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  1. I’m already regretting voting Green.

    Don’t regret it. For all their faults and weaknesses, we’re going to need them, in both the near and longer term future.

    1. Kheala. The Maori Party may be better on environmental issues; as tangata whenua, Maori are part of the historical narrative witnessing how very very quickly, a country was degraded – and by all sorts of people too.

      1. We on the ‘Left’ of politics, by which I mean those who care about the wellbeing of everyone, of the poor as much as the wealthy, of the environment more than profits, and of all those who want a more equitable and sustainable AO/ NZ, …we are going to need all the support we can get in 2023.

        By 2023 the mega-corps, the oil companies, the mining companies, and all the exploitative ultra wealthy are likely to be back in force. No longer be distracted by the US election, they will be here to install whoever they want. And they may do that, unless we have grown a base that is wide enough and strong enough to just say, “No”.

        1. Yes, but although they might have managed it with Key, they didn’t with Ardern – came spanners in the works – and I also agree with your previous comment elsewhere about living in a state of preparedness for another pandemic/unexpected event, but the psyche of New Zealand may have undergone a major change as a result of the dynamics of the pandemic.

      2. Snow White: “…Maori are part of the historical narrative witnessing how very very quickly, a country was degraded – and by all sorts of people too.”

        Indeed. Including themselves, of course. It’s what humans have done, wherever they’ve gone, no matter how long ago.

  2. I read Golriz’ utterings today that it was hypocritical of ACT calling to shut down the HRC because of free speech.
    No hypocrisy of course in Golriz legally defending genocidal mass murderers as a previous job.

    I agree with you also in that the woke bullshit mainly from the greens is what is sadly beginning the polarizing of our politics -as is Labour/greens denying due process on draconian gun law, a lot of ACTs vote comes from this.

    Where are the Rod Donalds and the Jeanette Fitzsimmons who could unite us to do the things we need to do instead of putting us at each other’s throats?

  3. Act are trying to stay relevant. They can sit in the back benches and squawk. See more might as well enjoy the company cause they will all be gone at the next election. As for his deputy she got 600 and a bit votes not exactly an overwhelming mandate.

  4. The assault on free speech is international, and is very sinister.

    ‘Glenn Greenwald Resigns From The Intercept After Editors Refuse To Publish Biden Criticism’

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/glenn-greenwald-resigns-intercept-after-editors-refused-publish-biden-criticism

    Couple censorship with blatant persecution of truth-tellers such as Assange and we see that we are living in very dangerous, very nasty political times.

    And the global environmental that facilitated the establishment and development of civilisation is collapsing, largely because of censorship and manipulation of the narrative by the BAU mob, but also because the Greens (and their equivalents elsewhere) have failed abysmally to highlight what matters and have spent so much time and energy promoting trivial nonsense.

    As for ACT, well we should be calling them what they really are: Orcs (as per LOTR; and add National to that category).

    1. +100..well said !…and especially !”The assault on free speech is international, and is very sinister.”

  5. Everyone should be opposing ACTs plans re HRC, and its entire hardline capitalist policy in fact.

    Singling out the Greens for alleged “identity crimes“ seems a waste of time when there is so much other political work to do.

    1. Agree Tiger Mountain. Also to; Covid is pa, above that ACT is grasping for relevance in opposition.
      I assume that the Greens’ involvement in the Massey speech cancellation was mostly on Twitter? Which I avoid. Can’t recall any official party announcements about it anyway.

  6. Any party that ruthlessly goes full identity politics just give ammunition to the right wing parties…

    Look at UK Labour….
    UK Labour Party suspends former leader Jeremy Corbyn after release of report on anti-Semitism
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300145471/uk-labour-party-suspends-former-leader-jeremy-corbyn-after-release-of-report-on-antisemitism

    Human rights lawyers and commissions also seem to have a lot to be desired and part of the problem now. It was better when the message was everybody is equal, instead of the woke message is that everyone is racist apart from woke puritans and race itself being used to subjugate other races aka Zionism vs Palestinians. This soon merges into, anyone supporting the powerless (Palestinians) is now persecuted by powerful woke led witch hunts.

  7. Your bullet point list of ACT’s neoliberal “madness” perfectly sums up the reasons that I voted for them! Their policy is music to my ears. Chris Ballie is my favourite new ACT MP, I like his climate change skeptic views. Thank you very much greens, I’ve been supporting ACT for years through their bad election results, but after this election I now feel vindicated.

  8. I have a lot of respect for Golriz, and to me, the bully-boy beat ups of her are just that, ugly, stupid bullying. Her words and thoughts are clear, incisive and often courageous. I am thankful she is still representing us, and speaking truths that some find uncomfortable, and/ or choose to take offence at.

  9. “Green MP Golriz Ghahraman fears ACT leader David Seymour’s call to abolish the “hard-left” Human Rights Commission “shows how far” the party has “moved to the extreme right”.”

    Good grief…once again, Gharahman demonstrates how little she understands contemporary political issues.

    It is the HRC which is sliding into right-wingery. The stuff about hate speech is censorship, pure and simple. If we’re slinging epithets around, I’d characterise this as dangerously close to fascism. As to the rest of its so-called “manifesto”, the aims are variably laudable, but within the remit of the government, surely?

    Though it isn’t clear to me why NZ needs commissioners for the elderly and indigenous people.

    “….the neoliberal horror of ACT….”

    I’m an old lefty. That’s exactly how I’d characterise the current government. To boot, Ardern is a Blairite. I most certainly do not agree with all of ACT’s policies, but I rate highly its stance on free speech.

    In addition, its mental health policy was praised on this blogsite, no less. I agree with that as well.

    I also agree with Seymour’s call to disestablish the HRC, though obviously not for the same reasons.

    Defence of free speech used to be in the purview of the left wing. What the hell went wrong?

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