Metiria to resign as leader

Written By: - Date published: 5:14 pm, August 9th, 2017 - 195 comments
Categories: election 2017, greens, Metiria Turei, Politics - Tags:

As if things could not get any crazier.  In breaking news …

This post will be updated as it develops.

And because we need some humour on this dark day …

https://twitter.com/DavidSlack/status/895151480142954498

195 comments on “Metiria to resign as leader ”

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  1. r0b 1
    9 August 2017 at 5:17 pm

    Bugger.

    Incredible respect for Metiria Turei. She’ll be doing what she thinks is best for her family and her cause, but I wish she had stayed on and faced the bastards down.

    • mickysavage 1.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:19 pm

      I suspect Paddy Gower’s news at 6 will have had a lot to do with this.

      Metiria was that principled she was happy to sacrifice her career for the common good, just like Andrew.

      • r0b 1.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 5:23 pm

        Yes, honourable politicians the pair of them. Respect.

        • Anne 1.1.1.1
          9 August 2017 at 5:53 pm

          +1000 micky and r0b.

          • ianmac 1.1.1.1.1
            9 August 2017 at 6:19 pm

            Me too.
            Patrick said Materia saw the poll this afternoon and he proudly claimed responsibility for her demise. What a rat he is!

            • Stuff The Politicians 1.1.1.1.1.1
              9 August 2017 at 7:44 pm

              Gower is a rat alright.
              And he is a rat among many other rats.

              Just what is his claim to fame, apart from being a lickspittle for the National Party.

              However, this may well backfire on the Nats, there will be much sympathy out among the voters for the Greens now and for Meteria, and the next polls will reflect this.

              Hopefully, the dirty liitte rats on the right get their noses rubbed into the dirt.

          • mosa 1.1.1.1.2
            9 August 2017 at 7:08 pm

            =10,000 Mickey and r0b Well put.

      • Sabine 1.1.2
        9 August 2017 at 6:04 pm

        i tend to disagree with you.

        they might have thougth that what they do is for the common good, but sadly it wont be.

        we are either gonna get the usual crap unfiltered as the last 9 years, or we are gonna get the usual crap filtered i.e. light under the empty suits of Labour and whom ever they are gonna go get involved with so as to attract the unhappy National voters.

        None of it will help those that are not served by any party in NZ. Abject Poverty – as lived by the many on the goodwill of a Winz Drone – will continue as usual cause frankly, no one gives a shit.

        So no, the country lost. Bigly even. It lost two good people that will not be replaced in a long time.

        • NewsFlash 1.1.2.1
          9 August 2017 at 6:47 pm

          Mate, the Greens were never going to be in charge, remember its MMP
          and the Green support at the moment is 3 out of twenty in support.

          It’s extremely sad that such a wonderful human being has stepped down at this critical time in her political career, having said that, I’m a firm believer in the phoenix syndrome, where a week in politics is a long time and Metiria will be back, even stronger and wiser.

    • d 1.2
      9 August 2017 at 9:51 pm

      That turd was a pox on the left.
      She would have been cancer right up till the election.

  2. Draco T Bastard 2
    9 August 2017 at 5:17 pm

    Damn.

    Shows how truly shallow and vindictive that NZ has become.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:39 pm

      From the email:

      She is an incredible woman and strong leader but the ongoing scrutiny and pressure from media has taken its toll on her family and loved ones and she has decided to put them first.

    • Jenny Kirk 2.2
      9 August 2017 at 6:42 pm

      Yeah – three decades of neo-liberalism and all the goodwill generated from the 1970s thru to the early 1980s from protest activities (Springbok tour, nuclear-free, feminism, environmental care) has gradually dissipated and we can no longer claim we are a “caring” nation. Not one little bit.

  3. james 3
    9 August 2017 at 5:18 pm

    Had to happen. She really misjudged what the voters would think.

  4. james 4
    9 August 2017 at 5:19 pm

    Whats worse for the greens – I think that this will stick – they were looking for a higher %age of the vote this election – I think they will be considerably lower now.

    • spikeyboy 4.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:23 pm

      Certainly will now Turei has gone. Just lost my vote

    • spikeyboy 4.2
      9 August 2017 at 6:09 pm

      Cancel that. Sounds like totally her call so still worth supporting. Shaw has been staunch the whole time too.

      • Matthew Whitehead 4.2.1
        9 August 2017 at 7:07 pm

        Also, odds are good that Marama Davidson will replace her if the list ranking is anything to go by, and she has the same values. She went outside a WINZ office and just listened to people for hours after Metiria’s announcement.

        • Carolyn_nth 4.2.1.1
          9 August 2017 at 8:36 pm

          She’d be my pick. To me Davidson and Jack McDonald are the future for the GP.

          And Davidson’s reported behaviour today is heartening.

    • ScottGN 4.3
      9 August 2017 at 8:30 pm

      Don’t get to carried away James the last thing National needs is for the change vote (currently at about 55%) to really coalesce around Jacinda.

  5. DoublePlusGood 5
    9 August 2017 at 5:20 pm

    Where the hell have the Green’s principles gone? I thought they stood for something.
    Edit: I thought they stood for people. For the poor. For the environment. For a better way of doing things.
    Now they don’t. They just cave to whatever bullshit is thrown at them. Fuck them. Gutless.

    Who the hell do we vote for now? Jacinda? She doesn’t give a toss about beneficiaries.
    TOP? They won’t fix a damn thing.

    • Union city greens 5.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:44 pm

      -1

    • weka 5.2
      9 August 2017 at 5:54 pm

      The dirty politics crew we’re going after her family and they had the suppprt of a big chunk of the msm. The Greens have always said it would be up to Turei, I truly beloeve this will have been her decision not a gutless move by the party.

