Green AGM set for a few robust discussions

The Green Party caucus members face some uncomfortable discussions with their rank and file this weekend as they walk a fine line between being a stable support partner to the coalition Government while being true to their core values.

Going into their first annual meeting since the election, there will be a lot to talk about.

A debrief on the election, the party’s long-term strategy and the election of party officials are on the agenda for the two-day meeting in Palmerston North.

But so will be Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage’s signing off on the Otakiri water-bottling expansion and the party’s support for the so-called waka-jumping bill.

Co-leader James Shaw said he expected robust discussions around the directions the caucus had gone in of late, but rejected any suggestion the party had split into factions.

“[I think] that’s mythologising. Clearly there are some people who are unhappy with some of those decisions, and as with any political party there are also philosophical differences around political direction.

“We’ve always had debate, it’s a political party.”

Ten months into the parliamentary term, some former Green MPs say the current caucus is in danger of becoming invisible.

Catherine Delahunty, who was a Green MP for nine years, said they were facing a predictably hard struggle.

“People really need a reason to want to be there and it’s really important they are not perceived as ‘Labour Lite’. To do that the Greens need to be brave and I think that’s a really key discussion that I know the party [will be and] should be having at this time.”

Sue Bradford, who quit the party when she left Parliament in 2009, said the party was becoming “less and less the party of choice for people on the ecological and social justice side of the Greens”.

And former MP David Clendon, who is attending the conference as a delegate, said there was a popular perception the party was playing second fiddle to New Zealand First.

But fellow former Green MP Nandor Tanczos said the Greens had notched some big wins, such as consultation on the Zero Carbon Bill, a $100 million Green Investment Fund, the establishment of a Climate Change Commission and a ban on single-use plastic bags.