Green Party Determined To Return To Government Benches, Co-Leader Says

Giles
Dexter, Political reporter

Green Party co-leader
Marama Davidson says the party is determined to return to
the government benches, ahead of its annual general
meeting.

Party members, delegates, MPs, and candidates
have gathered in South Auckland to prepare for the campaign
ahead.

Ahead of the AGM, Davidson told RNZ the Greens
were committed to “getting rid of this government,” and
having a strong influence on the next one.

The party
has already rolled out its tax
policy, as well as its policies
for water and energy.

Co-leader
Chlöe Swarbrick is set to announce a further policy on
Sunday afternoon, with the rest of her speech focusing on
rallying the membership for the campaign
ahead.

Davidson will deliver a speech focused on the
party’s values and release the party’s election
manifesto.

The manifesto, which is developed by the
wider party membership, contains the party’s broader
priorities.

This year, Davidson said there had been a
large uptick in volunteers, phone calls, and door knocks,
compared to this stage of previous election
years.

“There’s energy there that I don’t think even
we were expecting, all due to the sort of vision and
solutions that the Greens have been putting
out.”

Unlike New Zealand First, which opens up its
remit sessions to the media, or ACT, which promotes its AGM
as more of a public rally, the Green Party’s meetings are
more like a conclave.

The notoriously closed-door
meetings have been full of drama in recent years, from the
decision to
vacate James Shaw’s position as co-leader in 2022, to
the agonising over Darleen
Tana in 2024 that led to three Pasifika members leaving
the party.

Compared to the Greens’ tumultuous first
year back in opposition, the party goes into the election
more cohesive and relaxed.

Davidson said there had
been aspects of the last few years that had been
“traumatising,” but the party was stronger for it.

“No
doubt we have gone through a lot this term, and even into
last term. We’ve come through more than a lot, actually.
Let’s be straight up. So to have come through that and know
you can make it through to the light, the members are just
really focused now on this election.”

While
constitutional matters and remits are left for the other
years, the membership will still vote on the party’s
leadership.

Both co-leaders are set to be
re-confirmed, but Davidson was not taking anything for
granted.

“We have that yearly confirmation for a
reason, because our members really do decide if we get the
privilege of serving year after year. So I can’t rule out
anything, but we’re hoping that we have good relationships
across the party, and we will be campaigning hard to keep
the roles that we’re going after.”

The party was on
10.3 percent in the latest
RNZ-Reid Research poll, up 0.2 points from the previous
poll, but still a slight dip on the 11.6 percent the Greens
got at the 2023 election.

It would give the Greens 13
seats in the House, two down from its current
total.

The party’s
final list, was published in April.

While current
polling would see much of the current crop of MPs return,
Scott Willis (15th) and Mike Davidson (20th) are in danger
of losing their spots, and the highest-ranked new face is
Tania Waikato, in 13th.

But Davidson was not
deterred.

“The members are really motivated to have
more Green MPs than we’ve ever seen, because of the
fantastic list that we’ve
got.”

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