      • SpaceMonkey 5.2.1
        9 August 2017 at 6:00 pm

        Agreed.

      • DoublePlusGood 5.2.2
        9 August 2017 at 6:06 pm

        Well, I certainly hope so. There’s not really a lot of hope going around after all of this mess, which is sad, because Turei and Shaw had really shown that they were absolutely the best people to be running the country in putting up with endless shit in the past week or two.

      • BevanJS 5.2.3
        9 August 2017 at 7:43 pm

        From RNZ – ”
        Today Checkpoint was contacted by a person close to Metiria Turei during the time she was on the DPB.

        The person (who Checkpoint has agreed not to name) strongly alleged that Metiria Turei had received significant support from her daughter’s grandparents during the period in which she was on the DPB.

        And they angrily suggested this was contrary to the narrative about her poverty that Metiria Turei had made public in her now famous speech at the Green Party AGM, on July 16.

        In short, they asserted that Metiria Turei had sufficient support to mean she did not need to lie to WINZ about her circumstances.

        The accusations were emailed to Metiria Turei so she could respond.

        We would not have gone to air without a response.

        A short time ago Mrs Turei spoke to the programme, and resigned as co-leader of the Green Party.”

      • LivinInTheBay 5.2.4
        10 August 2017 at 7:53 am

        No they weren’t.

        After MT opened this can of worms, legitimate qurstions were being asked. MT brought her family into this, and has no one else to blame.

        That she didn’t see the hypocrisy in asking Barclay to resign and not doing so herself weeks ago is astounding. As is the fact they complained he was staying on until the election, just as she is doing.

        Lastly, there is talk she received significant support from her wider family over 4 years, potentially to the tune of $80k. If correct she was far from being on the poverty line.

        • DoublePlusGood 5.2.4.1
          10 August 2017 at 12:45 pm

          Barclay most likely broke the law while in office, and also engaged in behaviour inappropriate for an MP while in office.
          Metiria didn’t disclose flatmates and voted in the wrong electorate 20 years ago.
          The former is resignation worthy, the latter is not. END. OF. STORY.

    • KJT 5.3
      9 August 2017 at 6:23 pm

      James Shaw, who has stuck by Metiria Turei all the way.

    • Matthew Whitehead 5.4
      9 August 2017 at 7:12 pm

      Metiria has been trying to hold on for us all, DPG. But you could hear in her voice that it’s been really, really hard for her being under this level of scrutiny, even though she knew she hadn’t done anything worth resigning.

      The Greens were still aggressively defending Metiria this morning. Julie Anne Genter had a go at Duncan Garner for suggesting the party wanted to roll her on twitter today. Marama Davidson was talking about welfare reform just as passionately. Whoever replaces Metiria at the next AGM, it will be someone who supported her, and will respect her legacy. Please don’t abandon the Greens if Metiria was the reason you were supporting them. They will respect her legacy, and if they stray the members will make them do it.

      This news will have been just as surprising to their caucus as it was to many of us.

  6. ianmac 6
    9 August 2017 at 5:20 pm

    She will no longer on the List.
    Is it possible that the Dirty Tricks Brigade is alive and well – and they will be jubilant.

    • savenz 6.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:23 pm

      +1 ianmac

    • Rightly or Wrongly 6.2
      9 August 2017 at 6:07 pm

      Not quite sure how the ‘Dirty tricks’ brigade managed to get Turei to voluntarily confess to defrauding WINZ?

      That would be a new low for the cunning tricks brigade from the VRWC.

      [don’t be obtuse, and don’t even think about trolling. Only warning – weka]

      • ianmac 6.2.1
        9 August 2017 at 6:22 pm

        No it was the intensity of the rat pack hunting for any dirt that was the final straw. Just too tough for family and Party.

    • Venezia 6.3
      9 August 2017 at 10:45 pm

      Think there is no doubt that this is Dirty Politics Mark 2. The timing of it, and the ferocity of it, clearly from posters who were never Green supporters before are clues.

  7. Mrs Brillo 7
    9 August 2017 at 5:20 pm

    With all those big time crooks surrounding our ruling party and funding it, we go hard out to demolish small-time offenders like Metiria instead, and say look how clean our hands are and how upstanding our moral principles.

    What a bloody stupid country we are sometimes.

    • dv 7.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:21 pm

      + lots Mrs B

    • savenz 7.2
      9 August 2017 at 5:24 pm

      agree too, Mrs Brillo

    • Anne 7.3
      9 August 2017 at 6:21 pm

      What a bloody stupid country we are sometimes.

      I would go further and say its a bloody stupid country most of the time. The hypocrisy of so many of the occupants is staggering.

    • TootingPopularFront 7.4
      9 August 2017 at 8:38 pm

      agree totally Mrs Brillo, NZ society actively rewards bullies – is it any wonder we have the government we have and the housing, education, health, mental health, suicide, child abuse, poverty crises that all seem to have the same route cause?

      • Mrs Brillo 7.4.1
        9 August 2017 at 9:22 pm

        Very well observed. It’s a continuum of bullying, and it’s time we confronted the bullies.
        I challenge this nonsense wherever I see it. But I am old and don’t have to work for a living — I quite understand if not everyone has the same freedom of expression.

  8. indiana 8
    9 August 2017 at 5:22 pm

    Very courageous of her to stand down.

    • Matthew Whitehead 8.1
      9 August 2017 at 7:17 pm

      No, the courageous thing was holding on for so long after the news media had decided it was going to prove the earlier polling wrong no matter what it had to do. I was hoping she could make it through the election but I knew it was a question of how much she and her family could stand.

  9. Sanctuary 9
    9 August 2017 at 5:22 pm

    A terribly sad interview on Campbell live.

