Wow.
The saddest bit of this interview is that I totally believe they think they were amazing…
James Shaw and Marama Davidson say 2022 went ‘phenomenally well’
“I think under the circumstances, we’ve done phenomenally well,” says Shaw.
…phenomenally well? Hooton (from behind his paywall) managed to trick an entire faction of the Green Party to turn against their own leader! He breadcrumbed easily manipulated Green Party members into a minefield and then melted away like the CIA at a Bay of Vegan Pigs. They didn’t even have a candidate to challenge Shaw!
A phantom coup on top of back downs on Agricultural emissions, a million a day spent on kettling beneficiaries into dangerous motels, virtue signals at COP27, 3 Waters Entrenchment fiasco and soaring inequality.
Phenomenally well?
The Greens capitulated their mana for the vacant baubles of Office in a Government they has no power in and what have they to show for that strategic blunder?
Woke bullshit.
I warned the Greens in 2020 that unless they went in hard and demanded transformative change and threatened a civil war with Labour, they would get sweet FA, and they’ve managed to get even less than that!
Greta is right, the real power is protesting outside the conference, not selling out inside the conference!
The Green strategy team are Checkers players trying to play Chess.
Marama’s and James negotiating tactic with Labour after the 2020 election was to get on their knees and beg!
You don’t get nuthin by begging, and they got nuthin..
No policy gains, just a couple of vacant baubles of office.
The Greens repeatedly get screwed over by Labour in a never ending cycle of abuse that started with Helen Clark and you kind of feel like someone should step in and intervene now.
Labour gain the inoculation and political camouflage they want and the Greens get nothin.
Jacinda’s tepid incrementalism will not be challenged by the Greens, it will be supported by them.
As the climate crisis events explode, as welfare reform goes no where, as housing stagnates, as poverty spreads, the Greens will sit alongside Labour like a parasitic twin unable to think for itself let alone change things.
It is rapidly becoming apparent that Labour and the Greens are not the political vehicle for transformative change. With Labour too focused on preventing Covid from exploding in NZ and the Greens now gagged, no forward thinking vision on how to transform things will be articulated.
It’s a Labour + Green supported Government, that gives them 75 seats in a 120 seat Parliament  and yet they STILL CAN’T be transformative?
All the Greens have gained for their hollow Ministerships is collusion with mediocrity plus some identity politics wins.
The Greens don’t know if they are Arthur or Martha and if they did they would need a 6month hui to discuss pronoun use.
Watching Climate Strike For Students Auckland cancel itself recently because of heteronormative cis male privilege sums up the Greens perfectly. A middle class aesthetic for social justice virtue signals tied into woke dogma that believes all white people are cross burning racists, B-E-L-I-E-V-E all women because all men rapists and anyone supporting free speech is a uniform wearing Nazi who hates the Trans community.
The Greens are as alienating as a Spin-off dinner party where everyone is arguing over who hates white men the most.
The Greens are perfect for free the nipple rallies with cycling militant Trans ally mommy bloggers, not so good on the economic neoliberal hegemony.
They’ve spent 5 years harvesting the low hanging fruit of identity politics while doing nothing meaningful on poverty, homelessness or climate change.
Their only hope is Chloe.
Chloe is a unique talent. She speaks with the energy of the new voting generation in a language that empowers and challenges. She is an incredible communicator and if she had the Leadership, she could dominate political debate.
What could be more radical than the youngest Political Leader in NZ History?
Chloe as Leader is a 15% Party. Imagine Jacinda as Prime Minister with Chloe as Deputy.
To be politically relevant, the Greens need to be needed by Labour. To do that they need to take Labour voters.
Chloe can do that. Marama and James can’t, but this was all decisions that needed to be made and implemented 12 months ago, not attempted with no new policy, no new vision and no new mandate!
Meanwhile the planet burns, inequality gets worse, poverty deepens, an entire generation is locked out of home ownership!
