Green anger at Graham’s Nats speech
A Green Party staffer says Kennedy Graham’s presence at a National Party event proves the former Green MP was never a good fit for the party.
Graham and fellow MP David Clendon resigned from the party’s list at the 2017 election over the rest of the Greens caucus’ continued support for Metiria Turei, who was under fire over her admission of benefit fraud.
Graham, a former diplomat and academic, sought to rejoin the party list after Turei eventually resigned, but was rebuffed by the party’s executive.
Jack McDonald, a former candidate, campaigner for co-leader Marama Davidson, and current Parliamentary staffer, wrote a post on an internal Green Party Facebook group saying Graham’s planned attendance at a BlueGreens conference on Saturday proved excluding him from the list was the right decision.
‘‘Kennedy Graham is speaking at the BlueGreens forum in Canterbury this weekend ... No wonder he sabotaged us and Metiria [Turei] when it mattered most,’’ McDonald wrote.
‘‘In the context of Kennedy still apparently having many supporters in the Party who were upset he wasn’t allowed back on the list, we need to make sure there isn’t the ability for this to happen in the future and prevent the election of Green MPs whose politics are incompatible with fundamental Green kaupapa.’’ ‘‘We all need to work on bringing together the party and reaching out to those who disagree, but there also needs to be a line in the sand, and for me, Kennedy represents it.’’
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman ‘‘liked’’ the post.
Graham is appearing at the BlueGreens Forum alongside National MP Todd Muller and Motu’s Catherine Leining for a talk entitled ‘‘Climate Change – By Degrees’’.
When Graham was in Parliament he led a cross-party group on climate change.
Graham declined to respond to the comments in detail, other than to point out that he was no longer a member of any political party, and that Green MPs had attended BlueGreen events in the past.
The left of the Green Party have been celebrating after their preferred candidate Davidson won a large majority in the co-leadership election.