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Jeremy Buckingham

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The Honourable
Jeremy Buckingham
MLC
Buckingham 2023
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
20 April 2023
In office
26 March 2011 – 23 March 2019
Councillor of the City of Orange
In office
27 March 2004 – 8 September 2012
Personal details
Born (1973-11-22) 22 November 1973 (age 51)
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Political partyLegalise Cannabis (2022–present)
Other political
affiliations		Independent (2018–2022)
Greens (until 2018)
WebsiteJeremy Buckingham MLC

Jeremy Buckingham (born 22 November 1973) is an Australian politician who has served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2023, having previously held the same office from 2011 until 2019.

Buckingham was a member of the Greens until he resigned from the party in 2018.[1] He returned to parliament at the 2023 election as a member of the Legalise Cannabis Party.[2]

Early life and education

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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. Growing up in this historic setting, he developed a strong sense of place and history, which later influenced his commitment to preserving the environment and cultural heritage. He attended Taroona Primary, Taroona High School and graduated from The Hobart College.

Early career and personal interests

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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.[3]

In 1994, Buckingham fronted heavy metal band Amplifire as singer, with other band members including his brother Jessie 'Tambo' Buckingham, as well as Michael Kelly, Brett Collidge and John Salter.[3][4]

Move to NSW and early employment

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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,[5] 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,[6] the Federation Square project and the Sydney Olympic Games site.

Transition to politics

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After a back injury rendered him unfit for heavy lifting,[7] 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.[5]

Buckingham was married to Sarah Bradbury from 2000 until 2017. In 2020, Buckingham married Crystal Buckingham.

Political career

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Greens

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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.[citation needed]

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

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.[8][9] 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.[10]

After 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.[11]

Buckingham initiated Australia's first parliamentary inquiry into coal seam gas.[citation needed] 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.[12] 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.[13]

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.[14]

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.[15]

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.[16]

In November 2018, Greens MP Jenny Leong used parliamentary privilege to accuse Jeremy Buckingham of sexual violence toward a staff member[17] whose job he then allegedly threatened,[18] 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.[19] In retaliation Buckingham threatened other party members and candidates with defamation proceedings if they supported the former staff member.[20]

Independent

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In December 2018, Buckingham resigned from the Greens NSW.[21] 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.[22] Buckingham claimed that the allegations had seen party processes "abused and co-opted for factional purposes" and that the allegations had not been substantiated.[23]

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.[24] He said that as an independent, he would run on a “real green” platform to “challenge the party’s Marxist agenda”.[25]

Buckingham contested the 2019 election as an independent in Legislative Council.[26][27][28] He ran on a platform of climate action and pressuring the market on gas.[29] He also said he would team up with an independent candidate who would run against Jenny Leong in the lower house seat of Newtown.[30]

Buckingham was unsuccessful in retaining his seat at the election.[31]

Legalise Cannabis Party

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In February 2023, the Legalise Cannabis Party announced that Buckingham would lead its Legislative Council ticket for the 2023 NSW Election.[32] He was successful in being elected in eighteenth place out of twenty-one successful candidates.[2] As he introduced a Bill to legalise homegrown cannabis, he became the first politician in Australian history to produce a bud of cannabis during a parliamentary session.[33]

In October 2023, following lobbying by Buckingham, the New South Wales government announced an overhaul of the state's drug laws, including pre-court diversion for those caught with small quantities of illicit drugs including cannabis, cocaine, MDMA and methamphetimine.[34]

In June 2024, he was named the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Net Zero Future.[35]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Mr Jeremy Buckingham (1973– )". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  2. ^ a b Green, Antony (19 April 2023). "Legislative Council Results - NSW Election 2023". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham admits almost shooting his brother as a boy in Tasmania". The Mercury. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Amplfire". APRA AMCOS. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b Buckingham, Jeremy. "Inaugural Speech" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Queen to open Australian War Memorial". ABC News. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  7. ^ Cetinski, Danielle (7 February 2015). "Bad back plays part in Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham leaving Orange". Central Western Daily. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  8. ^ Green, Antony. "Calare". Australia Votes 2007. ABC. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Calare - 2010 Federal Election". Australia Votes 2010. ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Progressive Total Report - Excluded Candidate Preferences: Count 308". Virtual Tally Room. New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. ^ Whitbourn, Michaela (6 August 2015). "Andrew Stoner drops defamation case against Alan Jones and Jeremy Buckingham". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  12. ^ "Coal Seam Gas Moratorium Bill 2011". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Responsible Mining (Protecting Land, Water and Communities) Bill 2014". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Jeremy Buckingham". nsw.greens.org.au. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011.
  15. ^ Weekly Times Now article [dead link‍]
  16. ^ Gerathy, Sarah (13 October 2016). "Donald Trump a 'revolting slug' unfit for public office, NSW Parliament decides". ABC News. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  17. ^ "The Transcript: Greens MP Jenny Leong Slams Colleague Jeremy Buckingham Over Sexual Assault Allegations". 13 November 2018.
  18. ^ "Greens NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham Accused Of Grabbing Staffer On The Vagina". 26 October 2018.
  19. ^ Wahlquist, Calla (9 December 2018). "Jeremy Buckingham considers legal action after Greens ask him to step aside". www.theguardian.com.
  20. ^ "Greens Member Publishes Details Of MP Jeremy Buckingham's $75k Legal Threat". 11 October 2018.
  21. ^ Taylor, Josh. "Jeremy Buckingham Is Quitting The "Corrupt" NSW Greens". BuzzFeed.
  22. ^ McGowan, Michael (8 December 2018). "Jeremy Buckingham calls NSW Greens 'rotten' after party asks him to step aside". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  23. ^ "NSW Greens pass motion for member accused of sexual misconduct to step down". ABC News. 8 December 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  24. ^ McGowan, Michael (20 December 2018). "NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham quits Greens and will run as an independent at election". www.theguardian.com.
  25. ^ "Greens split by factional war". The Saturday Paper. 2 February 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  26. ^ "Jeremy Buckingham considers legal action after Greens ask him to step aside". The Guardian. 9 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  27. ^ "'Ripping up my membership': Jeremy Buckingham quits 'toxic' Greens to run as an independent". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  28. ^ "NSW STATE ELECTION RESULTS 2019, Saturday, 23 March 2019, Count Explanation, Legislative Council Check Count Statewide Summary". NSW Electoral Commission. 23 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  29. ^ 7NEWS Sydney (19 December 2018). "@GreensNSW MP @greensjeremy holding a media conference in Sydney". Twitter. Retrieved 20 June 2020 – via Periscope.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ Green, Antony. "Legislative Council Results". ABC Elections. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  32. ^ Loomes, Phoebe (27 February 2023). "Former Greens MP hopes to legalise cannabis in NSW". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  33. ^ "'What's to be afraid of?': Cannabis stunt pulled in NSW parliament during legalisation bill bid". ABC News. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  34. ^ Maddison, Michael McGowan, Max (9 October 2023). "Revealed: Government to announce major shake-up of NSW drug laws with 'two-strike' scheme". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 August 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ "Joint Standing Committee on Net Zero Future". www.parliament.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
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