JENI O’DOWD: Dorinda Cox chose self-preservation over representation in political backflip

Just when you thought politicians couldn’t sink any lower, along comes Dorinda Cox, the former WA Greens senator and now freshly minted Labor recruit.

And it’s safe to say she has pulled off one of the most shameless political pivots in recent memory.

One week, she’s running for deputy leadership of the Greens. Then she’s co-signing a blistering statement accusing Labor’s Environment Minister Murray Watt of “spectacularly failing” by approving an extension to Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project.

The next, she’s sitting next to Anthony Albanese, grinning for cameras and claiming Labor’s values match her own.

Dorinda Cox appears to have no values when it comes to politics. Or if she did, perhaps they might not have ever been real to begin with.

She says she switched camps because she wants to be part of a “party of government” that can “make a difference.”

But is the truth that Cox didn’t leave the Greens for power but because she had no other options?

After a string of damaging reports that her office saw 20 staff departures in three years and multiple bullying complaints, her political future inside the Greens looked dead in the water.

Preselection? Not a chance. Not when even Lidia Thorpe, hardly the poster child for restraint, publicly accused Cox of bullying and said her own formal complaint had been left unresolved.

Albanese claims the matter was “dealt with”. Thorpe claims that’s wrong, and that mediation never even happened because Cox did not attend.

This isn’t about one party poaching a Senator. This is about a politician with an apparent credibility problem, jumping ship which might prolong her career and a Prime Minister willing to overlook bullying claims and ideological backflips to boost his numbers in the Senate.

Cox brings nothing of real value to Labor. She’s not a heavy-hitter. She’s not a legislative game-changer. What she brings is baggage, controversy and the kind of hypocrisy that makes voters roll their eyes and say, “This is why I don’t trust politicians”.

Cox was elected in 2021 under the Greens banner, based on the party’s policies, with Greens voters backing her.

She was subsequently elected in her own right as the lead Greens candidate for Western Australia during the 2022 federal election, securing a six-year term ending in 2028.

Now, barely two years into that six-year term, she’s dumped the party, the voters who elected her and seemingly her own earlier principles.

This is what she said about Labor’s North West Shelf gas project in December 2024.

“Approving new fossil fuel projects in the face of a global climate emergency is reckless, irresponsible and short-sighted. It puts profits for a few above the well-being of our communities and our future generations. “The North West Shelf project will cook the planet, destroy our precious rock art in the World Heritage nominated Murujuga National Park through Woodside’s gas emissions. Once they are done, it won’t be worth listing as there will be nothing left.”

Strong words indeed.

Significantly, when she said all of this, Cox wasn’t just a backbench MP. The Yamatji-Noongar woman was the Greens’ official spokesperson for First Nations issues.

She wasn’t protesting as a bystander; she was standing as an Indigenous voice in Parliament, condemning Labor for green-lighting a gas project she said would “cook the planet” and destroy sacred rock art in Murujuga.

Now she’s joined the very party she accused of desecrating our country. That appears to be not only a betrayal of her cause and her word, but an incredible slap in the face to the people she claimed to represent.

Our First Nations communities deserve fierce, unwavering advocacy, not opportunists who appear to trade principle for a party badge.

At a time when Indigenous voices need strength and solidarity more than ever, Cox looks to have chosen self-preservation over representation.

Absolute shame on her.

Late last week, prominent WA Indigenous leader Hannah McGlade, a Kurin Minang Noongar woman who previously worked with Cox, called Albanese’s decision to recruit the Senator a “captain’s pick” that ignored First Nations voices.

“These captain’s picks do not work for our people,” McGlade said. “We need more grassroots Aboriginal leaders now, more than ever,” she told the Financial Review.

She’s not wrong. Cox’s move has drawn anger and frustration from Indigenous communities, who feel she’s betrayed her responsibility to represent their interests.

Ballardong Noongar man Desmond Blurton publicly challenged Cox, questioning whether she still stood by her claims that Labor “colluded with the gas industry” and “gagged” traditional custodians.

“She has abandoned our community and our country,” Blurton told the newspaper. “It’s very disappointing that someone elected to represent our people has done so little with her power.”

Cox didn’t just abandon her party. She appears to have abandoned her earlier principles, her platform and ultimately, her people.