Jeremy Buckingham

Jeremy Nova Buckingham (born 22 November 1973 in Tasmania) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2011 to 2019.[1] He was a Greens member from 2011 to 2018, but resigned from the party on 20 December 2018. He was unsuccessful in retaining his seat in the Legislative Council in the 2019 state election.

Jeremy Buckingham
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
In office
26 March 2011 – 23 March 2019
Personal details
Born (1973-11-22) 22 November 1973
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Political partyIndependent (2018–present)
Greens (until 2018)
WebsiteJeremy Buckingham MLC

Early life

Buckingham was born in Launceston, Tasmania and spent his early life living in the historic homestead 'Hillgrove', adjacent to the Taroona Shot Tower site south of Hobart. He attended Taroona Primary, Taroona High School and graduated from The Hobart College. After school he spent two years working as a benchman in a small country sawmill run by Kim Booth (later a Greens member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly) in central Tasmania.[2]

In 1994 Buckingham fronted heavy metal band Amplifire as singer, with other band members including his brother Jessie 'Tambo' Buckingham, as well as Michael Kell and John Salter.[2][3]

Buckingham moved to Sydney in the mid 1990s, where he worked as forklift driver, hardware store salesman and builders' labourer.

Buckingham relocated to Orange in the central west of New South Wales in 1997 with his wife Sarah,[4] where he worked as production manager for monumental stonemason McMurtrie & Co. In his time at the stonemason, Buckingham worked on public works such as the Australian War Memorial in London,[5] the Federation Square project and the Sydney Olympic Games site.

After a back injury rendered him unfit for heavy lifting,[6] Buckingham enrolled and completed an Advanced Diploma in Ecological Agriculture and Land Management at the University of Sydney, which he completed in 2006.[1] He continued to work as a stonemason until his election to state parliament in 2011.[4]

Political career

Buckingham unsuccessfully contested the state Legislative Assembly seat of Orange in the 2003 and 2007 state elections. Buckingham was elected to the City of Orange council in 2004 and re-elected with an increased vote in 2008. He was the first member of the Australian Greens elected to a council west of the Great Dividing Range. As a councillor, he implemented Australia's first stormwater harvesting project for drinking water supply, initiated the city's first statement of commitment to the Aboriginal community, fought against homophobia and for the rights of same sex couples, campaigned to protect an agricultural research station from developers, and fought to protect water supplies from the Cadia gold mine that operates on the outskirts of Orange.

Buckingham was elected convenor of the Central West Greens in 2008, a position which he held until 2011.

Buckingham was the sixth candidate on the Greens' Senate ticket for the 2004 Australian federal election. He contested the lower house seat of Calare in the 2007 and 2010 federal elections without success.[7][8] Buckingham was then preselected to third spot on the Greens' Legislative Council ticket in the 2011 state election. He was locked in a close race with Pauline Hanson and the Nationals for the final spots. After preferences were distributed he was elected with 2,437 votes ahead of Pauline Hanson, and 1,306 votes ahead of Sarah Johnston of the National Party.[9]

Since being elected, Buckingham has campaigned against the expansion of the coal and coal seam gas (CSG) industries in New South Wales and Australia. He has managed to build broad links across both sides of politics in the CSG campaign, and has made a personal ally of conservative radio show host Alan Jones who alongside Buckingham was sued by the former leader of the National Party (Andrew Stoner) for defamation.[10]

Buckingham initiated Australia's first parliamentary inquiry into coal seam gas. Buckingham introduced bills into the NSW Parliament attempting to restrict mining. The "Coal Seam Gas Moratorium Bill 2011" sought a moratorium on the granting of exploration licences for coal seam gas.[11] The "Responsible Mining (Protecting Land, Water and Communities) Bill 2012" seeking to prohibit exploration and mining of minerals and petroleum in urban areas, National Parks, and drinking water catchments.[12]

Jeremy Buckingham & CSG pipe layer

For the Greens, he held the portfolios of Mining and Resources, Primary Industries, Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services, Agriculture, Health and Sport.[13]

Alongside former Greens leader Christine Milne, Buckingham had set up a country arm of the Greens party and was convenor of the Australian Country Greens.[14]

In October 2016, Buckingham tabled a motion in response to U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's recently leaked statements. This included the phrase stating the NSW parliament "agrees with those who have described Mr Trump as 'a revolting slug' unfit for public office". The president of the upper house, Don Harwin, found the term "revolting slug" was not unparliamentary language. The motion was passed.[15]

