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Long-time environmental activist cites Greens’s shift toward “extremism” and “cult-like” authoritarianism leading him to formally part ways.

Drew Hutton, the founder of the Queensland Greens and co-founder of the Australian Greens, has resigned from the party he helped establish more than three decades ago.

Hutton cited the party’s embrace of “gender extremism” and its rejection of free speech as reasons on social media.

“I emailed the Queensland Greens today to resign from the party I founded,” Hutton wrote on 4 June.

“I’m very sad about this as the Greens was a major part of my life’s work. However, their support for gender extremism, their rejection of freedom of speech and their refusal to see the world in any other terms than the narrow class bubble they are in meant I had little choice.”

From Founder to Exile

Hutton’s departure comes after years of conflict with the party leadership over transgender ideology and what he characterises as authoritarian discipline mechanisms. His expulsion in 2025 — followed by a legal victory that vindicated his claims — represents a dramatic reversal of fortune for the party’s elder statesman.

The co-founder lost his life membership in 2022, was suspended from the Queensland branch in 2023, and was subsequently expelled in 2025 after refusing to delete social media posts and censor comments from others on his Facebook page that asserted biological sex differences.

“I was expelled from the party, not because I made statements that opposed key beliefs of the Greens but because I refused to censor comments on a couple of Facebook posts that asserted that men were biological males and women were biological females,” Hutton explained.

“I was, therefore, told I had to censor all such comments from my Facebook posts. I refused on free speech grounds and so my membership was suspended, and then I was expelled when I continued to refuse.”

The Greens defended Hutton’s expulsion, with Queensland convenor Gemmia Burden stating there was no room for those with ‘transphobic’ views. “Commentary that targets people on the basis of their gender identity is harmful, not respectful”, Burden said. “The Queensland Greens believe that trans rights are non-negotiable, and we do not tolerate transphobia or transmisogyny in the party.”

Legal Victory and Vindication

After his expulsion from the party, Hutton pursued legal action in the Queensland Supreme Court, claiming he was denied “natural justice” in the attempt to defend himself and avoid expulsion.

Surprised by criticism of taking the party he founded to court, Hutton hit back, writing that “I pointed out to them many times that their process lacked natural justice but, like the arrogant authoritarians they are, they kept going with it, breaching natural justice provisions right to the end.”

“We should all be prepared to resist injustice, just as Jillian Spencer, Andrew Amos and Sall Grover are doing in their struggles against gender-based authoritarianism.”

The court sided with Hutton, with the Greens’ own lawyers conceding Hutton had failed to receive procedural fairness during the party’s internal processes. The Greens agreed to an out-of-court settlement that restored his membership and paid $55,000 towards his legal costs.

However, this vindication proved insufficient to keep him within the party he founded. As late as 30 March, Hutton was holding onto hope that the Greens could reform themselves, writing, “I am hanging onto my current membership of the Greens in the hope that I can wait out their current obsession with gender ideology and identity politics generally, but I won’t wait forever.”

That patience came to an end with his announcement of formal resignation on Thursday.

“Gender Fanatics” and “Inquisition”

Hutton frequently criticises the Greens, describing the party as “arrogant”, “authoritarian” and a “cult,” and claiming that key positions within the party have been taken over by “extremists” and “fundamentalists.”

“The Greens put gender fanatics on their key committees, like the disciplinary committees, and so it’s no wonder they act like the Inquisition, expelling anyone who disagrees with their dogma and breaching natural justice at every turn,” he said.

Hutton has warned the Greens of dire electoral consequences if they maintain rigid gender ideology positions, writing that if they continue “hanging on to the gender madness” they will go “into oblivion as a result.”

“Every party except Labor and the Greens has now agreed to change the federal Sex Discrimination Act to protect women’s-only spaces. If Labor and Greens don’t want to lose large numbers of seats at the 2028 election, change your stupid extremist gender policies now,” he urged.

Rather than retire from activism, Hutton is now directing his efforts toward political alternatives. “I shall be looking to support progressive community independents who are good on the environment and are committed to changing the Sex Discrimination Act and banning puberty blockers,” he stated.

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Image by Brian Doyle.