The last chance for Left progressive policy is a list of bottom line first 100 day laws in the 2023 election to force Labour into being more Bernie Sanders than cautious Grant and Jacinda are confident to attempt.
Here’s what a Labour/Green/Maori Party Government should be committed to passing in the first 100 days of the 2023 election…
1: Feed every kid in NZ a free nutritious and healthy breakfast and lunch at every school using local product and school gardens with parents paid to come in and help. The slow incrementalism touted by favourite public sector for dragger apologist Max Rashbrooke isn’t good enough because the lower middle classes are feeling the same pinch thanks to mortgage rises and universal school lunches and breakfasts would help them as well.Â
2: 50 000 State Homes for life built using the best environmental and social architecture standards using the public works act to seize land and immediately start building satellite towns using upgraded public transport hubs plus Renter Rights – (rent freezes, end accomodation payments, long term tenancy arrangements)Â
3: Free public transport plus vast infrastructure upgrade for climate crisis.
4: 30% stake holder in a new Government backed supermarket operation run to provide lower food prices for kiwism better prices for supplies and better conditions for workers.
5: GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and essentials like tampons, toilet paper, condoms, oral health plus a sugar tax.
6: Free Dental services for everyone through public health.
7: Fair Pay Agreements that allow unionisation and real collective bargaining power for workers outside the tiny public service clique they currently cover.
8: Taxation focused on corporations and banks  like financial transaction taxand first $20 000.
9: Offer nurses, teachers and Drs free education and living allowances in return for bonded time in our health and eduction systems.Â
10: Properly funded public broadcasting with TVNZ advert free and merged with RNZ alongside properly funded journalism through NZ on Air with more money for the Arts and Science. If you can’t have good public journalism, the right wing media will destroy these other 9 advances.Â
…Kiwis have to see a progressive Government ACTUALLY doing shit in the first 100 days or they won’t believe any change is coming and when you consider the economic maelstrom we are entering, the most vulnerable amongst us will be screaming for real change.
If we on the Left don’t offer voters real solutions to their material problems and instead prefer to micro aggression police the latest middle class virtue signals of hate speech, cancelling Comedians and screaming everyone is racist, we are fucked politically in 2023.
We need more real economic solutions on the Left and far less pronoun policing.
We need to be kinder to individuals and crueller to Corporations.
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Would do better as a BLUE GREEN party.
More policy wins under National f t Greens. Got to break away from the dependency on Labour
make Chloe leader and she will create a massive stir by not ruling out National.
National refuse to support legisation that would stop farmers and businesses from polluting our rivers.
Greens should be supporting party based on most policy gains. But they themselves can’t agree on their own priorities, and instead latch on to Labour to take them in some rudderless direction, based on preexisting prejudices. Some day a real green party will be born, and the fake one will disappear.
So you’re trying to convince people that a third term might finally bring “transformational change” when the first two terms didn’t.
Good luck in selling that, no one is buying it.
Its too late, the Greens will be replaced by Winston and his geriatric supporters
Greens should be supporting party based on most policy gains. But they themselves can’t agree on their own priorities, and instead latch on to Labour to take them in some rudderless direction, based on preexisting prejudices. Some day a real green party will be born, and the fake one will disappear.
Chloe as Leader is a 15% Party. Imagine Jacinda as Prime Minister with Chloe as Deputy.
A truly dynamic duo! A divinely feminine inspired leadership. Throw in an Aries, a Capricorn and a Taurus to actually get stuff done and New Zealand and all of our people will rise from the ashes. It’s totally doable. What sun signs are Ardern and Swarbrick? We really should analyze our politicians astrology to put together a fully functioning and effective government. JMO 🙂
Love the Midsommar reference comrade, very apropos.
As I said before, National oppose clean air and water regulations, preferring to let people just put what they like our rivers.
No same Green party should be signing up to water quality deregulation.
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