Chris Trotter, ACTs and Chippy’s worst nightmare comes true: Chloe Swarbrick elected Greens co-leader
Green Party elects Chlöe Swarbrick as new co-leader
The new Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick used her first speech in the role to chide what she calls “legacy politics”.
Swarbrick, 29, was widely expected to replace James Shaw as co-leader after he announced his impending resignation from politics in January.
She was confirmed in the role on Sunday morning after her only competitor, Alex Foulkes, conceded the race.
And the resistance to this hard right racist climate denying beneficiary bashing Government that started with Māoridom is now joined by radical Green Party with the election of Chloe as co-leader.
ACT, National and NZ First should be concerned because Chloe won’t hold back the way other politicians do.
She will give them a genuine run for their money.
Chloe as co leader is also problematic for Labour.
Left wing voters since the election have turned to the Greens, Māori Party and TOP.
ABL.
Anyone But Labour.
Labour’s fecklessness to be transformative burnt and poisoned many on the Left.
In working class Auckland, these voters stayed at home and didn’t vote.
In middle class Auckland, they voted Green.
Labour haemorrhaged working class left vote AND lost middle class left vote.
In the Auckland middle class electorates, the Greens were incredibly successful because the Green Wealth Tax won them over intellectually.
Chloe will rip Labour voters from the hapless Chippy as middle class AND working class voters dump Labour for political parties with actual political values and real solutions.
If Labour are not frightened by Chloe as co-Leader and the ramifications of what that will do to the Left vote, then they have become as delusional as their GST off your banana strategy was.
I first met Chloe in 2016 during her Auckland Mayoralty campaign where she came a remarkable third and even from that moment she was unique.
I’ve had the privilege of speaking with Chloe on many occasions and she is without a doubt the real deal.
Her intellect to connect policy to the end impact on people is remarkable.
Her criticism of bad policy is always precision targeted.
Her understanding of how the neoliberal economic hegemonic structure is built for the powerful is fundamental to her intellectual confidence.
She is one of the most intelligent MPs we have in the House right now, she’s so good, I’d argue she’s smarter than David Seymour, and I consider Seymour almost as smart as David Parker!
I’ve spoken at length with Chloe about ideas and politics and it is abundantly clear to me that she is without ego in this. She is a TRUE believer because she’s smart enough to see how the policy intersects with real people. She has an intellectual confidence because she really is a researched radical.
She sure as Christ ain’t in this to tinker at the edges.
You fight the negative populism of Trump with the positive populism of Bernie Sanders.
You promise truly free education, truly free health, truly free public transport.
It’s Left universalism that lifts all people funded by the richest amongst us.
To have that fight demands a Green Party reset in terms of tactics and strategy.
No more hugs. It’s time to fight bare knuckle and that means a total over haul of the Green strategy team who have made some disastrous calls on tactics over the years.
Remember when the Greens gave their questions to National and won’t allowing barracking?
This pious bullshit doesn’t win fights and Chloe has just picked a fight with the most self interested of political blocks.
Incremental Labour plus the entire Right wing establishment who benefit from our rigged under regulated capitalism.
Stop calling it the Wealth Tax, call it the 1% Tax because we are aiming to tax the richest.
An entire raft of new taxes aimed at the speculators and the Banks and the rich need to be brought on board to lower working peoples taxes AND fund the social and physical infrastructure upgrade required.
Chloe knows this.
She is about actual fundamental solutions, not the tinkering and by doing so, she has bought an enormous fight with the venal right and self loathing left.
If Chloe is truly going to lead a revolution at the ballot box, if she is truly going to look at breaking and re-setting the neoliberal economic hegemony, then every single one of us who has ever voted left have an obligation to swing in behind her leadership, sign up and become a member and throw every ounce of effort into building the Greens into the dominant new political force for the Left.
She is the last chance of the Left having a leader who will actually reset the crooked foundations and make the fight finally worthwhile for many who are just getting by.
Chloe is the Jacinda we wish Jacinda was.
Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country.
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Kiwis vote for the best looking most personable candidates, sadly, so chloe will do well as long as marama can keep her trap shut for more than 10 minutes
The rednecks, gammons, property investors, rich pricks, landlords, share holders, anti vaxers, Jew lovers, employers, slave drivers, farmers, polluters, god-botherers, Karens, TERF’s, homophobes, transphobes, business owners, speculators, retired colonels, finance bros, cookers, NFT bros, STEM-lords, incels, are going to rip into her like no ones business. They see the Bible and profit as the the only thing that that matters in this world, and people like her are a threat to it and must be stopped.
I will help her fight them to death.
Those who support Israel’s (and its supporters) percecution and extermination campaign against the Palestinian. Seeing as people who support the Palestinans are smeared as anti-semites and Jew-haters, then I will wear that label with pride.
Chloe is a fine, in fact the only, choice for the role.
The Greens are not without internal problems, however, having nursed the viper Elizabeth Kererere, they are clearly a locus of identity politics. They need a male co-leader to offset a tendency to undervalue or disregard 50% of the voting population.