  10. Carolyn_nth 10
    9 August 2017 at 5:23 pm

    Long live the media-ocracy. RIP democracy.

  11. McFlock 11
    9 August 2017 at 5:24 pm

    Fuck.

    I hope she stays on the list, and comes back from this. But it was a hell of a storm she was under. Fucking tories.

    • Carolyn_nth 11.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:33 pm

      She said she was not staying on the list and is effectively leaving parliament after the election.

      • McFlock 11.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 5:36 pm

        just saw that.
        Really sad.

      • Matthew Whitehead 11.1.2
        9 August 2017 at 7:25 pm

        She will be an electorate candidate for Te Tai Tonga, but only to campaign for the party vote, so as much as I want to say we should draft her back by campaigning for her to win TTT, it’s probably better to respect her wishes.

        • ScottGN 11.1.2.1
          9 August 2017 at 8:44 pm

          This is pretty interesting. As far I know Turei was a candidate in Dunedin North at the last election. If she’s switched to Te Tai Tonga this time around could have repercussions for that seat. It is one of the Māori seats where the Māori Party is hoping to make a comeback at this election.

          • DoublePlusGood 11.1.2.1.1
            10 August 2017 at 12:47 pm

            That’s possibly why she went in there, as she should have strong support in that electorate.

  12. Venezia 12
    9 August 2017 at 5:32 pm

    Metiria was speaking up for the poor and vulnerable. A Dirty Ops campaign has seen to it that she has been ousted. John Campbell has quoted a person who knew Metiria when her baby was young, implying that Metiria received generous financial support from her child’s grandparents. This “information” turns out to be untrue. While those grandparents helped with childcare occasionally, there was not financial help involved. What nasty piece of work is the person who supplied this untrue information to the media!
    This is a common experience of grandparenting. I have always helped out when the families of my grandkids needed it. But I am not in a position to help them financially.
    There is a very nasty seam of vitriol and vindictiveness running through NZ society often directed at the most vulnerable in society. Metiria put this into words. But it was far too threatening to the power holders.

    • Jenny Kirk 12.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:47 pm

      What is more – gifts of money and other financial support for beneficiaries would have been assessed as “income” and her benefit reduced as a consequence.

  13. Bearded Git 13
    9 August 2017 at 5:34 pm

    So so dignified and likable in her resignation q and a. She is staying on the list and in the party so all is not lost.

  14. Glenn 14
    9 August 2017 at 5:35 pm

    She will continue as a candidate in Te Tai Tonga, but will remove herself from the Greens’ list.
    17:09
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/336828/live-metiria-turei-resigns-as-green-party-co-leader

  15. KJT 15
    9 August 2017 at 5:36 pm

    I don’t think the Greens expected the storm of vitriol, hate and bene bashing that has come from this.
    So far have we moved from being a decent and fair society.

    Meanwhile. Keeping 300 thousand children in poverty with a blighted future, is legal.

    • JanM 15.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:45 pm

      I agree – my heart sank when she came out with all her confessions because the downside of our society is viciously nasty and I could just see what would happen. I’m sure she will find some way in the future to benefit our world – she’s an amazing lady

    • Draco T Bastard 15.2
      9 August 2017 at 5:54 pm

      Meanwhile. Keeping 300 thousand children in poverty with a blighted future, is legal.

      QFT

    • rhinocrates 15.3
      9 August 2017 at 6:44 pm

      Yes, I’m thoroughly disgusted with where New Zealand society has gone in the past few years.

      Dumb, greedy and vindictive.

    • greywarshark 15.4
      9 August 2017 at 6:55 pm

      The fact there are 300,000 youngsters in poor circumstances is a measure of what sort of society we are. Not a decent and fair one. Really a tainted one that has not been able to stand up to the period of neo liberal degradation of our inherent values and virtues – we thought. They have just drifted off, very volatile and gone into the wild blue yonder.

      • Rosemary McDonald 15.4.1
        9 August 2017 at 11:05 pm

        “They have just drifted off, very volatile and gone into the wild blue yonder.”

        Or….

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrRA7WMI1ks

        If he wants the chances that you took from him
        Oh, and nothing that you own
        Then there’ll be no place to run to
        There’ll be no place to run
        And if he finds himself to be
        A reflection of us all
        Bang bang bang
        He’ll shoot us down
        Before you can raise your eyes to read
        The writing on the wall
        Bang bang bang
        He’ll shoot you down
        Before you can bridge the gulf between
        And embrace him in your arms
        Bang bang bang
        He’ll shoot you down…..

  16. mauī 16
    9 August 2017 at 5:38 pm

    Bugger, hounded out by conservative group think.

  17. Shona 17
    9 August 2017 at 5:40 pm

    FUCK Fuck Fuck! Should’ve toughed it out.

    • RedLogix 17.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:50 pm

      I’m sure she would have, but at what cost to her family?

      Politics is not a job many of us would actually volunteer for.

    • Matthew Whitehead 17.2
      9 August 2017 at 7:27 pm

      She was clearly trying. Have you been listening to her interviews? Each one was getting her choked up and she was getting constant requests, none about policy anymore as hard as she tried to pivot. I can understand the exhaustion.

  18. RedLogix 18
    9 August 2017 at 5:41 pm

    Clark, Goff, Shearer, Cunliffe, Little and now Turei.

    Now will we stop underestimating what we are up against?

    • Cricklewood 18.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:49 pm

      To be fair at least two probably three on that list were destroyed from within. Seems some on the left save the nastiest streak for others nominally on the same side.
      I think of the likes of C V, Stephanie Rodgers even Weka and others when I say that. The vitriol that would get sprayed about on the standard is far worse than the right wing astroturfers get…

      • RedLogix 18.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 5:52 pm

        I agree, they’re not all directly comparable … but there is no question the dp crew and their willing MSM stoolies played a hand in each, one way or another.

