Rodney Hide suggested in the Herald this morning that if James Shaw was leader of the Greens there would be a greater chance they could go into coalition with National. James Shaw does not think so. From Facebook:
“Oh great. A leadership endorsement from Rodney Hide.
There’s a column about the Green co-leadership in the Herald on Sunday today written by former ACT leader Rodney Hide, declaring:
‘Are the Greens green or red? If green, they will open up the possibility of supporting National and will elect James Shaw their new co-leader. If red, they will stay glued to Labour and vote Kevin Hague.’
Okay. Firstly, I don’t think a single mainstream commentator writing about the co-leadership understands that the Greens are a democratic party and that our coalition preferences are decided by the members, not the caucus or the co-leaders. Is ‘democracy’ really such a difficult concept for our political commentariat to get their heads around?
Prior to the last two elections the membership has directed the caucus that a Green-National coalition is ‘highly unlikely.’
The barrier to such a coalition isn’t that we’re a left-wing party. National went into coalition with the Maori Party, after all (and look how well that turned out for the Maori Party!) The problem is that we’re an environmental party, and the majority of National’s policies, from subsidising greenhouse gas emissions, to seabed mining, to fossil fuel and mineral extraction in our national parks, to the limitless expansion of dairy conversion and the weakening of water quality standards, and ecological carnage in our waterways are explicitly anti-environmental.
A coalition with this National government would be very damaging to the Green Party. It would be very good for National though. It would give them an extra term in government and let them pretend that they were a ‘blue-green’ party. That’s the real motive behind these calls for the Greens to reposition ourselves with National.
My personal opinion on all of this is that Labour and the Greens should go into the 2017 election campaign campaigning together as a strong alternative government. That’s what Labour and the Alliance did in 1999 when they swept the previous National government from power. During the 2014 campaign the high point in the polls for both the Greens and Labour was just after we launched the NZPower policy. We looked like a united alternative. Briefly. This suggests that we are both rewarded when we act like a credible partnership The decision is with the members – and with Labour – but that’s what I’d like to see happen.
As co-leader I will continue to make our party credible on economic issues. And I will gladly work with National – and any politician from any party – to make progress on climate change, the most daunting political challenge in human history. I will not betray the democratic wishes of the members of the Green Party. I will not enter into a coalition that would betray the values of the party. And I’ll be highly unlikely to take political advice from Rodney Hide.”
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress