Greens defend internal complaints process after Tammy Franks’s shock resignation
Former SA Greens co-leader Tammy Franks's resignation has put a spotlight on internal tensions within the minor party. (ABC News: Marco Catalano)
In short:
The Greens have defended their processes for handling internal complaints following criticism from former party MP Tammy Franks.
Ms Franks resigned from the party on Tuesday, claiming she was not afforded procedural fairness by a misconduct investigation carried out by the party.
What's next?
Ms Franks, who says the allegations against her are "unsubstantiated and false", has not ruled out running for re-election as an independent in 2026.
The South Australian Greens have hit back at former party co-leader Tammy Franks, a day after the upper house MP walked out on the party, labelling her comments "deeply regrettable and inappropriate".
A day after Greens internal tensions exploded into public view with Ms Franks's resignation, the party said its investigation into complaints against her found she had "engaged in misconduct".
Ms Franks denies any wrongdoing, describing allegations against her as "unsubstantiated and false".
She resigned from the Greens on Tuesday to sit as a "progressive independent" in the upper house, leaving the party with just one MP in parliament.
The veteran Greens MP, who had already flagged she would not stand for re-election in 2026, also went public with a scathing critique of the party's internal procedures, claiming there were people in the party who "wanted me to move on".
She claimed there were "some 100-plus pages" of allegations made against her that "weren't particularised into something that would fit anybody's definition of misconduct".
"I joined a political party that should have had processes that when an allegation was made, it should have been investigated properly," she said on Tuesday.
"The complaints included that I'd used voice-to-text to send emails and messages.
"I used voice-to-text for a short period of time because I was going through menopause and had extreme joint pain and couldn't hold pieces of paper or pens.
"I find it ludicrous that that was one of the charges against me."
Ms Franks released a lengthy statement criticising the Greens following her resignation on Tuesday. (ABC News: Marco Catalano)
Ms Franks said another misconduct charge she faced was that she had "disrupted meetings" she was chairing with her staff.
"I challenge anyone to explain how I'm meant to chair a meeting and give my staff direction and run a functional office without taking lead in that situation," she said.
"There were further serious charges that were unsubstantiated and totally false."
Ms Franks said she intended to "take action" against the Greens for "unfair and oppressive behaviour" under the Associations and Corporations Act.
Greens say Franks's criticisms 'inappropriate'
After only releasing a brief statement on Tuesday that did not address Ms Franks's claims, the SA Greens on Wednesday defended its internal party processes.
The minor party said there were "complaints raised in relation to the behaviour of Ms Tammy Franks MLC".
"The party acted on these complaints and undertook a process where it was found that Ms Franks had engaged in misconduct," the Greens said in a statement.
"That finding was upheld by the party's state council.
"The process was carried out in accordance with Greens SA by-laws and constitution.
"The party acted on, and implemented, the recommendations resulting from that process."
The Greens added that Ms Franks's decision to "publicly criticise the complainants" was "deeply regretful and inappropriate".
Ms Franks told the ABC on Wednesday the misconduct findings against her were upheld by the party but "were not investigated by an independent body and no procedural fairness was followed".
Last remaining Greens MP blindsided by resignation
Greens MLC Robert Simms, now the only Green in South Australia's parliament, said he had "no idea" his co-leader was going to resign on Tuesday.
"I did know though … that she had been frustrated or feeling unhappy for some time," he told ABC Radio Adelaide on Wednesday.
"I did think there was a chance that something like this could happen at some point, but I had hoped that that wasn't going to be the case."
Mr Simms, a former senator who has been in state parliament since 2021, said it had been "a difficult 24 hours" and he "tried to support Tammy as best as I can".
"I agree it's not a good look for the party to have this out in the public domain over the last 24 hours,"he said.
"But these things do happen in political parties from time to time."
Robert Simms says Tammy Franks had been frustrated and feeling unhappy "for some time". (ABC News: Marco Catalano)
He also denied there was a culture problem within the Greens and defended the party's internal processes, saying: "I respect our party processes and our procedures — I think they're pretty robust."
"But of course there's always an opportunity to do things differently and the party regularly reviews our internal policies and procedures," he said.
Asked about the voice-to-text complaint Ms Franks said was raised against her, Mr Simms said he did not have "any details of the specifics of the complaint".
"Our party misconduct processes are confidential … it's not one that's run by MPs, it's run by the political party exec committee that's set up to run that," he said.
"And so out of respect for the people who are involved in that process and their privacy, I don't want to comment on what might have been involved in that process."
Mr Simms's chief of staff, Melanie Selwood, was preselected in December for the number one spot on the Greens' upper house ticket, after Ms Franks announced in September she would not stand again.
Ms Franks said she has "no current plans" to run as an independent in 2026 but "I don't rule anything out".