The Wellington clique who run the Greens have killed off Chloe Swarbrick’s Central Auckland candidacy by backing predictable old Denise Roche instead.
The Wellington clique have spent a lot of time taking over the Party and the last thing they want is to be is in debt to a young Auckland upstart who has the best chance the Greens will ever enjoy to win an electorate.
Labour have put up two nobodies as their candidates for an electorate that demands dynamic candidates.
Roche is many things, dynamic is not one of them.
The Greens could have stood Chloe in Auckland Central and had a real chance of beating Nikki Kaye while Labour’s selection wouldn’t have gotten much attention at all. This was their best chance ever of winning the seat.
Instead the Greens have gone into risk management overload after their disastrous flirt with independent thought in December last year when they foolishly decided to let Julie Anne Genter throw her hat into the Mt Albert by-election with all the vote splitting damage that could cause Jacinda.
The realisation that Labour really will knife the Greens and cut a deal with NZ First has frozen Green strategists like possums in the car headlights and they are now being ultra submissive to Labour – hence the Ohariu deal, hence the ultra caution in Auckland Central.
Another confused move from a Party who doesn’t seem to know what the hell they are doing.
Meanwhile the planet melts. It would be great if the Party promising to champion climate change could work out how to win elections first.
‘have gotten’
The American take-over of the English language continues.
One move forward, one giant move backward. The Greens are as clique ridden as anyone.
Do you mean “throw her hate” or should that be hat?
Both are equally effective…
Actually the wisdom I’m going to question is that of Swarbrick. She seems to be far too serious business for a hipster party.
Strange one this, I understand loyalty to someone who has served the party but I cannot see Denise Roche winning the seat and while it would have been a tough battle I think Chloe could have done it and provided the Greens with an electorate win. She already showed she can perform well during a campaign.
Auckland Central is the perfect electorate for her to run in. She has built up a name for herself within Auckland due to the mayoral campagin and has strong positive name recognition plus the buzz she has is still recent and would have lasted until the start of the campaign.
It would have got a lot of media attention and have provided a good platform for the Greens to present their policies.
The question is where does she get placed on the list? I think either NZ First or the Opportunity Party will do well in this election and I’m not sure if Greens will break 12 percent.
It will be interesting to see the list when it finally gets released.
Without any knowledge of the Green Party’s inner workings, I’d suggest it’s more a “you need to do your time” decision rather than any animus.
Not a fan of Chloe, sorry she might be a lovely person and all and probably on her way in politics, but kinda want someone who is a bit more activist and community orientated and actually more GREEN.
I can see a lot of voters over 30 years (and we do have an ageing population) choking on their breakfast if Chloe starts telling New Zealand that 23 year olds are hard done by need to have a house NOW, crash the prices, get developers out demolishing the heritage and rules so that ‘trickle down’ might happen and so forth.
Developers and Green voters are not a natural mix in my world.
In Auckland many homeowners are very angry at the Auckland Council and Natz unitary plan. Not sure anyone noticed but in a very small article Auckland council is getting a tiny slap on hand for spending $200 million of rate payers money on helping develop Westfield mall, which was not really discussed with rate payers. Wellington CEO spent 8 million to Singapore Airlines and hid that too, so I guess it’s a race to waste as much ratepayer money on corporate welfare as possible while reducing services to rate payers and forcing us all to mow our own berms because there is no money apparently.
Having someone who seems to welcome development like Chloe as a Mayoral candidate is not a natural fit to the Greens – (at this point, time might change that if Chloe does something else more Green she could run again).
Last election showed when Labour threw the election away by promising capital gains and making the oldies work longer for their pension, young ones seem to be a no show. It was meh.
Everyone else seemed to make their anger clear at the voting booth to Labour.
And we had the fucking Natz for 3 more years as climate change wrecked havoc on the planet. Do we want that to happen again by another identity politics botch up (young people will vote Chloe)?
The greens need to go back to Green politics and get those votes! There’s wild fires in Chch for God’s sake. They need to link all these horrible events back to the environment and get some passion back about the environment!
There is a reason that the Greens get a lot more votes than the Socialist party!
NZ is apparently one of the richest countries per capita in the world. Wealthier people care about the environment more than struggling people because actually if you are on the scrap heap or starting out, you tend to have to spend your time surviving and getting your life together.
We are also encouraging people to be more consumerist rather than thinking about sustainability.
Climate change and Kauri diseases are something that is a luxury to think about for many poorer people.
