Mike Hosking: James Shaw is a fish out of water when it comes to the Greens

I have never really been able to work James Shaw out. 

As he quit his leadership yesterday, which made perfect sense, he waxed lyrical about the Green Party, and its achievements, and its place in the political landscape.  

Which makes no sense because they are a mess and no longer remotely green, and he stands out like the dogs proverbials as the one remaining environmentalist. 

Of course, you wouldn't expect him to bag them, but he speaks with such clarity and conviction about them. He is either a sensational performer, or he actually believes it. 

He must know surely, he was the last one standing. The rest are just rabid extremists. 

And therefore, the future of the Greens is anything but assured. And without his ballast and experience they open themselves to the ever-increasing reality of heading off down a track of performance art, complete with pro-Palestinianan flags and scarves. 

Rod Donald and Jeanete Fitzsimons were at least green. 

But your Sue Bradfords muddied the waters with their social engineering bent, which then led to your Marama Davidson years where chat about snails and national park walkways gave way to cis white males and anti-establishment fury. 

Before Golriz caught the attention of the retail community she too added to the Davidson view of the world: Not a lot of climate change, an awful lot of protest and left leaning angst. 

I suppose Julie Anne Genter had green credentials, with her Get Wellington Moving vision and her road to zero campaign, both of which you will note are the most abject of abject failures, but at least they had a tinge of the environment about them. 

A lot of us when it came to James sort of felt bad for him. What on earth was he still doing there? 

They tried to oust him as leader for goodness sake! He took no part in any of their mad cap protests, marching for causes that had nothing to do with being green. 

He looked like a fish out of water, and yet still he stayed for 9 long years. 

Until now. 

I always had the impression he could have done so much more if only he hadn't been hanging with the crazies. 

A decent bloke with his heart and intentions in the right place just hijacked by or held captive by people around him he thought were his mates. 

Next stop surely the full-blown freedom of the outside world; run James, run. 

There is a big bright world out there and you can do a lot of good in it 

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