Following today’s announcement that Green Party co-leader Russel Norman will resign in May, the party has decided that he will be replaced by not one, but two new co-male-co-leaders.
In an attempt to make the leadership structure of their organisation more fair and equitable, the Green Party believes that there is no need to uphold the traditional, exclusive leadership structure of “one male, one female,” and that it would, in fact, be more inclusive to have each half of the co-leadership represented by two co-co-leaders, who could themselves represent diverse halves of the male and female community.
In his farewell speech today, Norman laid out a case for future co-co-leaderships, and possible co-deputy-co-leaderships and co-co-deputy-co-leaderships.
“I am announcing today that I will not be standing for Co-leader of the Green Party at our AGM in May,” he began. “This is something I have considered for some time and over the summer break I have had the space to think hard about my future.
“The time is right.
“I have always held the view that no organisation should be reliant on any one individual, or indeed two, but in fact, four.”
“Four is the right number,” he concluded, to applause.
Norman said that it was “arrogant” and “discriminatory” to believe that just two leaders – one male and one female – could adequately represent the many diverse members of a party.
“In our party, we have not just one kind of female, or one kind of male,” he said, “and I would not expect just one kind of male to replace me. We have big males, small males, young males, old males, white males and… actually, no, we’ve only got white males.”
Norman said that different men within the Greens’ caucus had different and varied leadership qualities.
“There are some who can lead, and some who can’t. Is it not only fair that we have a co-leader to represent those who can lead, and a co-leader to represent those who cannot?”
He said that while the Greens had traditionally not had deputy leaders, it was something they should now look at, “for each co-leader specifically.”
There is expected to be very little jockeying for any portion of Norman’s role at this year’s AGM, as party insiders believe there will be “enough leadership positions for everybody.”