Resignation from the Greens

In November 2018 Greens MP Jenny Leong used parliamentary privilege to accuse Jeremy Buckingham of sexual violence toward a staff member[16] whose job he then allegedly threatened,[17] and following this the Greens NSW State Delegates Council passed a motion calling for Buckingham to resign due to violations of their sexual harassment policy.[18] In retaliation Buckingham threatened other party members and candidates with defamation proceedings if they supported the former staff member.[19]

In December 2018, Buckingham resigned from the Greens NSW.[20] His resignation followed a motion passed by more than three quarters of the Greens' branches asking that he step down from the 2019 election ticket following an allegation of sexual assault and other claims of internal bullying.[21] Buckingham claimed that the allegations had seen party processes "abused and co-opted for factional purposes" and that the allegations had not been substantiated.[22]

Buckingham described the party as "toxic", and said the NSW Greens had "abandoned the core principles they were founded on" and were more focused on "bringing down capitalism" and "divisive identity politics" than acting on climate change.[23] He said that as an independent, he would run on a “real green” platform to “challenge the party’s Marxist agenda”.[24]

2019 state election

Buckingham contested the 2019 election as an independent.[25][26] He ran on a platform of climate action and pressuring the market on gas.[27] He also said he would team up with an independent candidate who would run against Jenny Leong in the lower house seat of Newtown.[28]

Buckingham was unsuccessful in retaining his seat at the election.[29] He announced on 26 March 2019 that he would retire from public life.

See also

References
  1. "Mr Jeremy Buckingham (1973- )". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  2. "NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham admits almost shooting his brother as a boy in Tasmania". The Mercury. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  3. "Amplfire". APRA AMCOS. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  4. Buckingham, Jeremy. "Inaugural Speech" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  5. "Queen to open Australian War Memorial". ABC News. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  6. Cetinski, Danielle (7 February 2015). "Bad back plays part in Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham leaving Orange". Central Western Daily. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  7. Green, Antony. "Calare". Australia Votes 2007. ABC. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  8. "Calare - 2010 Federal Election". Australia Votes 2010. ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. "Progressive Total Report - Excluded Candidate Preferences: Count 308". Virtual Tally Room. New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  10. Whitbourn, Michaela (6 August 2015). "Andrew Stoner drops defamation case against Alan Jones and Jeremy Buckingham". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  11. "Coal Seam Gas Moratorium Bill 2011". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  12. "Responsible Mining (Protecting Land, Water and Communities) Bill 2014". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  13. "Jeremy Buckingham". nsw.greens.org.au. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011.
  15. Gerathy, Sarah (13 October 2016). "Donald Trump a 'revolting slug' unfit for public office, NSW Parliament decides". ABC News. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  16. "The Transcript: Greens MP Jenny Leong Slams Colleague Jeremy Buckingham Over Sexual Assault Allegations". 13 November 2018.
  17. "Greens NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham Accused Of Grabbing Staffer On The Vagina". 26 October 2018.
  18. Wahlquist, Calla (9 December 2018). "Jeremy Buckingham considers legal action after Greens ask him to step aside". www.theguardian.com.
  19. "Greens Member Publishes Details Of MP Jeremy Buckingham's $75k Legal Threat". 11 October 2018.
  20. Taylor, Josh. "Jeremy Buckingham Is Quitting The "Corrupt" NSW Greens". BuzzFeed.
  21. McGowan, Michael (8 December 2018). "Jeremy Buckingham calls NSW Greens 'rotten' after party asks him to step aside". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  22. "NSW Greens pass motion for member accused of sexual misconduct to step down". ABC News. 8 December 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  23. McGowan, Michael (20 December 2018). "NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham quits Greens and will run as an independent at election". www.theguardian.com.
  24. "Greens split by factional war". The Saturday Paper. 2 February 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  25. "Jeremy Buckingham considers legal action after Greens ask him to step aside". The Guardian. 9 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  26. "'Ripping up my membership': Jeremy Buckingham quits 'toxic' Greens to run as an independent". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  27. 7NEWS Sydney (19 December 2018). "@GreensNSW MP @greensjeremy holding a media conference in Sydney". Twitter. Retrieved 20 June 2020 – via Periscope.
  28. McGowan, Michael (20 December 2018). "NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham quits Greens and will run as an independent at election". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  29. Green, Antony. "Legislative Council Results". ABC Elections. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
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