No turning back as Mighell pledges his troth to Greens

Royce Millar, The Age (article), 1/4/2002

The Greens' state council unanimously approved Mr Mighell's membership on March 23 and has warmly welcomed him into its fold.

Mr Mighell, the Victorian Electrical Trades Union secretary, resigned from the ALP in protest at a snub by the Bracks Government and the rightward drift of the party. He was joined by firefighters' union secretary Peter Marshall. Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard is also reviewing his party membership. Following Mr Mighell's resignation, there was widespread speculation in Labor circles that the ALP would lure the ETU leader back and that the Greens would not accept his application.

But Victorian Greens co-convenor Colin Smith said a state council meeting of 40 Greens unanimously accepted Mr Mighell's membership. "Dean's name came up on several pages of new members. There was no dissent whatsoever."  Mr Smith said Mr Mighell was invited to the meeting because he was an extraordinary new applicant and because members wanted to talk to him. "It was a very interesting and friendly session. Dean spoke for a while and there were more questions than we had time for."

Mr Mighell said he was attracted to the Greens by both its environmental and industrial relations policies. He has joined the party as an individual member. The ETU will review its affiliation to the ALP later this year, although the Greens do not allow ALP-style union affiliation. Mr Smith said unions and other groups could join the party but were allowed only one vote, the same as individual members.

He said Greens membership had trebled in the past two to three years and had boomed since the Tampa crisis. The party has more than 1000 members in Victoria.

Mr Smith dismissed the suggestion that the party might come to be dominated by unions. "We're all extremely concerned that the Greens remain independent of any interest group with lots of money that could sway our policies."

Mr Mighell said he looked forward to playing a low-key, grass-roots role with his new party. He said his resignation from the ALP would allow him more time on union matters. "The difficulty I have is that I have to run a union that is under the greatest attack in its history (from the Federal Government's building industry royal commission)," he said.

He did not believe unions would want to take over the Greens.