Totally agree with this; thanks for writing it....Although, I do sometimes wish the Greens would at least 'pretend' they might work with National - put out a few David-Seymour-Style press releases, surgically praising Luxon's anti-consultants lines or some other even-a-broken-clock-is-right-twice-a-day nonsense. Labour have, long ago, tossed any commitment they had to the left, and it wouldn't hurt them to lose a little sleep over the (distant) possibility that the Greens might not back them at the next election
The Greens, like Climate Strike keep calling for greener govt policies; but policies that leave the voters behind will dissolve in the next election. As James Shaw points out , an ACT National coalition would be a nightmare. The ETS would become the 'Emissions Transfer Scheme' for offshoring all our emissions while we party on. They promise to cut social services . Luxon vows to keep health increases below inflation although they are still way behind health inflation and demographics. DOC would become 'The Division of Consessions'. Wadeable water would become drinkable. They'd pass an 'Act for tribalised Schooling', vouching to decrease social mobility further.
The Greens need to be merciless in ridiculing unrealistic policies and the shock jock media that poison debate. They are crucial to balancing the national debate and carving out an electoral base. Their success is measured not by how far than they can draw Labour away from an electable center but by how far they can move that center. Gerrard.
Hi Henry. Just wondering about this: 'The Green Party generally represents young urban professionals with strong left-wing views across the environment and economy.' Does the survey show the demographics of Green voters in a way that matches this? I've heard elsewhere there's an older Grey Lynn/Ponsonby/Kelburn/Brooklyn vibe in there as well.
The options for the Greens then would be a coalition of some sort for Labour, Labour minority government where has to negotiate with Greens on everything it wants to do (some risk of Labour getting agreements with National where it can't get agreement from Greens). Seems to me that these options do give the Greens negotiating power.
Totally agree with this; thanks for writing it....Although, I do sometimes wish the Greens would at least 'pretend' they might work with National - put out a few David-Seymour-Style press releases, surgically praising Luxon's anti-consultants lines or some other even-a-broken-clock-is-right-twice-a-day nonsense. Labour have, long ago, tossed any commitment they had to the left, and it wouldn't hurt them to lose a little sleep over the (distant) possibility that the Greens might not back them at the next election
The Greens, like Climate Strike keep calling for greener govt policies; but policies that leave the voters behind will dissolve in the next election. As James Shaw points out , an ACT National coalition would be a nightmare. The ETS would become the 'Emissions Transfer Scheme' for offshoring all our emissions while we party on. They promise to cut social services . Luxon vows to keep health increases below inflation although they are still way behind health inflation and demographics. DOC would become 'The Division of Consessions'. Wadeable water would become drinkable. They'd pass an 'Act for tribalised Schooling', vouching to decrease social mobility further.
The Greens need to be merciless in ridiculing unrealistic policies and the shock jock media that poison debate. They are crucial to balancing the national debate and carving out an electoral base. Their success is measured not by how far than they can draw Labour away from an electable center but by how far they can move that center. Gerrard.
Hi Henry. Just wondering about this: 'The Green Party generally represents young urban professionals with strong left-wing views across the environment and economy.' Does the survey show the demographics of Green voters in a way that matches this? I've heard elsewhere there's an older Grey Lynn/Ponsonby/Kelburn/Brooklyn vibe in there as well.
The options for the Greens then would be a coalition of some sort for Labour, Labour minority government where has to negotiate with Greens on everything it wants to do (some risk of Labour getting agreements with National where it can't get agreement from Greens). Seems to me that these options do give the Greens negotiating power.