Greens to vote for waka jumping
The Green Party will ‘‘reluctantly’’ vote for the Waka Jumping Bill to become law.
So-called ‘‘waka jumping’’ legislation allows party leaders to expel MPs of Parliament if they have serious and public disagreements with the wider party.
Labour promised to support the waka-jumping legislation in its coalition agreement with NZ First, but the legislation is not covered in its agreement with the Green Party.
However, a clause in the agreement holds the Greens to supporting any legislation not specifically flagged in the coalition talks, meaning the Greens MPs feel they have to vote for for the waka-jumping bill.
Co-leader Marama Davidson made her party’s reluctance clear yesterday.
‘‘We are doing this because the confidence and supply agreement holds us to it,’’ Davidson said.
‘‘We continue to oppose the idea that a party caucus should have the power to expel MPs from Parliament.
‘‘After lengthy discussion and Party consultation, we reluctantly agreed to support the coalition to enact the bill.
‘‘I don’t expect all our supporters to agree with every decision we make. But I’m confident they’ll see the gains we continue to make in government, and will see a momentum of lasting change on the issues that matter most to us.’’
It’s understood that the Green negotiators were asked to produce a list of potential NZ First legislation they could not agree with during coalition talks, and did not think to include Waka Jumping as it had been so long since the law had been an issue.
Green MP Eugenie Sage said ‘‘we don’t like it’’ but it was ‘‘very important’’ to one of the coalition parties. ‘‘It is a dead rat that we have to swallow,’’ Sage said.
The Greens have long opposed such legislation.
The legislation does have a safeguard, whereby two thirds of a party caucus must agree to expel the MP.
If the MP is a list MP they are simply replaced by the next member on the list, but if they are an electorate MP a by-election would be held.
Proponents argue that it maintains the proportionality of Parliament while opponents say it stifles democracy.
National MP Nick Smith said the Greens had ‘‘sold their soul’’ and were ‘‘trashing their core values’’. ‘‘We’ve never before had a party saying it opposed a bill – leat alone a bill that makes changes to our electoral law and constitution where they are oppose to it but are going to vote it anyway.
‘‘This is the Green Party selling its soul for power,’’ Smith said. ‘‘They are the last party I would expect to do this.’’
‘‘This is the Green Party selling its soul for power.’’ Nick Smith