        • Cricklewood 18.1.1.1
          9 August 2017 at 5:55 pm

          Yep no suprises there though, I’m just disappointed that there always seems to be someone from within willing to hand them the bat to beat the target of the day with…

          • SpaceMonkey 18.1.1.1.1
            9 August 2017 at 6:04 pm

            The DP crowd have very big pockets and/or some people have very low prices.

  19. Union city greens 19
    9 August 2017 at 5:42 pm

    Sheesh, no wonder some view NZ politics as a shallow grave, but then it’s not surprising when we’re getting comments like ‘I’m not voting green’, ‘they’ve lost my vote’. Now that’s shallow.

    MT has made the decision. She wasn’t pushed by the party. Shaw said at the end of the press conference the three main aims of the greens are to be a world leader in fighting climate change, to clean up our rivers and to eradicate poverty, and that if they are in government after the election, those issues will be front and center.

    If ever there was a time to vote green it’s now.
    To the reactionaries, get over yourselves and think about what your actually saying here 🙄

  20. savenz 20
    9 August 2017 at 5:42 pm

    It’s so sad because if every MP was subjected to intense financial scrutiny then they would probably all have to resign. John Key and his blind trusts and god knows what else, Bill English and his family trusts and his $32k “he didn’t need” etc etc. The difference dirty politics and the MSM didn’t go after them. I mean they didn’t even find Jason Ede!

    Can’t help think there is a double standard towards women and against vulnerable people, which those who are rich and can make the laws work for them are taking more from the tax payers purse while making a big fuss over very negligible amounts which are criminalised such as women getting a few extra dollars for their kids. I bet if you gave the WINZ people quizzes on all their rules, half would get it wrong. Nobody says that Bill English family should be paying for him and going on a witch hunt after them!

    Metiria was a single parent, who got a degree and actually became a political co-leader and off the benefit, the welfare system worked in those days, unlike now. Absolute double standard.

    I really think Metiria has started a real debate about single parents in NZ. I hope people vote Green in her memory actually and stick it to Gower, National and everyone else who demanded her resignation. Like Campbell Live, there needs to be a big reaction, because I for one are sick of the persecution of people who speak truth in this country.

  21. adam 21
    9 August 2017 at 5:43 pm

    Another victory for the beige revolution!

    Bugger them, I’m not playing their game anymore.

  22. Candy1 22
    9 August 2017 at 5:44 pm

    I wept when I heard it. That Campbell made me sick!

    • MJH 22.1
      9 August 2017 at 9:34 pm

      I think she announced it on Campbell Live because she knew that was the only MSM place she’d get at least a fair hearing — the interview was painful to listen to, but I think John Campbell gave her space to talk and responded in a humane way. The other MSM outlets have been pigs.

      • james 22.1.1
        10 August 2017 at 9:19 am

        Actually it was Campbells Checkpoint that asked the questions about her family statements – which is why she came back to them.

        Good investigating JC !

  23. Sabine 23
    9 August 2017 at 5:48 pm

    so essentially the Media and its paymasters did not like Andrew Little speaking about poverty, so he was hounded in to doing whats best for the ‘country’.
    then the same happened to the co-leader of the Greens.

    So why don’t we stop the pretense and all just vote for fucking gower and tv 3.

    what a sad day.
    Pathetic media, pathetic empty suits in labour, and the last person standing with guts and heart literally burned on the stake cause the country is afraid of the poverty and misery it needs in order to keep a few rich fat and happy.

    i have come to the conclusion that the best that can happen to NZ is another 3 years of the same. Cause clearly, that is all they want.

  24. Sanctuary 24
    9 August 2017 at 5:53 pm

    What a clusterfuck of an own goal.

    I am amazed that whoever advised her to tell the story she did didn’t think this would ignite the class war, and Turei would be punished for having the temerity of questioning the foundations of class in this country.

    Goddamn. Fuck. Those middle class fuckers have won again.

    I want to go and squirt superglue into the door locks of every fucking flash car I can find.

  25. Rae 25
    9 August 2017 at 5:54 pm

    You may not believe me, but this is what I was afraid of. If she had have stood down as leader, either from the outset or at least immediately after other stuff came out, she could have stayed on and carried on with her battle. Her strongest position would have come from stepping down from the leadership on day one, because she also would have stepped UP onto firmer moral ground.

    She left herself with no moral ground to stand on, and you cannot do battle in that position.

    Perhaps a few of you will douse the fire in your eyes and see how this could have been better managed tactically. Just being defiant will never ever do it. She had to take people along with on this, but she lost the opportunity when she dug her toes in.

  26. Terry 26
    9 August 2017 at 5:54 pm

    Pity she didn’t go on Monday.

  27. SpaceMonkey 27
    9 August 2017 at 5:54 pm

    Such sad news. My heart sank when I read the headline. Totally respect everything MT has done and her decision here. Taken out by a media inquisition for and on behalf of their corporate owners. A huge loss to the Greens and NZ.

  28. alwyn 28
    9 August 2017 at 5:55 pm

    I wonder if it is too late to get Kennedy Graham and David Clendon back in the fold?
    Probably is. I suspect that the reaction by Shaw on Monday evening was too much to allow it. He toned it down a lot on Tuesday but I don’t think he can try and claim he didn’t really mean it.
    Shame. I didn’t really have an opinion on Clendon but Graham was well worth his place. He had something worth saying on climate change.

    • james 28.1
      9 August 2017 at 5:59 pm

      James already said that they would not be coming back.

