The Northern Rivers Greens is a regional collaboration of NSW Greens from Ballina, Byron, Lismore and Tweed. Together, the groups are campaigning to elect more Greens to local, state and federal government. The Northern Rivers Greens also has a strong presence within the NSW Greens contributing to the development of Greens policies and playing active roles on state working groups and committees.
The Northern Rivers has a rich history of environmental and social justice activism. For over three decades, local Greens have worked hard to achieve representation on councils and in parliament. In 1995, Byron Greens’ Ian Cohen was the first Green elected to the NSW Parliament. In 2011 he was succeeded by Byron Mayor, Jan Barham who in turn, was succeeded in 2017 by Tweed’s Dawn Walker.
In 2015, with the imminent threat of Coal Seam Gas extraction in the Northern Rivers, Tamara Smith was elected as the state member for Ballina, ending 88 consecutive years of conservative representation in Ballina.