Labour will do their best to sabotage, rather than support a Left renaissance too, they cannot welcome a Green growth that necessarily criticizes their sell out of working people.
I strategically vote to make it hurt National and Act and much as possible and have since the 1970s.
Sadly, democratic systems seemingly always degenerate into a state where it’s more effective to vote against factions and parties, or at best, to vote for the lesser of evils, than it is to exercise the luxury of voting for what one truly aspires to. It’s lamentable.
The Greens and the more progressive left parties often suffer because of that imperative. At the same time, Labour undeservingly retains a voting block due to it.
If you do secure an interview, remember we want details and not just nice sounding soundbites.
When it comes to transitioning, will she uphold the Just Transition commitment?
The International Just Transition Declaration acknowledges that countries must respond to the climate crisis in a way that is fair to everyone. How will she ensure this?
“To have that fight demands a Green Party reset in terms of tactics and strategy”
Indeed.
Has Chloe committed to this?
You should call her in for an interview. Put it out there, seek feed back and call her in for a follow up on that feed back.
Lets see where her head is at.
Does she plan to hit the road running?
She should get assurances now that Labour will still form a Government with them if the Greens outperform them.
Would Labour form a Government with a stronger Green Party?
In 2017 (when the Greens were on the rise and Labour were in downfall) Andrew Little said Labour would need a considerably greater share of the vote to form a government than 24 percent.
Though Little is no longer leader, has the party’s position changed?
A clarion call! Everyone heed it!! Great article, Martyn if you weren’t so necessary in the 4th Estate, trampled as it is, you should become a Green Politician. Do both?
Would Labour form a Government with a stronger Green Party?
In 2017 (when the Greens were on the rise and Labour were in downfall) Andrew Little said Labour would need a considerably greater share of the vote to form a government than 24 percent.
Though Little is no longer leader, has the party’s position changed?
You just need to fix Labour now for a chance of a change of government in 2029.
You’ve got more chance of getting a handjob from Elvis
Its time for cooperation from the left. We have never been truly successful with this strategy however this coalition was voted for by a wide array of people. The left need to get organized and be a united force to combat this awful government. There is not one saving grace through the lot of them ,not one personality who one grudgingly admires. Personally I think Potaka is a weak link. He is doing the dirty work to make people homeless and when the shit hits the fan, when rough sleepers with children are everywhere how will his own whanau respond. The next weak link is Winston Peters , he’ll be happy for the next little while sitting in the front row, however this is not going to last. The left need to aggravate him in parliament by ignoring him, no questions to him take Jerry Brownlee to the edge of his tether because that’s when both Peters and Seymour are at their worst and that’s what the public needs to see.
And NZ goes backwards…..
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/australia-is-calling-worries-kiwi-ece-teachers-are-keen-to-answer/QS7HRWBGZRCTROPAJSI6SIM5KA/
ECE teachers have learnt from the last National government and its freezes, so they’re off!
A “1%er Tax” is a masterstroke Bomber–because it removes the aspirationals and upper middle class from the equation–we are not coming for your Ford Raptors and pizza ovens…we have bigger corporates and banks to stick it to.
The 1% tax framing is brilliant.99% will not pay more tax.
I suspect she’ll be very successful at teasing aware the leftist most end of Labours support BUT those on the right end of Labour will be scared off. The end result will be locking in NACT for at least 3 terms potentially more.
The stupidity of the left to lock in rogernomics with the change to MMP continues….
Yes I know that now but MMP was an effort to ensure that people could widen their vote and not just have the two parties duking it out. Perhaps was needed for maturity, but did we get that. I don’t like STP though. It’s like having one and half votes or more, just muddies the waters.
Research Ed radical, good debater. But has she had a job in a Fish & Chip Shop.
She still isn’t going to convince the US, China and India to reduce emissions. It’s best faced rather than looking for false hope.
That’s a cop out. All this talk about China, building more coal fired plants ignores the massive amount of solar and other initiatives they are undertaking. We will get left behind. Look at how much the UK have reduced omissions.
Adaption Adaption Adaption
How can it be a cop out? Say we do everything the Greens would like. The US, China and India will still make sure Kiribati disappears. Why would any of these three major polluters care about the United Kingdom?
I’m a Green Party member and New Zealand has to have a capable military created from assessing the capabilities in our region and designing a set of capabilities that can respond to that.
Non violent revolution is pretty good at tacking on oil companies, corporations or your petty pet project to ban free speech or what but you can’t challenge the might of a nation state with that they’ll just cruise in and take whatever resources. A gain look at the capabilities already being deployed by Japanese whale poachers in the southern Ocean they’re collaborating with the Japanese navy >>> https://www.whales.org.au/news/a-gunboat071229.html
And china just sends coast guard vessels that are more capable than our heaviest warships the Anzacs >>> https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3229313/chinese-coastguard-ships-sent-fisheries-patrol-mission-northern-pacific
If we look for tactics and strategies then we shouldn’t adopt those that our opponents prefer. When ever we choose tactics or strategy we have to ask ourselves who ate we trying to help?
