LATIKA M BOURKE: Greens leader David Shoebridge to meet Ukraine ambassador amid military aid backlash

New Greens Leader David Shoebridge is set to meet Ukraine’s Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko on Friday after a backlash to his policy of banning weapons for Ukraine unless Russia supported the move in the UN.

The meeting, set for Friday, comes as the Chair of Parliament’s prestigious joint Intelligence Committee blasted the Greens policy of opposing weapons for Ukraine, describing it as less sustainable than “single-use plastic.”

New Greens Leader David Shoebridge has ambitions to replace Labor as the majority left party in Australia. But he caused controversy when he said he would not support sending military aid to Ukraine unless it was approved by the United Nations Security Council.

The move provoked international outrage from leading progressives and even split his party, with the veteran Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young saying Senator Shoebridge could now take a different position after the backlash.

In a speech to the Senate late on Tuesday night, Labor Senator Raff Ciccone, who chairs the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, said it showed the Greens were an unserious party that could not be trusted to get it right when it came to national security.

“Standing up to threats like these takes seriousness and consistency, which brings me to the Greens,” Senator Ciccone said.

“On 30 September, they held their first-ever contested leadership ballot and discovered something even less sustainable than single-use plastic, agreement among themselves.

“They call themselves a party of peace and claim to oppose Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Yet they won’t back military help for Ukraine to defend itself.”

Senator Ciccone pointed to Russia’s brutal missile attack this week, in which six ballistic missiles were fired at the capital Kyiv as an example of what the Greens policy would effectively support.

“Senator Shoebridge says he would only support such military assistance if the UN Security Council agreed. But Russia sits on the Security Council and can veto it. That’s like asking the offender for permission to call the police.

“He also referred to “the Ukraine”, a Soviet-era and pro-Russian label Ukrainians have rejected.

“Saying no to weapons isn’t peace. In the past 24 hours, Senator Hanson-Young has publicly backed military assistance for Ukraine where it’s needed to defend against Russia’s illegal invasion, putting her at odds with the new leader.

“This is a significant divide, and it’s not the only foreign policy where the Greens’ priorities raise questions.”

On Tuesday, Sarah Hanson-Young, who lost in the leadership contest with Senator Shoebridge, suggested that the Greens would change the stated policy.

She was asked on the ABC’s 730 if she supported sending tanks and military aid to Ukraine.

“If that’s the support that people need in order to defend themselves from the invasion of Russia, I think Australians need to support that,” she said.

She said she had discussed the issue with Senator Shoebridge. “I think he would’ve put it differently if he was asked that question again.”

But as recently as last week, Senator Shoebridge had doubled down on his stance, telling The Nightly the Greens supported sanctions.

He did not state that he supported military aid, when asked to defend that his policy would leave progressive Ukrainians, especially members of the LGBTQI community in fear of persecution if President Putin captured Kyiv.

Senator Shoebridge was contacted for comment.

Mr Myroshnychenko said the Greens worldview was in sync with the desires of ordinary Ukrainians sacrificing their lives for the homeland.

“We surrendered our nuclear weapons, which is a Greens policy priority, in return for international security guarantees negotiated willingly through peaceful consensual diplomacy, which is a Greens policy priority, and we have never engaged in militaristic adventurism or belligerence, which is also a Greens policy priority,” Mr Myroshnychenko said.

“And despite this, Russia launched a ruthless, unjustified and unprovoked invasion of territorial expansion and annexation against us. Ukraine cannot survive or defend itself without meaningful collective security support from other democracies.

“I know the Greens have an unimpeachable record of progressive social policies, and I am sure the Greens would agree virtually none of those progressive outcomes exist in President Putin’s Russia.

“I cannot believe, then, that the Greens actively seek an outcome where President Putin’s policies are imposed on Ukrainian society, we lose the social freedoms and equalities Australians enjoy, and our entire nation is swallowed up by Russia.”

Senator Ciccone’s intervention is one of the first senior figures in the Labor party to exploit the backlash to the Greens Ukraine policy.

Russia invaded Ukraine, which gained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 2022 and the former Coalition government immediately began supporting the country’s heroic resistance by sending weapons, funding and energy supplies.

After winning office, the Labor Government continued Australia’s support for Ukraine and recently signed a security and defence partnership.

Seven in 10 Australians support sending military aid to Ukraine, according to the Lowy Institute’s poll.