HE'S A REAL NOWHERE MAN

Russel Norman is proving to be very comfortable with political pomposity.

The co-leader of the Green Party is standing in the Mt Albert electorate, Helen Clark's old stamping ground.

It will as come as no surprise that little Russell was the only nomination - as the Green hierarchy didn't actually seek out other nominations.

This is becoming pretty much the norm in the Green's. The parliamentary clique make all the decisions - like making a deal with National for instance - then tell the membership afterwards. The party that once put some value on 'grassroots' input, has become just another top-down parliamentary party.

Yet this is the same party that thinks the decision to combine the various Auckland councils is undemocratic and that a public referendum should be held. Did the Green's hold an internal party referendum before signing up with the National Government? No, it did not.

But back to Mt Albert. Norman has no show of winning but he says its just about getting the Green message 'out there'.

But what is the Green 'message? At the last election it was 'Vote For Me' and it hasn't moved on much from this vacuous nonsense. More often than not, the Green's message is an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an audience.

Pompous Norman says that '“The Greens stand for a fairer and more sustainable society in New Zealand.'

Well, who doesn't ? I doubt if any politician would get into Parliament on a platform of more unfairness and more unsustainability.

The truth is that Norman believes in the free market. He still believes in neoliberal economic policies. He waffles on about the 'power of the market' and then has the cheek to suggest that he's not just another capitalist politician.

Just exactly how does the failed creed of neoliberalism lead to a 'fairer and sustainable society'?

Once again, like he always does, Norman just doesn't say. Yet he persists in calling National and Labour the 'old parties' as if the Green's were somehow different,

Little Russel and the Green Party are selling the same neoliberal snakeoil as National and Labour - but it comes in a recycled pale green bottle.