The recruitment is just one issue, with NSW Labor boss Sam Dastyari is calling for Labor to rethink its preference arrangements with the Greens. Picture: Tracee Lea Source: News Limited

Secret minutes of a meeting on June 30 also revealed that the leadership of the Australian Young Greens party wanted to push for a public debate on polyamorous marriage, which allows people to have several wives or husbands.

The minutes showed the Young Greens’ leadership advocated the use of the “refugee issue” to boost its base while it had been “hitting” the news.

Under a heading called “Action Points” the meeting’s internal strategy document appeared to endorse capitalising on the issue to expand its membership.

One senior member of the party, referred to as Adi, was recorded as saying: “focus on issues like refugees, that has a lot of media so it would attract new people”.

Another member referred to as Sam in the official minutes, which have been posted on Facebook by a Greens member, responded by suggesting a rally be held.

“Would be good to make refugees a really big open event and the debate afterwards would be something smaller and internal,” he said.

The meeting also criticised the party’s cloak of secrecy around its policy debates and annual conferences, and called for greater public discussion on some of its policy platforms, which now appears to also include polygamy.

The minutes of the closed meeting will add further fuel to the current battle between Labor and the Greens at a federal level, kick-started by government whip Joel Fitzgibbon in a controversial Daily Telegraph column last week.

When shown the minutes, the president of Young Labor, Michael Buckland, said he was disgusted. “These documents reveal their unashamed motives,” he said.

“The issue of asylum seekers is a matter of life and death; it is not a way to market and attract new members to the Greens. These minutes are simply disturbing, disappointing and shameful.”

NSW Labor boss Sam Dastyari will take a policy to this weekend’s NSW state Labor conference calling for Labor to rethink its preference arrangements with the Greens.

NSW upper house Labor MP Walt Secord said he would be backing Mr Dastyari and called on all delegates to the conference to vote for his motion.