Greens and the Māori Party on the new Labour leaders

weka
7 years ago
Categories: election 2017, greens, jacinda ardern, labour, maori party
Tags: coalition, coalition of the left, Labour leadership

Green Party committed to working with Labour to change the government

Metiria Turei MP on Tuesday, August 1, 2017 – 11:40

The Green Party is committed to working with Labour to change the government this September.

“Our relationship will continue to be sound now that Jacinda Ardern has assumed leadership of the Labour Party, and our congratulations goes out to her and new deputy leader, Kelvin Davis. Our goal remains the same – to change the government this September, and we’re looking forward to working together to achieve this,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

“Andrew Little has spent the last two and a half years standing up for all New Zealanders, working to bridge the gap between rich and poor, and to call out the National Government’s many failures. We thank him for that.

“What’s important now is that we show New Zealanders we have answers to the problems we face as a nation; homelessness, families struggling to get by, climate change, and dirty rivers and lakes. These are problems National has failed to address or solve – it’s time to change the government,” said Mrs Turei.

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The Māori Party,

Despite Tuku Morgan being unnecessarily antagonistic in his framing, and even with this also being about getting more Māori Party votes, I’m pleased to see this finally and clearly on the table from the right within the Māori Party (Marama Fox was already on board).

Jacinda Ardern unequivocally affirmed the MoU with the Greens in her first press conference as the new leader of the Labour Party. She nailed that press conference, and had the Labour front bench standing behind her supportive and invigorated. I’m sorry to see Little step down, but glad to see him retaining his senior position within the caucus, he’s an asset for Labour and NZ.

The coalition partners are waiting in the wings, so let’s see if Labour can pull this off. A couple of hours is apparently a short time in politics. Things are moving fast but it’s starting to look like game-changing stuff.

(updated at 2.30pm)