The Greens are angry – so what? What the Greens must do now
While butter doesn’t look like it would melt in his mouth, people forget Chippy is ruthless.
He has been their knight champion when the public dirty work has had to be done.
Over a plethora of issues, Chippy has been the party enforcer once punch drunk Trevor started just swinging at everything that moved.
He’s effectively a cross between Harry Party and Darth Vader.
Darth Potter.
Chippy has done the Flippy and junked Green Party policy because Flipkens is a Russian Grand Chess Master at this and knows Red on Green political smack downs play very well with the middle WHILE creating political oxygen for the Greens.
Chippy isn’t stupid enough to think Labour can win a majority again, he knows it will require the Green Party so the burning of environmental policy on his policy bonfire is political theatre by a very cunning player.
The question is how do the Greens respond.
So far it’s been storming off to the media to complain and tell anyone who will listen how unfair it all is.
Great.
The Greens are angry.
So what?
This was always the inevitable end point of taking those vacant Ministerships in the first place.
James and Marama provided Labour with political camouflage by appointing them Ministers outside parliament.
Climate Change and Homelessness is bad?
Well who are the Ministers?
Oh, James and Marama.
See, who cares if they are angry, they are responsible!
The Greens have gained sweet fuck all and have nothing to show for the last 3 years!
The strategy I argued the Greens needed to take in 2020 was to demand 5 bottom lines for the Ministerships or refuse to join the Government and threaten Jacinda with 3 years of attacking them from the Left.
Instead they took the Ministerships with no power and are in the exact powerless position I were warned they would end up in.
So what needs to be done now?
The Greens have to wake up and became far more tactical and strategic.
They should immediately call for a Green Party/Māori Party Election Hui and discuss an agreement between the two Parties to co-operate and present Labour with a united front of 10 bottom lines the Greens and Māori Party would demand in return for supporting Supply and Confidence.
These 10 bottom lines have to be policy within the first 100 days of a new Government so that voters knew these changes and the relief they would bring are worthy of their belief and support after 6 years of Labour providing little.
These 10 bottom lines would need to be Broadchurch Economic Justice, not radical identity politics dogma or it will become an immediate weapon used by the right to frighten the middle.
The 10 bottom lines have to have immediate material impact.
- Nationalise Early Childcare – make a free public option.
- 30 000 New State House Builds
- Ministry of green Works
- Free Dental
- Free Public Transport
- 30% State Supermarket entity
- Universal Free School Lunches and Breakfasts
- GST off food
- Wealth Tax & Financial Transaction Tax
- Implementation of all WEAG welfare reforms
This 10 point bottom line agreement between Greens and Māori Party would see them as a united front in negotiations with Labour so that even if Labour only needed one of them to make the 51% majority, Labour would have to negotiate with both of them without undermining either.
The Greens being angry is all well and good, but they have shown time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time agin that they aren’t very good at the strategy and tactics side of politics.
There is an opportunity here for the Greens alongside the Māori Party to put forward a platform of policy that would make a material difference within 100 days of election and that’s what our voters and supporters need.
Darth Potter is going to be as bland as possible to win the election, and that’s fine because the possibility of a National/ACT Government is terrifying, so the real progress is going to have to be done by the Greens and the Māori Party.
A 10 point bottom line list that most Kiwis would economically support opens up a far larger voting base for both parties to draw from.
There is still time for the Green Fox to jump over the Lazy Red Hog.
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They have ruled out working with National so they have to roll over every time the Labour Party gives them or their policies a kicking. They may stamp their feet and hold their breath but really does any one care . They achieved nothing for NZ or themselves when they came in as the very small third leg on a wobbly stool in 2017 and it will be no different if heaven forbid they get into power again with Labour in the driving seat .
Greens may have been done a service by the NZ Labour Caucus and PM–a Green Party worthy of the brand should be overtly anti capitalist and have an eco socialist programme–which the GP partly does already if any of you numpties can be bothered reading them!
Go Chippy! Flip CGT next and means test super – economic crisis solved!!
Quite a policy bonfire hipkins has blazing away. He must be running out of policy to burn soon.
Like all the Green pollies, Shaw’s science and technology education doesn’t extend beyond the high school level.
And it shows.
Assuming the ‘climate emergency’ is a thing, a rational, scientifically literate minister would do the following to start cutting our carbon emissions:
> Explore for and exploit natural gas because it’s a relatively low C emitter so is a good way to begin reducing emissions.
> Build some nuclear power plants and shut down Huntly once and for all. The new generation of SMRs would be ideal for NZ. Plan to build enough for the future electrification of industry and the vehicle fleet, once the battery tech is sorted out. Inexpensive, reliable electricity is essential to underpin our economic progress.
> Stop subsidizing EV’s because they’re not really that green. Instead, add a chunk of tax to petrol and diesel, all while cutting taxes elsewhere so as to remain fiscally neutral. Let the market decide how to reduce fuel consumption. This could happen in multiple ways – people buying smaller cars, doing less mileage, ride sharing etc.
What politicians in any other party know anything about science and technology?
I checked: Luxon has a BCom, Reti is a medical doctor and Matt Doocey has a BSc plus an MA in healthcare policy.
But yes, science and technology awareness is thin on the ground in National too. It’s a problem in politics generally, in that parliament cannot easily recruit people with successful professional careers.
I’m not saying that I’m against the idea, but… Selling nuclear power plants to the NZ public in a country that is prone to earthquakes would be a hard sell.
Here’s one for the list Andrew.
Pay farmers to grow biofuel.
I have seen studies that indicate Typha species can produce 2-3 times more ethanol per acre than sugarcane and about 10 times more than maize.
The root systems are 75% starch and the base stem is 25% starch. Very easy to ferment and distill.
In NZ we have a native Typha species…. Raupo. Typha Orientals.
That wetland plant most farmers on low lying ground spray the crap out of so it doesn’t invade their river flats.
Typha is used around the world in sewerage treatment to mop up excess nutrients, so it is proven to clean up excess nutrients from waterways and very likely would yeild significant amounts of carbon neutral biofuel.
Back in the early 2000’s a bunch of us pitched that idea at the Green leadership. They wouldn’t have a bar of the it because it economically exploited a native plant….and “electric vehicles were the way of the future”
Lols
If the green party and the Maori party had an election campaign alliance/MOU, you know damn well theyd be campaigning together on identity politics and nothing but identity politics.
The two parties number one demand would be a stasi intelligence agency be set up to arrest people who say mean things , both have literally called for this before….
The greens are furious that a bunch of meaningless but expensive upper middle class vanity projects like ride share EVs got cancelled to fund welfare, pension, student allowance and WFF payment increases lol.
Neither the Greens or the Maori party agree on anything other than words and feelings they don’t give a flying fuck about poor people and judging by the pathetic policies they are mad about labour tossing out, the greens don’t give a fuck about the environment either …Not one of those policies would have done a fucking lick of difference to climate change not one…. But god blimey are they mad that money get spent on the poor and not making upper middle class wine mums and their kids Sade and Finnigan feel like they are saving the world by driving an ev.
As far as labour will be concerned , the Greens have nowhere to go and if the Maori party goes with national they will cease to exist in 2026, Hipkins will be as ruthless as Helen Clark in negotiations unlike Ardern and will reject most of the demands of either party whether they are economic or woke nonsense