I have been arguing for sometime that the NZ Greens don’t have the tacticians in the backroom to be able to be effective and this latest fiasco is crippling evidence of how true that is.
The mighty Green Party of Aotearoa rolling over because their MPs are getting outplayed…
Green Party members revolt over water bottling decision
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is facing intense backlash from members threatening to quit over a decision made by one of her ministers to allow a Chinese water bottler to expand.Davidson has said she “doesn’t like” the decision after the co-leader of the Young Greens Max Tweedie wrote on an internal Facebook page that that he was “extremely disappointed” in the decision.
Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage, one of three Green ministers, announced the decision on Tuesday which allows in principle a Chinese water bottling giant to purchase land in order to expand their existing Otakiri Springs water bottling plant near Whakatane.
…if the Greens are so easy to push over on an issue as existential as China taking more water from NZ, they shouldn’t be there.
The Greens have no strategy, no tactics and end up getting tricked by far smarter players of process.
This should have been delayed, should have been gamed out and a solution found – they’ve done none of that in this case, just shuffled around pointlessly and now the activist base are livid.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again – the Greens are chequers players trying to play chess and this is just the latest realisation of that.
NZF is more Green than the Greens
….NZF policy is that NZ water is NOT for sale to overseas interests and it does not go out of New Zealand
Bullshit. They were the ones who objected to the moratorium because, you know, “the regions”.
If NZ First is so Green how come they sold the Kermadec Sanctuary down the river for a little on the side from their fishery buddies?
NZ First’s bottom lines are flexible to say the least. Immigration? Maori Seats?
No link to the blog post Eugenie wrote explaining how the decision was made?
“Greens are chequers players trying to play chess” You mean following the law?
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-harsh-reality-of-government.html
Following the law?
The law states Ministers must consider “substantial and identifiable” benefits to New Zealand.
Would you class 60 new jobs over 4 years substantial? I don’t.
Would you class export revenue that will largely return to the offshore owners a substantial benefit to NZ? I don’t.
Would you class capital investment to upgrade and expand the existing plant, thus increase their water take, hence return, which will largely head offshore a substantial benefit to NZ? I don’t.
Therefore, there were/are good grounds for Eugenie Sage to argue there are no real substantial benefits to NZ from this sensitive land sale.
Did she argue this case? It seems not.
Thankyou James – and No Right Turn. I always find the facts to be useful as times like this 🙂
Riddle:
Q: When is a greenie not a greenie?
A: When a greenie is a member of the ….. Party
The Greens false claimed special knowledge or skill and now they’ve damaged mating and intercourse relations. Most redeeming factor of the Greens is there transport policies.
If the Greens are what is considered left in NZ I might as well go and vote ACT.
It would have the same effect…
That was why I left the party in 2002 but i will forever remain a dedicated green believer since Rod Donald and jeanette Fitzsommons and Sue Kedgely were strong and ran the party I did believe in.
Winston always said they are an unknown lot that cant be relied upon.
The greens need to grow some real balls as we used to have in 2000.
None of this current crop of Green MPs would ever have made it into an electable position on the 1999 or 2002 Greens candidates list.
why..?..aren’t they careerist enough..?
you forgot Sue Bradford, Cleangreen
kedgeleys’ let-them-eat-cake!-moment: when quizzed about the environmental impact from farming animals/eating meat –
– sniffed ‘i only eat organic/free-range’
+100 CLEANGREEN
The Greens are (with the exception of Smarm-brick) right-wing chardonnay “socialists” of the propertied class; bring on Winnie’s retirement… the real Left will come, and it will be armed.
It will need to be armed. Check out Chris Trotter’s latest blog.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/06/14/whats-wrong-with-the-progressive-movements-bloody-ships/
Until we change who controls the water we can never stop people and other countries from exploiting the loop holes. No one owns the water but our council can give permits to anyone who wants to takes some for buggar all . And lets be honest they don’t provide buggar all jobs the benefits are exaggerated. And we seem to have all these ders in our country that would rather foreigners take our water and make heaps of money than our Maori people having any rights cause no one can own the water, right. Now this is bloody stupid and we are foolish as a country and we will pay the time is coming .
The problem isn’t the Greens. The problem is that no government is willing to put a value on water and give it the legal status of a national treasure/taonga.
The reason for this is because everyone wants to be able to get their mitts on it/and not pay for it, the most obvious example being farmers. Basically, it is a conspiracy of vested interests across the spectrum of society.
While this situation is put in the politically too hard basket, everyone in the world will be able to take the water.
There are new metrics in town that dosnt care if you are black, white, rich or poor, it cares if you have a good idea or not. The axiom of truth is if it is good it will persist far beyond that of mere mortals. If not it will die.
How much water in a 1/4 pounder? https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=How+much+water+in+a+1%2F4+pounder+a&oq=How+much+water+in+a+1%2F4+pounder+a&aqs=chrome..69i57.8751j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
According to some of the above answers 600 – 1,300 gallons per burger worth of meat.
Where does the exported water end up ? Plastic bottles ? Very green.
If Eugenie was constrained to make that decision because that is the law. then the law needs to be changed. Thats what governments do. That’s what they are for. That’s why we vote for them. They are the body that makes the law.
A delay should have been called pending examination of the whether the relevant law is appropriate. And changed it.
This is going to cost the Greens big time. If Labour would not co-operate with making the changes, and that is u in fact the reason why Eugenie has had to make this decision, then putting her in the position of land information minister was handing her a poisoned challis. Was it a deliberate plan?
D J S
It’s not ‘the law’.
It is part of our trade agreement with China. You know, the one Helen Clark signed…
The volume of water taken is actually quite trivial – not much more than one centre pivot. The real problem is the need to provide millions of plastic bottles and their subsequent disposal in the South China Sea.
Interesting point, Andrew…
Heard a viscous rumour that water sold in glass bottles fetch higher prices in Asia. Wonder how to communicate that back to China. Hmmmm
you have to watch out for those ‘viscous’ rumours –
At the very least, any bottled water sold overseas (and here in NZ) must be with the proviso that it is sold in glass bottles, not plastic. If we are unable to export on that proviso, then there is something seriously amiss with our notions of sovereignty.
The amount of plastic rubbish on the streets, parks, beaches is unbelievable!! And not just plastic straws – the damnable things come f*****g wrapped in plastic wrappers!
New Zealand in my opinion should also have the capability to recycle plastic into pallets because glass is a scarce resource that should be sold at a certain price for export, freeing up more harmful plastic bottles for environmental security and circulation with in NZs own robust and secure supply chain so we don’t export an environmental risk.
plus also the amount of water is trivial compared to the water use from growing meat – something else the greens are totally silent on..
how the animal farming methods used in nz are the most polluting of all..
but i think most green mp’s eat them – animals..
..so where is the hope..?
Here we go again
You are blaming Labour for what the Greens have done.
The childlike sanctimonious comfortable Greens have shat in their own pretty pyjamas.
The Greens – lets face it – are a political nightmare. They place Aotearoa in all sorts of weird crap. You can always count on them slipping backwards.
Why don’t the mugs get out there and ask New Zealanders if they want to give free water by the trillions of litres daily to other Nations – while we the citizens have to pay for water.
yet Another self inflicted disaster for the brain dead greens. If the law made it necessary, change the fucking law that’s what a government does.
They are burning for this and rightly so.
Read Eugenies Facebook comments, people are very very angry.
keepcalmcarryon – have you ever thought of changing your moniker to keepcalmcarrion..?….more nuanced i feel..?
It’s not the water issue which is doing my head in. It’s the sale of even more land. I thought this government campaigned on stopping land sales to foreigners, not on allowing expansion?
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^^^
AGAIN .
THIS.
100,000 TIMES OVER.
More disillusioned than ever with the NZ Greens. The party simply can’t be relied on to stick to Green policy and carry it through. Their policies are going every which way now.
Seems the Greens could be preparing to run a blue/green campaign next election, maybe more blue than Green! This latest move being a right leaning point!
The Greens are neither playing chess nor chequers, they are playing solitaire.
They painted themselves into the corner with their own pre-election rhetoric: Rhetoric they cannot deliver on.
The same goes for Labour and prisons & housing. They own their own problems.
I don’t know about this.
This doesn’t seem plausible.
Why would a Greens Party minister approve something which is so obviously against party policy and will so obviously have members and supporters spitting the dummy?
I think there is a lot we are not being told about this deal and in the interests of fairness I would like more information before joining the hate chorus.
It will take a blog like TBD to find this out, the MSM won’t be interested because it suits their political agenda not to find out.
I agree that there is likely more than we are seeing going on here. But Eugenie should be explaining it.
D J S
difficult to wonder what it might be..
Disillusioned greens should take this as a signal that’s it’s time to leave the ‘business as usual’ mother-ship. What’s really needed right now is a more radical green, localisation movement.
[Comment declined for publication. There is nothing humorous about a speech impediment and using it in a political comment is offensive. Try again. – Scarletmod]
What complete Muppets the Greens are!
Say what you like about National (and I do), they at least deserve credit for always doing what they wanted to do when they were in government. If there was legislation standing in their way, they would just change it under urgency. What’s the point of being in government if you’re not prepared to show some balls and actually implement the very policies you campaigned on?
hard to argue against that..
to date they are putting the ‘useless’ in ‘useless bastards’..
[…] I’ve already pointed out that the Greens could have said no to this, could have used some imagination to change it, could have been far more clever in their handling of it, but the real smack on arse here surely has to be that the Greens, right after saying they would green light this water theft for 60 jobs, turns down a coal mine because it’s only going to create 60 jobs. […]
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