      • alwyn 28.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 6:26 pm

        That was after she announced the resignation was it?
        Probably all he could do of course. The Party has already lost a good part of the conservation oriented voters. To welcome Graham back would have merely lost a good part of their far left ones.
        I must admit I did a double take at your comment. At first I read it as you claiming you had already said this. Then I realised you must mean the other James.

    • Hanswurst 28.2
      9 August 2017 at 6:00 pm

      I think this makes it all the more important that the party come down on them like a ton of bricks. If they hadn’t made the surprise step on Monday of grandstanding on purportedly moral grounds, implicitly about a decision that they were a part of themselves (ffs), Turei may well not have stepped down today.

      • The Lone Haranguer 28.2.1
        9 August 2017 at 8:25 pm

        Turei was toast today when the “family member” went to the media and claimed (wrongly according to one poster) that she had received heaps of support from them and the family were gutted by her comments. Essentially, they called her a bare faced liar.

        I suspect that had she fought it, there would have been way more comments from this “family source” to follow.

        Shes not the first MP shown the door like this and she wont be the last

    • Draco T Bastard 28.3
      9 August 2017 at 6:17 pm

      I wonder if it is too late to get Kennedy Graham and David Clendon back in the fold?

      Why would we want them back after their disgraceful actions?

      • Enough is Enough 28.3.1
        9 August 2017 at 8:19 pm

        Draco- they are not the enemy. They are well respected members.

        I don’t think they will be back but I see absolutely no sense in demonizing them. They did what they had to do. Lets wish them good luck and get on with life.

        Internal fighting provides the real enemy with the ammunition they need (remember the row boat)

    • Matthew Whitehead 28.4
      9 August 2017 at 7:39 pm

      Graham is a good guy, but he burned his bridges by going around the consensus process. Just because Metiria left doesn’t undo the fact that he and Clendon violated the values of the Party, and marred an otherwise entirely peaceful leadership process.

      • RedLogix 28.4.1
        9 August 2017 at 8:53 pm

        but he burned his bridges by going around the consensus process.

        In their last interview both Kennedy and Clendon emphasised they had been communicating with the leadership for at least a week, without a resolution they could live with. The idea they just got together in a secret huddle and sprung it on everyone by surprise is not supported by the facts we know.

        Besides sometimes events move too fast for consensus. As it was they acted with barely a day to spare.

        Nor it is fair to blame them for this mess. It’s not of their making and Turei would have resigned regardless.

    • Psycho Milt 28.5
      9 August 2017 at 9:25 pm

      I wonder if it is too late to get Kennedy Graham and David Clendon back in the fold?

      Is it too late after they betrayed their caucus colleagues and the party members, and deliberately damaged their party in the middle of an election campaign? Uh, gee, I dunno…

  29. Keepcalmcarryon 29
    9 August 2017 at 5:59 pm

    Sad but not unexpected. Badly miscalculated how to improve the plight of beneficiaries.
    I think this article best summed up how the greens couldn’t see it coming: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11900072

    • Dennis Frank 29.1
      9 August 2017 at 7:00 pm

      Yeah, that’s an unusually insightful msm view. Doesn’t make the key point tho: she didn’t get that she was alienating a large portion of green voters. Life in the leftist bubble often divorces people from reality. Some of that 5% drop may drift back before the election, after folks assimilate the change. It’s now up to James Shaw to represent all GP members in the campaign (not just the leftist third of them). And it’s up to the GP caucus to learn the lesson: in democracy, when you misrepresent your support base, they will punish you via desertion.

      • Matthew Whitehead 29.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 7:46 pm

        I wouldn’t be entirely sure she has alienated those voters just yet, as the coverage and polling on this issue has been atrociously bad at teasing apart issues.

        Party vote polling is complicated and can’t be attributed to single factors so easily when several things have been going on at once. (and boy, have things been busy in the polling period for this one) I’m sure some lost ground will have been from this story, but remember, New Zealand First lost comparable levels of support to Labour, and nothing happened to them to justify it. I would be surprised if much of the change isn’t actually down to Labour looking stronger than before and simply pulling back support from the Greens.

        But we’ll see, especially as the RM should be out in a week or so, as it’s probably still polling. (If it’s stopped around now, then its comparative value is low) If the RM shows a similar story, it’s likely down to Jacinda pulling votes. If it shows a stronger Green vote, then maybe it’s not.

      • KJT 29.1.2
        9 August 2017 at 7:51 pm

        The media bullshit, and their carefully judged, dog whistle vendetta has affected the voters.

        We have to face the fact that anyone who shines a mirror, on the uncaring and judgemental, in our society, will face a similar shitstorm.

        And. Most of New Zealand are leftest. Why else would National hide poverty statistics?

        And the feedback i get from GP members, apart from a few self satisfied types who have never experienced hardship, is that Metiria had their support.

  30. greywarshark 30
    9 August 2017 at 6:02 pm

    The way that Metiria has been treated is gruesome.
    Similar to another story from Australia as in link below.
    In both cases people have been attacked by small but vicious carnivores.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-07/brighton-sea-bugs-ocean-swim-teenager/8780138

  31. Sanctuary 31
    9 August 2017 at 6:04 pm

    Jesus that poll, Labour is in the hunt!!!!!

    • Mrs Brillo 31.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:11 pm

      Good. About time.
      Now let’s not just sit here….

    • alwyn 31.2
      9 August 2017 at 6:34 pm

      I realise that people here really don’t like looking at Kiwiblog but I don’t know anywhere else that these figures are available.
      Farrar had a look at the first poll for each new leader.
      http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/08/what_is_the_normal_poll_boost_for_a_new_leader.html
      Only Geoff Palmer gave his party a bigger boost at 16%.
      9% is a spectacular jump, even if it comes from her prospective coalition partners.

