as candidates who 'are good on the environment, who know the difference between a man and a woman, and who believe in free speech.' Hutton said the Greens party has become trapped in a narrow, inner-city worldview disconnected from mainstream voters. 'They're part of a cultural bubble. They're really a class … young or youngish, largely inner-suburban people in major cities, with university degrees,' he said. He said that demographic profile had fuelled resentment among broader sections of the Australian public. Hutton said the Greens were 'trapped' in their worldview and 'disconnected' from voters (pictured, Greens leader Larissa Waters with deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi) 'And that's the thing that I found most obnoxious, really: the fact that they really have no empathy with ordinary Australians.' Hutton warned the party had fallen into what he described as an 'identity politics trap,' arguing it had prioritised ideological purity over broader engagement. 'If you're going to be effective in this life, you've got to be able to talk to more than just a narrow little cultural bubble,' he said. Asked whether the Greens could recover, Hutton said he believed the party's trajectory was already set. 'Yes, I think it's beyond reform,' he said. 'I think the whole identity politics ideology, gender ideology, has gone so deep in the party that even though there are still plenty of good people in it, the leadership has been taken over by this, and they're not going to let go.' 'This party is going to either stay still or disappear over the next decade.' Hutton’s intervention comes as the Greens struggle to lift their vote in opinion polls under leader Larissa Waters, following a near wipeout of three of their four lower house seats at the 2025 election.  Daily Mail contacted the Greens for comment.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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