Francesca Rudkin: It's time for the Greens to move on

It’s not over yet, but just maybe there is light at the end of the Darleen Tana drama tunnel. Please let it be.  

The Green Party has their own uniquely democratic and patient way of reaching a decision, but seven months and running to get this sorted is surely testing even their limits.

It was good this week to see a consensus of delegates agree to using the waka-jumping law - or the electoral integrity clause in the Electoral Act - to eject Tana. The co-leaders have now written to Speaker Gerry Brownlee, asking him to trigger the law and eject her from Parliament.  

This issue has been a huge drag for the party, and good on them for their change of heart. They would obviously prefer not to be in this position, but they recognise this is the quickest way of getting to what they believe is the right outcome - the removal of Tana from Parliament.

It’s been a year of dealing with HR setbacks and issues for the Greens - the resignation of Golriz Ghahraman at the beginning of the year, followed by the election for a new co-leader after James Shaw’s resignation, and multiple complaints about Julie Anne Genter’s behaviour. But the most damaging and long running distraction has been the removal of a list MP they found to be completely at odds with the parties values, policies or Kaupapa.  

For a very principled party, it’s not a good look to reverse their opposition to the party jumping law since the first version was passed in 2001.  

But the Greens aren’t the first, and won’t be the last party, to about-face on a law or policy.  Flexibility about principles is not something that comes as naturally to the Greens as other political parties, but it has always been part of politics.

And let’s be honest, an independent report didn’t work. Letters and public appeals from the Greens' leaders didn’t work. Talking about how Tana had distorted the proportionality of the house didn’t work. Public opinion hasn’t worked. If it wasn’t so self-serving, you’d admire Tana’s tenacity in refusing to go.  

So the Greens have been left with little choice but to embraced the ugly old party-hopping law. Of course it’s not over yet. There is still an appeal to sort out, and then it’s up to the Speaker.  

Even though this crazy year hasn’t significantly impacted the Greens in the polls, they will be keen to put this behind them. They can then get on with Swarbrick's plan to evolve the Greens into a party that can lead the government in the not so distant future.  

And no doubt this cautionary tale will have all political parties quietly mulling over how to make sure their processes for selecting list candidates are as robust as they can be.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's not over yet, but just maybe there is light
at the end of the Darline Taner drama tunnel. Please
let it be. The Green Party has their own uniquely
democratic and patient way of reaching a decision, but seven
months and running to get the sort it is surely
testing even their limits. So it was good to see

(00:32):
this week a consensus of delegates agree to use the
Walker Jumping Law or the Electoral Integrity Clause in the
Electoral Act to eject Taner. The co leaders have now
written to Speaker Terry Brownley asking him to trigger the
law and eject her from Parliament. This issue has been
a huge drag for the party and good on them
for making a change of heart. They would obviously prefer

(00:54):
not to be in this position, but recognize this was
the quickest way of getting to what they believe is
the right outcome, the removal of Tanner from Parliament. It
has been a year of dealing with a setbacks and
issues for the Greens. The resignation of Golery's government at
the beginning of the year, followed by the election for
a new co letter after James Shaw's resignation and multiple

(01:17):
complaints about Julian and Genter's behavior, But the most damaging
and long running distraction has been the removal of a
list MP they found to be completely odd with their
party's values and policies, or co Pepper. For a very
principled party, it is not a good lock to reverse
their opposition to a law that they have opposed since
its first version was passed in two thousand and one.

(01:39):
But the Greens aren't the first and won't be the
last party to about face on a law or policy.
Flexibility about principles is not something that comes as naturally
to the Greens as other political parties, but it has
always been part of politics, and let's be honest. An
independent report didn't work. Letters and public appeals from the

(01:59):
Green's leaders didn't work. Talking about how Tana has distorted
the proportionality of the House didn't work. Public hasn't worked.
If it wasn't so self serving, ye'd admire Tana's tenacity
in refusing to go So the Greens have been left
with little choice but to embrace the ugly old party
hopping law. Of course, it's not over yet. There is

(02:20):
an appeal to sort out and then it's up to
the Speaker. Even though this crazy year hasn't significantly impacted
the Greens and the polls, they will be keen to
put this behind them. They can then get on with
Swawbrook's plan to evolve the Greens into a party that
can lead to the government in the not so distant future.
And no doubt this cautionary tale will have all political
parties quietly mulling over how to make sure their processes

(02:42):
for selecting list candidates is as robust as they can be.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
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