      • Alan 31.2.1
        9 August 2017 at 6:47 pm

        and there in your last sentence is the crunch – virtually zero effect on the national vote = same old, same old

        • The Lone Haranguer 31.2.1.1
          9 August 2017 at 8:49 pm

          Apparently, it takes a poll or two to get votes from one major party to the other. (Sorry I read that today but cant remember the reference).

          So in early polls after a leadership type change, the party on the ascendancy eats its support parties and then becomes stronger and in the following polls looks credibly large and then eats into its main opposition.

          So Alan, theres still time

  32. Michael who failed Civics 32
    9 August 2017 at 6:05 pm

    Labour can just sit back now there’s no one to speak up for the poor. It’s neoliberal status quo politics aimed at the fickle middle classes all the way from now on.

    • red-blooded 32.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:58 pm

      Michael, the fact that Labour wants middle class votes along with others doesn’t mean that that has no concern for the poor. Don’t be so simplistic. And, BTW, I would assume that the Green Party still has its same core beliefs and will be actively promoting them if they get to help form a coalition government after the election.

      I do think it’s very sad that Turei is standing down. She’s a good woman and a strong politician.

      • Matthew Whitehead 32.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 7:51 pm

        I don’t mind wanting middle-class votes, but I’m sorry, you’re being completely counter-factual if you think that Labour has actually done more than tinker around the edges for people any worse off than that since the 80s. Clark was a good Prime Minister, but Key and English wouldn’t have been able to put the boot in on inequality and housing like they are if it hadn’t been for Labour failing to act on these issues itself under her leadership. That’s not to say she’s the same degree of culpable, of course. The warning signs were far more subtle under her tenure. But probably her biggest failure as leader was never reversing the cruel treatment of beneficiaries under National, whose lot is so bad that even Key gave them a raise, as he was trying to kick them off benefits.

  33. Candy1 33
    9 August 2017 at 6:06 pm

    OMG Disastrous poll result!

    • Matthew Whitehead 33.1
      9 August 2017 at 7:52 pm

      It is neither disastrous nor particularly good. The left has made some progress, especially in squeezing out NZ First, but National barely leaked any support. Labour needs to get those soft National voters soon, rather than edging out its potential coalition partners.

  34. KJT 34
    9 August 2017 at 6:12 pm

    What a crying shame. Obviously we are only allowed the rich and privileged in Parliament. Shame on all the haters, bene bashers and self righteous twits who bought this about.
    I note that some of you did support Metiria in her brave stand for the disadvantaged.

  35. Nzsage 35
    9 August 2017 at 6:16 pm

    As if proof was needed…there’s no room for honesty in politics.

  36. John Stone 36
    9 August 2017 at 6:21 pm

    Shaw will need to resign as well. He has endorsed her knowing the full details.

    • greywarshark 36.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:27 pm

      What stone did you crawl out from. Never heard from you before. Buzz off to somewhere you can pass water in.

  37. Jeremy 37
    9 August 2017 at 6:21 pm

    Very sad for MT, however the bigger picture is this could put benefit reform back for a generation.

    The allegations are that she essentially didn’t even qualify for the DPB. MT strenuously denied this on Campbell’s show, however if enough mud is thrown for it to stick as the “truth” in enough people’s minds, MT will be a big warning beacon to any politician who considers doing the same.

    She’s done the right thing keeping in mind the latest 8% poll result. It wasn’t long ago that the Greens got 5.2% with both the Social Justice and the Environmental vote.

    What a mess.

    • KJT 37.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:26 pm

      Oh fuck off you self righteous twat.
      You make me sick.

      • Jeremy 37.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 6:29 pm

        I’m not really sure how to respond to that.

        You’re not worried about the above at all?

        • Ad 37.1.1.1
          9 August 2017 at 6:34 pm

          Even if you’re right, best show judgment and not stride across the battlefield bayonetting the wounded.

          Come back tomorrow or the Mods will presume you’re looking for trouble.

      • greywarshark 37.1.2
        9 August 2017 at 6:34 pm

        Thanks KJT that reply is so appropriate for so many.

    • Patricia 37.2
      9 August 2017 at 10:13 pm

      When you are not married to the father of your baby he has to front up and sign the birth certificate. Many men over the years have refused to sign and the mothers are then deemed to have “refused to name the father”. Even though they can name him. I am sure the paternal grandparents would be ashamed to think their sons could behave in this way.

  38. Carolyn_nth 38
    9 August 2017 at 6:28 pm

    Jane Patterson just said on Checkpoint that Ardern ruling out a ministerial position for Turei was a kind of tipping point.

    • Incognito 38.1
      9 August 2017 at 7:57 pm

      I was going to say “Et tu, Jacinda?” but that might have been grossly unfair; Metiria Turia’s political demise had many factors & actors. My jury is still out whether Jacinda Ardern is ‘Wonder Woman’ or for real.

      What I do want to say is that Labour and its new leader could have shown a little more conviction to join the fight for the Precariat. Quite possibly they saw the MSM writing on the wall and played their cards really well – the latest poll would back them up if they did.

      One thing is for sure: I don’t like this style of cynical politics – we’ve had 9 years of it and I was looking forward to something a little different, a fresh start.

      BTW, I have not heard what the political reactions have been to Metiria Turia’s decision.

  39. Bill 39
    9 August 2017 at 6:29 pm

    https://twitter.com/CheckpointRNZ/status/895164603633676288/photo/1

    So it would seem a close family member may have confused “loving and supportive” with financial readies – as best as I can understand that statement anyway.

    And wouldn’t the ‘hounds’ have loved the sound of their own baying, ripping and gnashing.

