Time for Shaw to steady the ship

Metiria Turei’s announcement she will not seek a ministerial position post-election may ease the bleeding for the Greens, but it is also time for her co-leader to step up.

James Shaw has cast a supportive figure at Turei’s side as she has repeatedly been asked to explain past indiscretions, which now includes registering a false address when she voted in the 1993

Luckily, the Greens have two leaders – it’s time for the quiet one to step up.

election.

But he needs to be front and centre if voters are to turn their attention away from Turei’s past and back to the party’s policies.

A little honesty continues to go a long way, and the wrong way, for Turei. On top of the welfare fraud woes, it’s been revealed she enrolled at an address where she didn’t live so she could vote for a friend running in the Mt Albert electorate in 1993.

While the admission in July that she had failed to disclose she had flatmates when trying to get by as a solo mum, reaping a bigger benefit, gained sympathy in some quarters, the latest revelation will have many wondering what skeleton will stumble out of the closet next.

And, as it always is in politics, it is not so much the size of the skeleton, but the clamour it can make.

Integrity has always been central to the Greens, both in its policies and the party’s appeal to idealistic young voters.

It is now being undermined by Turei’s youthful misjudgments, which will dog her to election day and beyond.

Charged with boosting the Greens’ economic credentials and broadening its support base beyond its environmental roots, Shaw has been the party’s sensible shoes, talking details, while Turei connected with the public.

He may lack his co-leader’s charisma, but it is now Shaw’s responsibility to refocus the Greens’ campaign and restore the party’s value, both to voters and intended bedfellows, Labour.

Turei’s removal from the Cabinet conversation is only the first measure.

Neither party can afford for the next two months to be dominated by the meeting schedule of Turei and Work and Income.

And though Labour rallied last week after a change of leader – demonstrating the assurance of second winds in politics – the Left is now running low on second chances.