Are we trying to help ourselves feel good?
Or are we truing to help the victims?
Now those choices always leads to very different tactics and strategies in this case let’s say we boycotted some university for its stance on freespeech the hardliners would turn around and say well why don’t we boycot some university in Israel. Well fine Israel is 10,000 kilometres away it’s total hypocrisy. We can’t do anything about it and we have no influence other than the ones that make us feel good fir expelling some random ambassador in a far off land. It may make us feel good but expelling the ambassador would harm Palestinians.
New Zealand needs a highly technological military for total defence. If you look at a map of New Zealand and the position of our sea ports, airports, fishing grounds and and resources andnthe resources of our poorer neighbours then you will understand that we will need a fleet of at least 3×6000 ton multi-purpose frigates, 3 airborne early warning radars and 6 P8s to coordinate a meagre handful of joint strike missiles and naval strike missiles and anti submarine warfare capabilities fired from an airwing or to of our own fighter jets and battle ships.
We are also going to need some corvettes that can be deployed in regional peacekeeping missions in peace time and convoy duties when things turn hot over Taiwan or Ukraine meaning America gets fully involved.
America has already spent about 700 million on bases in Australia capable of supporting 250,000 U.S. troops, 6 B52 bombers and who knows how many nuclear submarines.
Regardless of my opinion. You can’t look at South Pacific any of the countries in it are in peek military condition.
The Belgian and Dutch armies ditched all their tanks without replacement and had to take turns committing just 4 planes to fight ISIS. Erdogan has been turning the Turkish army into a cabal of cronies. The Luftwaffe has only 4 fighter aircraft combat ready out of 128, even then only during the day. New Zealand’s combat capabilities are in even wirse shap the British military is facing new waves of cuts each government while it is still fighting wars.
For non-violent nations like New Zealand, besides Finland next to none of their governments take defence seriously.
NZDF is struggling to recruit enough people to maintain even the tiny 8,000 force, including all branches and reserves, due to not paying their servicemen and women enough to compete with bloody supermarket work.
Switzerland has an entire political movement with the aim of dismantling the entire Swiss military and my Party The New Zealand Greens want to follow suit.
The battle space is being prepared its embolding people like Xi and Putin.
If New Zealand doesn’t need the U.S. to defend/help defend us then why should the U.S. be spending lots of money supporting iur trade and communications corridors? Plus, why should the U.S. be obligated to commit their aid/defense, including young Americans dying, if we are going to choose to sit it out.
If any government cares about maintain total defence across all realms of endeavour the budget won’t be going down. There’s to many capabilities that have been lost and new ones that is required not just in defence for any serious spending guts other than to gut the military and poor people.
I’m not talking of a 2% defence maintenance budget it has to be at least 5% and corporate New Zealand, manufacturing, industries and salaries are going to have to at least match that in order to create a proper peace dividend that keeps kiwi safe from war.
“New Zealand has to have a capable military created from assessing the capabilities in our region and designing a set of capabilities that can respond to that.”
I’ve never heard a convincing argument for that. Never.
I’ve heard arguments that we need armed forces to maintain our alliances with certain partners, in other words, we’re being coerced into it as a club membership fee by another party.
Leaving nuclear armaments out of it, when push comes to shove our armed forces will never be an effective deterrent. Help will come our way when, or if and only if, it is in another party’s interest to help us, regardless of our own capability.
Before the cold war was in Europe. Now it’s in the pacific. I don’t think America will blast our shipping but I do think China will blast everything out to the eastern sea board of Australia with its JL2s and even hit America with its CSS4. As someone who is of fighting age I will prescribe a defence budget of 5%.
she needs to dump the co leader and be sole leader .Also tone down the raucus screeching from the pulpit as people listen more if you speak to them not yell AT them.Other than that go hard and give NZ a real future as a sociiety
Seymour may well be intelligent, but he is restricted by his ideology which is far too rigid.
Seymour is not at all intelligent..
What he does do is continually phone up the media and make himself available for comment.
He’s a clueless delusional clown, with a massive delusional ego, spouting completely dumb, unproven, non- evidence based, unworkable, nonsensical ideas, and consequently, he is a danger to the fabric of New Zealand society.
This is what you get when big money is thrown at someone to go and get their job done..
Another God-botherer zealot programmed robot sent on a mission..
Remember him taking the prays at Waitangi…how ridiculous…how toe curling was that!
No one in their right mind would employ Seymour in the real world!
Paula Bennett was the same…fundamentally stupid!
Had to resort to becoming a realestate agent in the end…very appropriate…the
lowest of the low.
Seymour is trying to be a career politician because there’s good money in it for someone like him, and, let’s face it, he doesn’t have anything else to do with his time….
But one way or the other, he will meet his Waterloo!!
At least she has a certain intellect -unlike some of the past leaders. Can we ever forget that possum peppering nonsense?