    Fucking angry. Absolutely voting Green.

    • greywarshark 39.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:48 pm

      The problem is that the relatives don’t understand the aim of MSM and the Orcs to go for the heart. They managed to open a division between Metiria and family implying that she had given the impression that she was not helped or supported.

      Women on their own with children are the only ones that know all the pressures they are under. You are lucky to have help from caring others, but you don’t tell them all your problems, you don’t dump on them, they would be likely to advise you to give up when you know that you might shed tears but will recover and continue on after a deep breath, and prioritising the problems to be dealt with.

      And all the time knowing that your friends and family are behind you and are good and reliable people enables you to keep going. It is sad that the family and friends could not close the door on the poisonous suggestions and implications. Just shut them out and support Metiria but as I said the lack of understanding of what goes on at the political level would leave them vulnerable to the MSM.

    • JBS 39.2
      9 August 2017 at 8:11 pm

      +1000 Bill

  40. miravox 40
    9 August 2017 at 6:29 pm

    I’m so sorry about this. I was hoping that NZ society had grown-up a bit, but despite the many supportive and non-judgemental individuals I have met in my life, the culture and society in NZ is the same put-down place it’s always been.

    I have watched this whole saga with a high level of personal interest and I’m actually quite close to tears right now – not just for Metiria, but also for me. I was so hopeful that her story, as well as leading to a considered discussion about poverty, would have opened up the discussion about barriers to achievement that society puts in front of women who have difficult backgrounds. Despite and outwardly successful life, I’ve spent my life keeping my head down, knowing that if people knew my background that I’d be judged as less than worthy in the middle-class life I now inhabit.

    Go well Metiria, you tried your best and this is not the end, you contributed your all to opening up a new front in the war against material poverty as well as the poverty of spirit so evidently flourishing and I thank you. My heart goes out to you and your family who must now come to terms with the penchant of some for destroying people’s lives, which they’ve now so intimately experienced.

  41. ABS 41
    9 August 2017 at 6:30 pm

    Holy fuck you guys are delusional.

    [lprent: Do you have any intelligence with that opinion, or is it (as I expect) just the picking dried thoughts from your lower brain after you stroke it? Read the policy about robust debate. That doesn’t mean mindless fools like you appear to be. ]

    • ABS 41.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:45 pm

      Why bother elucidating anything when wrongthink will get me banished? If this was Bennett your esteemed commentators would be calling for her head. Thanks for the permission to post though. Fact: Metiria used the DPB to top up her lifestyle. How about ringing Ann Hartley and doing some actual journalistic investigation? Would be interested to hear her memories of the events as outlined so far.

      [RL: Approved with caution. Two points you may want to consider. There was a post and long thread here this week arguing quite comprehensively the left should NOT go for Bennett. Nor is your insinuation about ‘topping up a lifestyle’ at all welcome; it trivialises and diverts from the very real struggles, well documented, many single mothers face. And your timing is not smart either.]

      • The Lone Haranguer 41.1.2
        9 August 2017 at 9:07 pm

        It seems to me that at the final hurdle, it was the family who hung Ms Turei out to dry.

        ABS has a point tho – perhaps (just speculating here) the MSM had already contacted Ms Hartley for her view on things, and thats why Ms Turei walked the plank.

        As for “topping up her lifestyle” that was a term thats been bandied around in media circles for about a week now. And thats where the real damage was done.

        The story went from being about living on DPB struggle street, to one that is in no way related to it at all.

      • Violet 41.1.3
        9 August 2017 at 10:15 pm

        Nah. It’s nothink that gets you banished.

      • LivinInTheBay 41.1.4
        10 August 2017 at 8:05 am

        RL – it doesn’t triavialise anything. The point being made is that MT wasn’t on the poverty line, and wasn’t struggling at all.

        The point was about MT’s lifestyle no one else’s. How you get that from a post about MT is beyond me.

  42. Rosemary McDonald 42
    9 August 2017 at 6:32 pm

    So. Moving right along.

    Who are the Greens to to choose as the new co-leader?

    She had better be pure and squeaky clean with nothing at all even vaguely interesting in her past.

    Is the Virgin Mary free?

    • KJT 42.1
      9 August 2017 at 6:47 pm

      I don’t think we can do that until after the election. Now.

    • Mrs Brillo 42.2
      9 August 2017 at 6:59 pm

      It would be hard to envisage a similar chain of events occurring with a solo father, wouldn’t it?

      Theoretically, just possible; but in practical terms, Metiria’s story is that of the female obstacle race, wearily familiar to the women who comment here.

      There are precious few saints in the community, and none at all in politics. A bit of similar-level scrutiny into other MPs’ backgrounds, especially those slinging mud from the right, would certainly unearth some great material for scandalous headlines and outraged media lynch mobs. Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen.

    • KJT 42.3
      9 August 2017 at 7:12 pm

      Obviously we don’t get to pick our own leaders, now.

      We have to ask the “journalists”.

    • Patricia 42.4
      9 August 2017 at 10:17 pm

      Rosemary – I do wish there was a like button !!

  43. John Stone 43
    9 August 2017 at 6:43 pm

    Lets hope the new batch can bring them back! Go Greens.

  44. Jay 44
    9 August 2017 at 6:47 pm

    According to one journalist MT’s own extended family weren’t happy and had been in touch with media to express their outrage at her claims. So perhaps that played a part in her decision as well.

  45. ianmac 45
    9 August 2017 at 6:50 pm

    What the poll cannot show is was the fall Materia’s fault or the blaze of interest for Jacinda showing a shift from Green to Labour.

    If the shift of Poll support caused the resignation of two leaders in a week, then how sad is that!