+100…well said
Denise who? God the labour and green strategists are fruit loops. They seem to be paralysed by their own internal clique ridden nonsense and can’t see the bigger picture. Chloe would have been an obvious choice given the profile she raised in the mayoralty run. Even if she didn’t win she would have boosted their party vote there.
Sad to say, I agree. As much as I support the party, it does a suffer a bit from over thinking and not enough common sense sometimes when making strategic thinking.
There’s quite a few exciting new women wanting to stand as candidates but it will be interesting to see how many are in for the long haul. The party list is decided by democratic vote by all party members so they will have get in line with a lot of other very good candidates for list MPs. Unless, there is significant increase in the Green’s party votes most of them are not going to make it, even Chloe doesn’t necessarily have a strong chance.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/89268635/I-couldn-t-work-for-McCully-any-longer-Greens-add-three-more-high-profile-names-to-books
Nikki Kaye’s health situation meant Swarbick didn’t have a show. And means Denise Roche hasn’t got a show. The interesting thing is where each is on the list if they are to be MPs.
I agree Pete, I think Nikki will win regardless. She is probably the only humane human in the Natz.
So she should be voted in on the sympathy card?
Unfortunately pulling on the ol’ heart strings really does work in politics. Sob stories, having come from poverty, being a solo mother, cancer survivor, disabilities etc, it all helps to “humanise” people and make them electable (even if they’re otherwise sub-human, e.g. Paula Bennett and The John Key).
I also don’t think it’s a done deal that Nikki will get central Auckland. A lot of people are mad at Natz for unitary plan, immigration that is effecting Auckland the most, congestion and the constant digging up of roads and road works. They are everywhere.
If Greens or Labour play their cards right and collaborate with the right messages, they might just get the central seat they used to win!
NZF should pick up a good share of the party vote in Auckland Central, especially with younger educated politically minded voter, evidently the Young NZF have been quite active in the University Sector.
The zombie voter will carry on with National or Labour.
+100 Jack…hope so
I also don’t think it’s a done deal that Nikki will get central Auckland. A lot of people are mad at Natz for unitary plan, immigration that is effecting Auckland the most, congestion and the constant digging up of roads and road works. They are everywhere.
If Greens or Labour play their cards right and collaborate with the right messages, they might just get the central seat they used to win!
…as if the Greens matter…
The Greens havent spent much time introducing Chloe and need to share. Following on from the successes of Marama davidson is unfortunatly a low bar to clear.
Helen White is not a nobody, Martyn. She is a highly respected employment lawyer with a loyal union client base.
She is also exuberantly sweet and charming and sharp and would make mincemeat of Nikki Kaye.
Do your research before you mouth off.
Thanks Dad 🙂
I don’t think the party would want to throw out an established candidate in favour of a newcomer; in fact that’s why they would probably not want to put in Ms Genter, as some have suggested; hence the latter’s interest in Mt Albert, in which, I suppose, she is unopposed.
Seeing Chloe’s photograph above bennett is like seeing a butterfly fluttering over a special needs rhinoceros who insists its mother dresses it. No disrespect to actual rhinocerotic creatures.
Chloe will always only incite hate, envy, loathing and contempt in her peers because she is beautiful, intelligent, kind and funny. That’s the kind of world we now live in.
Where ‘ good’ is reviled and ‘ vile’ is the new cool. Where running, hiding , swanning jonky’s are called $-50 to $-200 millionaire heroes while human, human beings rot in dirty gutters outside a sketchy casino with a barbed erection.
We live in strange times on a hostile planet do we not?
Martyn there is not a Wellington clique who run the Greens, I honestly think you should talk to people in the party who know how selection works. Clearly Denise Roche wanted to hang on to try and win Auckland central, I absolutely agree with you that she is not dynamic, in fact I don’t personally think she is a great MP at all but it is those Green party members in the electorate that make the call as to who shall contest that electorate. THEY VOTED FOR DENISE. Whilst I think Chloe would have a much better chance I must say support PPPs is not a Green party policy!
The Greens as in most parties unfortunately think that if you are in parliament then you are working hard and deserve to be there. Consequently the same old lot get in the top 15 or whatever. This is a nonsense it is really only those on the ground who have any idea who is working hard and who is not. There are some that need to go and Kennedy Graham – the diplomat who hasn’t managed to become a parliamentarian will be 50th on my list.
That’s it. Done with this site. FFS.
What ever will we do now Ron has left?
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