Jeremy Buckingham is an Australian politician and member of the Legalise Cannabis Party. Mr. Buckingham has previously been a member of The Greens and also contested the NSW Legislative Council as an independent.
Jeremy Buckingham is an Australian politician who has drawn attention to the Menindee Fish Kills.
The Menindee Fish Kills
In January 2019, Buckingham visited the Darling River town of Menindee after a mass fish kill killed millions of fish. He described the scene as "an ecological catastrophe on an international scale." He also dry retched while filming a video of the dead fish which gained media attention.
Mr. Buckingham has been a vocal critic of the management of the Murray Darling Basin and called for a royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Authority. He has also called for returning water currently utilised by irrigators to be returned to the river system.
The Greens
Mr. Buckingham had been a member of The Greens party since 2003 but left the party in 2018, deciding to contest the next New South Wales election as an independent. His decision to leave followed the party formally asking him to step aside as their candidate.
Mr. Buckingham went on to describe the party as now being focused more on “bringing down capitalism” and “divisive identity politics” more so than “the core principles they were founded on.” He also described the party as “toxic”:
“The NSW Greens are no longer focused on the environment…They are no longer the party that Bob Brown founded and I in good conscience can no longer be a member of that party.”
Mr. Buckingham’s decision also followed months of tension within the party after a former party aide, Ella Buckland, had complained to the party about Mr. Buckingham allegedly committing an “act of sexual violence” against her. Mr. Buckingham denied this allegation and noted an independent inquiry which found insufficient evidence regarding Ms. Buckland’s allegation.
The Greens federal leader, Richard Di Natale, then called on Mr. Buckingham to quit the party, resulting in two other MPs - Cate Faehrmann and Justin Field - threatening to quit.