    • Dennis Frank 45.1
      9 August 2017 at 7:28 pm

      Yeah. Just saw Hosking make a good point (normally don’t watch him): NZF dropped 4% – due to the Ardern effect because they did nothing to alienate their supporters. How much of the Greens drop was due to it, and not a negative verdict on Metiria?

      Sheep returning to the Labour fold, having wandered into the wrong paddocks. So we can read them as a traditionally soft part of the Labour base that had lost confidence in the party & have now regained it. I had predicted online that the Ardern effect would boost Labour 6% with half coming from each of NZF & Greens. I underestimated it, but if she did pull equally from both, Turei’s stand actually only cost the Greens 2%. These people will probably return before the election.

  46. mary_a 46
    9 August 2017 at 6:55 pm

    Go well Metiria.

    And yet Bill English lives to see another day in politics ….. scum is proving very hard to remove!

  47. Kimmerkiwi 47
    9 August 2017 at 6:58 pm

    I’m an American who just went to my New Zealand Citizenship Ceremony yesterday. And today the Co-leader of the Green Party, that I am a member of, resigned. I became a member soon as I arrived in New Zealand in 2000. One of the things I loved about New Zealand was that you could actually vote for the Green Party. It was just too risky to vote for the Green Party in the United States.

    In the States there are way too many people who are cruelly obsessed about those on Welfare; and the Republican Party needs to keep them focused on that obsession.

    Voting for the Green Party in New Zealand is not a risk, it’s what can change us.

    • Mrs Brillo 47.1
      9 August 2017 at 7:49 pm

      Congratulations and welcome to Godzone as a citizen.
      Now you are just as responsible as the rest of us for making this a better place to live in. Good luck in all your endeavours!

  48. chris73 48
    9 August 2017 at 7:07 pm

    *Peeks head in doorway, looks around, quietly lets myself out again*

  49. ianmac 49
    9 August 2017 at 7:11 pm

    Rumour has the UMR poll at 36% for Labour from 23 per cent last time. It has the others very similar to the Newshub survey: National on 43 per cent and the Greens and NZ First on 8 each.

  50. weka 50
    9 August 2017 at 7:37 pm

    I just called someone on twitter the Peter George of Green politics and they liked it. Sorry, that’s the best commentary I’ve got right now.

    • RedLogix 50.1
      9 August 2017 at 7:58 pm

      Arguably the poll result here has nothing to do with Turei. It’s Adern/Davis who’ve sucked the oxygen from both the Greens and NZ1. Does anyone imagine Winston resigning on the back of a similar fall?

      I feel it was not the polling that is the proximate cause of Turei’s resignation, but the toll on her whanau.

      Worse still … the pressure will now come on Shaw and the entire Green front bench. What a mess. However loyalties sat, we all depended on a healthy Green vote to form a strong left wing coalition. Now that’s a much harder task.

      • weka 50.1.1
        9 August 2017 at 8:03 pm

        Yep, I don’t think the polling has anything to do with it (Turei said that in the press conference), and instead its the huge problem with people in her life going to the media in the context of the sustained attack from the MSM and right. No-one should have to put up with that. (I’m struggling to think if there’s been a precedent for going after an MPs family like this)

        Not sure what will happen with the Greens now other than I trust them to stay true to the kaupapa.

  51. roy cartland 51
    9 August 2017 at 8:53 pm

    Where is the congratulations form the media that she “stood down on her own terms”, Like John Key? Oh and a dame-hood too, thanks.

  52. beatie 52
    9 August 2017 at 9:14 pm

    Joined the Green Party yesterday. First time I’ve joined a political party. At 63 years of age I’ve endured 30 years of neo-liberal politics and I’ve had a gutsful. I remember the euphoria when Lange was elected, like a sick joke now.

    I come from a staunch Labour voting family (coalminers daughter in fact) but haven’t voted Labour for years. I don’t trust them and never will after the damage that they’ve caused, which just goes on and on. Now I see my children struggling with crap wages and housing and fear for my grandchildren. Enough is enough!

    I deeply respect Metira for standing up for the victims of neoliberalism and am heartened to hear James Shaw saying on Checkpoint tonight that they will continue their progressive social welfare policies.

    • Rosemary McDonald 52.1
      9 August 2017 at 10:39 pm

      Respect, beatie. (from a coalminer’s granddaughter)

      “I come from a staunch Labour voting family (coalminers daughter in fact) but haven’t voted Labour for years. I don’t trust them and never will after the damage that they’ve caused, which just goes on and on. ”

      Sadly, today’s Labour hasn’t grasped this…its as much about winning back the trust (and votes) of former Labour supporters as it is about wooing the Youth and the Missing Million.

      Turn Labour Left.

    • Roy 52.2
      9 August 2017 at 10:40 pm

      You beauty. There will be a tipping point – there can’t not be.

  53. mosa 53
    9 August 2017 at 11:31 pm

    Metiria leaving politics is the low point of the year so far for the left and courage and compassion is dead in politics.

    http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/08/burn-it-all-to-fucking-ground.html

  54. Stuart Munro 54
    9 August 2017 at 11:46 pm

    Well, the vermin have martyred Metiria. What shall their wages be?

    • james 54.1
      10 August 2017 at 9:26 am

      Are you calling the family that helped out Metiria vermin?

      After all it seems to be in response to the comments from them when put to Matiria that made her change her mind about staying.

      They found her comments and story ‘galling’

  55. NZsage 55
    10 August 2017 at 6:59 am

    Can’t believe some of the self righteous right wing trolls on here.

    Brings to mind an old adage I recall which goes something like:

    “Many a man (or woman) thinks it’s their goodness that keeps them from evil when in fact it’s their full stomach”

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