Episode description
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says this election is the final chance to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, curb environmental degradation, and reduce inequality. Following bruising internal ructions over the past year, they will need to use this weekend's AGM to redirect supporters' frustration over lack of climate action into an increased vote. In this week's Focus on Politics, Political Reporter Giles Dexter sits down with Greens co-leader Marama Davidson ahead of the party's AGM this weekend.
Marama Davidson
"We've got to be more bold. We've got to keep being bold," - Marama Davidson
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says this election is the final chance to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, curb environmental degradation, and reduce inequality.
Following bruising internal ructions over the past year, they will need to use this weekend's AGM to redirect supporters' frustration over lack of climate action into an increased vote.
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The party has spent this Parliamentary term in an unusual position, with two ministers outside Cabinet under MMP's first majority government. On one hand it has meant freedom to criticise the direction Labour was taking - Shaw saying he was "frustrated" eight times in two minutes during the party's State of the Planet event this year being one example.
That frustration with Labour is something the party is hoping to leverage in its election campaign. "We are already having people coming to us and being quite explicit, they've come from Labour, they're really interested to hear more," Davidson says. "So that's already happening. So we've got to be more bold. We've got to keep being bold."
But despite Labour's ministerial woes and the absence of Jacinda Ardern's so-called star power in this election, polls are showing little sign of cut-through with fence-sitters on the left. It's a contrast with ACT and National on the right, which Davidson puts down the Greens' "solution-focused" approach rather than criticism.
"Because we're not a lazy political party - and that strategy is appealing to the worst of us rather than the best of us, it gets particular cut-through that is quite click-bait driven," she says.
You can expect to hear more of their policies over the next three months, including the release of their manifesto on Sunday. They do also have a third player in the left-leaning bloc to contend with. Te Pāti Māori recently called for Shaw to step down as Climate Minister. …